This may be a little ridiculous - a $2018 challenge oddessey

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Reading this, and I’m smacking myself upside the head... since I’m just now thinking about and realizing that taking your car to car shows is probably a really good way to practice on and refine your “3min challenge pitch” for the concourse”

I had that thought a month or two ago. Yesterday was the first attempt. Did notgo as well as i hoped, but gave me a lot to improve on, which fulfilled the purpose. 

Today, after daily driver service and getting the gauge cluster out of dads 60 vette to send to redline gauge works  im hoping to get the decklid and rear bumper ready for paint. My goal us 2 panels a weekend. Then, tify wiring, hoses, etc. Really make it look nice, not like the flaming hackjob it is.

I Have Stared at a Lot Of Flames,   That's a Good Looking one.

new money:

valspar hunter green paint 4.99 ollies

bondo and spot putty from a yardsale 5.00

rattle can high build primer, oriellys 7.99

honda wheels 4.37

drag slicks (exempt from budget, 4x tires free) 0.00 (actual cost, 165)

removed 2x sm7 slicks and mounting from budget for -30 reduction for the other two exempt tires

used known good maf replaced under maintenance rule (was actually free to me from a trunked impala)

Recoup: 820

new total: 1926.53

so, this is the first real post in a long time. Some of this is recap, some is new, some is drivel. You know, normal stuff. Life got busy, and my documentation has fallen behind real life. Its currently too damn hot to be outside, so im updating.

Anyway, I took the car for its initial autocross on march second. I only got one picture, but did do a post about it over on GRM. So heres the picture, with a copy of my post below.

20190302_090621 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

So, we have ignition/breakup issues with the maf connected, but wont idle with it disconnected.

Very, very loose. Much faster and more controllable in third.

Looks like hammered ass crack

Cant get heat in tires yet

Gauges are useless unless in grid

Needs a top/shade/etc

Holy berkeley its a lot more car than i can handle.

So, after the autocross, I got distracted with building a daily for work. And a broken truck in west virginia. And....

dad and I started hunting the issues with the car. We found a bad MAF, replaced that, and cured 90% of the drivability evils. Cleaning grounds and fixing loose connections cured the rest. The car tows beautifully with the flat tow setup, and runs fantastically now. Still have no operable oxygen sensor, and im not sure im going to bother sorting it at this time. The shift light is all but useless, as the car revs so quickly that its in the limiter before the light is noticed. Its also incredibly loud inside, but passes SCCA noise regs, so im happy there.

Anyway, my county passed new inspection laws, negating the need for emission inspections. Which means, since this car retains all other necessary street features, that this happened.

20190518_123420 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

with the addition of legality to be on public streets, dad drove it for the first time. For about 20 miles. And loved it. It has gotten his seal of approval, which is all the awards the car needs in my mind. Its been a great journey with him.

Him and mom leave in the next couple of weeks for the summer Rv-ing in the southwest. He will be going to the challenge with me, but its my game to get the car finished. So I drove it to my house (30 miles away) and found out that it really isn't a bad street car! Which means it could probably use a lot more spring rate. And more power. And aero. And....

anyway, step one was to get it cleaned up, and take it to the local cruise night (last night) which is essentially a late model camaro/challenger/mustang meet, with some neat trucks and other older muscle cars. All domestics. No imports allowed. The miata was a hit, and I worked on my presentation for the concourse. As well as watched what people looked at funny to give me an idea of how to clean up the car for better scores and mire curb appeal. Majority of this will be fit/finish of the interior, under hood tidy up, and paint/body.

First, washed before the cruise night pictures (these are also intended to highlight the bodywork issues ahead of me, as well as I good representation of where im starting for concourse preparation):

20190519_102142 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102153 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102158 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102204 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102216 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102228 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102234 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102243 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102309 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102314 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190519_102318 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

so, ill let you know what I think, and hoped to show in the pictures. Every panel except the passengers door has damage of some form. There is an incredible amount of paint damage due to the methods used in plastidip removal, and some of that may have been the reasons for the plastidip in the first place. The worst is the bulge in the hood. Its seriously mangled. Im not a bodyman. I never have been, and ive never been good at doing filler and panel straightening. Im and OK painter, but not good at that either, really. But, I have no fear of failure! And its be hard to make it worse, to be honest. In addition, the interior is scruffy. The door panels arent actually attached, the tans are filthy and discolored, etc. needs a bunch of cleaning and detailing and adjusting. In addition, I know there's more weight I can take out inside while making it look better. I will attempt to do so. Underhood, im not happy with how I have the air intake routed, the wiring looks like ass, there's way too many holes glaring out from the white, there's still sharp weld edges that need dressed, the overflow bottle is ugly, air is coming around the radiator instead of through, the upper radiator hose looks sketchy, etc. I personally think the whole think looks like a flaming hackjob, and quite frankly, im thoroughly unhappy with it visually. Its mechanically what I want it to be (in theory, still need to see what kind of drag times I can grab)

step one, honestly, is paint and body. To fix lots of this, I need to pull body panels to get them out of my way. I also need to see the final color and livery on the car to be able to work the rest of the package around to it to match.

Step one of bodywork is gather your materials. In a recent run to ollies, I came across a 4.99 quart of green. I bought it.

20190505_095933 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

the next material was body filler. Neighborhood yardsale got me this assortment of supploes for 5 bucks. All were open and partially used (guy said to fix a boat)

20190519_104007 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I then walked around the car with a silver sharpie, circling every dent, ding, and issue I could find. Lots of sharpie....

20190526_150038 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I then scuffed the first fer dents with 80 grit, leaving the very small stuff and hood bulge for last. Trying to get my bodywork groove going....

20190526_151230 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

and then mixed and spread the first round of bondo

20190526_154933 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190526_154955 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190526_155137 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

sanding is done outside to keep the mess down. And its 95 degrees with 142% humidity. So that's waiting till morning. Or after dark.

As a parting gift, im leaving you with pictures of my honda wheels (AFTER lots of cleaning) and slicks (no cleaning, just laying on the floor). The slicks are budget exempt, though the wheels aren't. Still truong to figure out how to de-ugly the wheels.....

20190508_092519 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20190523_145929 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Turns out my company is closed today.for memorial day.  No wonder nobody was answering the phone or emails. So, after working for a half hour, i started being a bad bodyman imposter. I have the sail panel, trunklid, and drivers door ready for guidecoat and blocking (5 dents/dings)

Going to get as far as possible before heat stroke. 

Earl Scheib ain't got E36 M3 on a fat Yankee in the South racing heat stroke with a get E36 M3 done attitude

First, doing "body work" is a matter of getting into the "zone".  I always wanted to weld, did not happen.  I appreciate the effort and skill it takes. Painting a car, that too has elided me.  I can lay down paint, just not a finish coat that I can live with.  But bondo, like reading a green in a round of golf, that I can see!  You also learn to "feel it", but that's another conversation.  

With the simple tools: body hammer, dolly, cheese grater, sanding block and long board you will get it done.  That DA might make things happen faster, but not all of them are good.  When you think your are done, put down a layer of high fill primer. Let it dry and use the long board to flatten out the surface.  Like religion, it's a personal revelation.

Then the paint has a chance.  That and water, 12oz of Dew and then 12oz of water.  

David

In reply to jr02518 :

I have a 6 inch block that ibe been using on all the filler except the hood buldge, with free 150 grit sandpaper. I struggle with the edge feathering though, as it seems like the bondo needs to go 4-6 inches past the dent to feather properly, which to my hand makes thr whole repair area feel like its high. The grey primer is rattle can primer, and im grabbing a piece of deat flat hardwood from dads place to make a longer sanding block for the 320 grit and guidecoat. 

The hood buldge was done entirely by feep with my electric palm sander and 220.

All the gouges and nicks ive been trying to feather in with 220. 

My problems really are knowing when to stop. Im not sure what a repair under paint will look like until its under paint. I vant tell if tbere will be a line/wave/divot/etc until its shiny. Washing the var helped me see a lot of things. But it didn't help with the primer spots. Still cant see crap there.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

I know what you mean. I tried to cap myself at 100 hrs and 1 gallon of filler. It certainly ain't flat, there are still some dents, but it's all relatively smooth and the paint went on very well. Yours is looking amazing already. I promise my finished body is wavier and bumpier than yours was before you started, and you saw how well that turned out. 

The artist only sees every flaw. The viewer only sees art.

And drink more water, it's berkeleying hot out!

I'll let others chime in but putting bondo on paint makes things, thicker.  I understand what the car is, nuf said.  Reading the surface, like adding a guide coat, is a matter of practice.  Again, preparation for the paint is what gives you the bones for the finish.

The "guide coat" can be a simple as a can of contrasting primer you lightly spray over the hight fill primer.  When you lightly sand the surface the high spots will reveal them self's as the base color primer.  More high fill primer, more sanding, guide coat, repeat.  Really high spots, exposed metal, means more hammer/dolly work and again bondo. 

Minor rant time: 

I deal so badly with heat that anything after lunch has to be climate controlled. And with the mess bodywork makes, that has to be outside.  I have indoor stuff that needs to be done, but it will make the car immobile. So, its a time/weather balance struggle. This sucks. I want the car in paint by the end of the weekend. 

For those following along as i muddle through mediocre bodywork, i have learned a few new to me lessons.

Lesson1. 220 grit to start surface prep with on non damaged areas. Reates more work. It also does not feather damage in well.

Lesson2. Rustoleum rattle can paint clogs the crap out of sandpaper when you use it as guidecoat.

Lesson3. Gator grit sandpaper sucks.

Lesson 4. Dissassemble before starting bodywork. It saves work later bu not having to fix sanding damaged trim and remove overspray from rubber. 

More to do tonight!

On Lesson 2: Try the "wet-sandable" version of Rustoleum primer.  I've done a lot of work with it over the years and it's pretty painless to sand.

On Lesson 3:  I usually get all my sandpaper from the "real" auto-body supply place.  The quality is significantly better and worth a little extra.

I had really good luck with the Summit brand sandpaper. Both the rolls and discs say "Made in Germany" on the back. The rolls are great because they stick to your blocks and you cut to length for different sizes of blocks.

I bought this Rustoleum "Surfacer" primer for like $10 per quart. It sanded beautifully and went on nice and thick. I thinned it 1:1 with lacquer thinner.

In reply to maschinenbau :

I unfortunately don't have the slack in my budget for a full coat of high build primer. Had i known about it before i boght the can of 7.99 rattle can primer, i vould have. Thats what i get....

Tvr: i didn't think i would have issues with the Rustoleum used as guidecoat. But, next time i know! And i have a bankers box of mosc sandpaper. The roll of mirka has been fantastic, but its 220 grit. Mu 60 was unknown  80 was 3m, 180 was unknown  320 gator grit, 800-3000 os 3m. I have no 400 yet, but hope to rectify this after work.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to maschinenbau :

I unfortunately don't have the slack in my budget for a full coat of high build primer. Had i known about it before i boght the can of 7.99 rattle can primer, i vould have.

weigh the car before sanding.   weigh the car after sanding.   only hit budget for amount of paint remaining on car.   challenge budgeting like a boss.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Im most assuredly not that boss 

Nor do i have scales that accurate. Or big enough. Or....

My goal is to learn how to do it all by myself, and have acceptable results for a race car. The acr, when i get there, will have the vast majority of the challenge budget applied to paint and body. That one i want flawless. 

i tell people my Miata has a "track spec" paint job.  Cars at track days aren't all pretty

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Im most assuredly not that boss 

Nor do i have scales that accurate. Or big enough. Or....

My goal is to learn how to do it all by myself, and have acceptable results for a race car. The acr, when i get there, will have the vast majority of the challenge budget applied to paint and body. That one i want flawless. 

Flawless means you are going to be getting a set of durablock sanding blocks. And spending a lot of time getting familiar with them.

Here is the deal. When you sand a panel, you want the whole thing to be at one level when you are done. Pretend that the panel is all lumpy to start with. Sharp, coarse paper cuts the tops off of the lumps. Now, if you used your short little orbital sander, it would just surf up and down the valleys between the lumps. So you want a great big long sanding block that covers the tops of as many lumps as possible. I think the longest one I use is the 27" block. Could not have done the Molvo roof panel without it. You can see the big guy hidding in the back

Good sandpaper will change your life if you have been using E36 M3ty e-bay paper. The bad news is that the stuff needs to be changed a lot more often than you and your wallet would like to. I see people use sandpaper till it is bald, I toss it when I feel the drag lessen. From an appearances point, it looks like new. Remember, coarse and sharp on a long board makes the panel flat.

Budget about 200 hours by the time you are ready for paint.

Pete

To add to what Pete said about fresh paper... 

When using a long block you barely want enough pressure on it to conform to the panel. Once the paper gets worn you usually end up pressing harder and the area where you hold the block ends up with more pressure on it than the rest of the block leaving you with hard to fix highs and lows. 

In reply to NOHOME :

Much like the molvo, rhe acr will be a long term labor of love. The challenge car has a deadline that is approaching like a runaway train.

Washing it with dawn and an sos pad tonight after blocking and 400 grit on my palm sander showed no real flaws in the body. Plenty of waves, but i dont think the tractor paint will have enough depth of shine to make them obvious. I do want to go around the car a couple more times  paying special attention to the edhes of panels and the bumpers. Then, pull the hood, fenders, bumpers, body kit, wash it all again separately, and tape up the car. 

I think. Maybe. I hope.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to NOHOME :

Washing it with dawn and an sos pad tonight after blocking and 400 grit on my palm sander showed no real flaws in the body. Plenty of waves, but i dont think the tractor paint will have enough depth of shine to make them obvious.

This is funny to me, especially in the context of talking with Pete... since there’s a story in my family of my Mom having washed my dad’s p1800 back in the mid-‘70’s after they’d just gotten married and just after said p1800 had gotten a new paint job.  Only thing was, mom had never washed a car before, and had mainly washed dishes... so when she went to ‘treat my dad, by washing his car’... she grabbed what she was used to using: an SOS pad.

For the kind of painting I did, and think you're doing, a 6" DA and a lot of movement with the right grits should come out decent.   Like I said, mine is pretty good for a driveway paint job and holds it's own in the paddock.  You know, mixed in with brand new german stuff and home built wall magnets

I have a question about this picture.

Having broken my nose on the drivers side window in an accident I know the head can move a lot. I see a lot of bars just padded on the main hoop but not the other bars within head reach. I like your head even as damaged as it is. 

This is how I padded ours.

And yes I need to upgrade to SFI padding also. 

In reply to Stampie :

The angle of the picture is deceptive. With the harness and aluminium seat, i cannot get my he a d even remotely close to any of the lower tubes. Passengers side is a different story, but that seat comes out for the challenge. 

I can pad the otber tubes if i should though .