Michael, so you painted the entire car with just a quart of paint, plus thinner and hardener?
Michael, so you painted the entire car with just a quart of paint, plus thinner and hardener?
Spoked knock offs for the concours win!
Old money: 1926.53
new money:
pint of magic brand hardener, tractor supply: 15.99
gallon paint thinner (used 1 quart) 8.99 gallon, 2.24
Recoup: 820
new total: 1945.53
ive been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest this week.
I spent all week doing my impression of a bodyman, starting where we left off in my last post.
I started block sanding the bondo and previous repairs, and then shot it with the duplicolor high build primer when it felt and looked right. This picture is after its been washed the first time with dawn and an sos pad to knock the dust and crap off before bringing it in for the night.
20190527_103521 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
we then grabbed the 220 and palm sander to work down the high build. Thiss is where things went wrong the first time. Near as I can tell, I either had a reaction with the random gloss spray paint I used for a guidecoat, or the duplicolor high build never cured, or something. When it was sanded with ANY grit of paper, it sort of melted and turned to pebbles. I fought it for a while trying t make it work. Dressed the whole car with 220 while I was at it, hoping for the best. Washed it again with the sos pad and dawn, and put it away for the night to think. No good picture of the pebble spots of the primer.
20190527_091835 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190528_194405 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190528_194419 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
next day, I called my buddy art. See, art and I go back 15 years or so now. Hes the best $200 paint man in the county. Hes also turned into a good friend over the years. Lives across town from me now, but he taught earl scheib how to paint cars cheap. He knows what hes doing, and is my bodywork sherpa. Hes always given me tips, pointers, and a hand when asked. He helped paint the amc last year, and other cars as well. Anyway, he told me the duplicolr had to come off. He also told me to use rustoleum sandable primer, and final sand the car to 320. in addition, he asked to help spray the car, but was only available this morning to help. So, that moved my timetable up considerably.
Anyway, laquer thinner and paper towels took care of removing the duplicolor. While I was doing that, my daughter worked on peeling plastidip from the plastics and mirrors.
20190529_170221 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I then re-sanded the car with 220 outside, followed by another round of dawn and an sos pad after taking the bumpers, mirrors, lights, etc off to be able to work edges and such better. When it dried, I sprayed the rustoleum primer, and used a little bit of the leftover rusty metal primer as a guidecoat.
20190529_191244 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190530_072447 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
we then went after every facet with 320 and 400 grit paper. In between, I did more rounds of dawn and an sos pad. Did this a couple of times, and last night, it was READY.
20190531_074204 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I put the spare free top frame on as a structure to hold masking plastic, re-prepped the plastics, washed again, and tucked it away for the night. At midnight.
20190531_195909 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
this morning at dawn, which came far too damn early, I pulled the car out to tape up. We had planned on using the carport, but with it being 60 degrees and no wind, I thought that the middle of the driveway would be better. And the acr isn't movable, and would be in the way the whole morning. This was a mistake ill explain later.
20190601_083248 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so, now a side note. This fits as well here as anywhere I guess. I grew up reading car magazines, and especially loved junkyard stuff and bodywork issues. Car craft had a series for a while about how to make cheap paint look great. They suggested many things like washing all the seams well to get rid of dust and dirt, removing parts so there weren't tape lines that look bad and chip, using light colors to hide bodywork sins, prepping around corners and edges to limit chipping, and masking tips. Ive kept all this crap in the back of my brain, and use it every time I paint a car/have one painted. My cheap, E36 M3ty jobs typically turn out better than most stuff costing 10x as much. Lots more effort on my part, though. But worth it in my wallet. Youve hopefully noticed these tips in all the [previous pictures. If you haven't, ill wait while you go back and look.
Now that you're back, its time for masking. I bought plastic sheeting and green painters tape at ollies, pulled out all my other plastic rolls/sheets, cardboard, sawhorses, painters tape, harbor freight spray gun, mineral spirits (paint thinner), air hose, etc.
20190601_083251 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
step one was backing all the holes in the body with tape so overspray didn't turn the trunk/underhood/interior green. Then, used some plastic to block off the trunk
20190601_085128 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
then, some trashbags over the wheels, tape the engine bay jambs, take plastic from the front bumper to the back of the interior, mask off the undercarriage with plastics from below the rocker molding down, tape a plastic skirt around the car, etc. essentially hermetically seal the previously painted and detailed parts of the car from the not yet painted and detailed parts. Only with painters tape and cheap plastic sheets and scraps of other crap. On the right is brother dustin, who wanted to learn how to paint for his upcoming datsun 280z resto, and on the left is art the sherpa.
20190601_100244 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
now, a little more backstory here. A while back, I read about the $50 roll on paint job with rustoleum. So I tried it. The rolling part sucked, so art and I sprayed it instead. Rustoleum sail blue, valspar hardener, and mineral spirits. 1:1 ratio of rustoleum to thinner, and a splash of hardener to taste as the recipe. We used a pint of paint on the whole car, and it was a great 20 footer. It even went to the challenge last year with the new owner. Laid down pretty good, and sprayed in almost the exact same spot in my driveway.
20170716_192052 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so this time, I figured that we could do even better now that we had the secret sauce down! Only with ollies valspar instead of rustoleum. Both oil based enamel, so should be the same, right?
20190601_102026 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
well, we went through the whole quart of green. It didn't lay down nearly as well, and didn't cover nearly as well. The blue car was done with a pint. This was done with a quart. The blue cars color came out exactly as it looked in the can. The valspar did not. But we pressed on, because challenge car!
There are no pictures of me running the gun, but all the runs in the paint are mine!
20190601_100949 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190601_110037 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190601_112151 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
the only overall picture of the unwrapped car I have has art in the middle of it. He wont be coming to the challenge with me, nor will dustin, due to other obligations and barriers. However, they will be listed as team members because they are.
20190601_114031 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
we pulled the car under the carport to see how it looked in the normal light spectrum instead of the blinding sun. the parts of the car that were not in direct sun, laid down reasonably smooth. The stuff that was in the sun orange peeled, textured, and popped. It will PROBABLY wetsand and buff out beautifully, but we wont know until we actually do it. Ive also never wetsanded or buffed a damn thing, so it'll be interesting to see what happens! I have a porter cable DA, rubbing compound, sandpaper, and no fear of failure!
Before you look at the next pictures, make sure you avert your eyes if you have a weak stomach, and maybe send the women and children from the room.....
20190601_145931 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190601_145950 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190601_150002 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190601_145956 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
well let it cure out a day or two under the carport before moving it back in the shop. Rustoleum has a ton of fumes, and as you can see, the shop is a basement. I don't want those fumes in my house, and my wife sure doesn't. When its back indoors, I can start reassembly and clean up of other cosmetic issues. Im interested to see the color fully assembled!
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:Michael, so you painted the entire car with just a quart of paint, plus thinner and hardener?
Yessir! 1:1 mix ratio
As someone currently fixing a cheap paint job, I can assure you that will sand and buff to perfection. My texture was very similar, probably a little worse than that in most places. Looking real good.
In reply to maschinenbau :
I hope so! Never done it before, but the YouTube videos make it look relatively simple. Art.offert to teach me as well.
BTW, +1 for child-labor!
Looks great. It is going to end up really nice
In reply to GoLucky :
I hope so! Its not the color of green i had wanted, but its the one i have to work with!
In reply to TVR Scott :
For some odd reason, my daughter loves peeling plastidip. So she had fun!
Its growing on me!
Near as i can tell, properly wetsanding and buffing is 800/1200/1500/2000 then compoundon a white foam pad on my da.
Right? Im watching YouTube videos about it now.....
Looks great! Kind of friendly, which is exactly what it isn't. Me gusta!
thanks for the positive feedback, yall!
it does look kinda happy and friendly. like kermit the killer hallucinogenic frog! maybe that can be my livery.....
when its reassembled, and buffed out, im going to have to get some glamour shots to have photoshopped with different liveries and cosmetic packages. the new shade changes all the plans i had in my head. radically. it was all based off a much darker green, like the factory color.
Honestly I'm getting great results with wetsand 1000/1500 then Meguiars 105/205.
In reply to maschinenbau :
I started out with 1000 last night. This stuff is so textured that im burning through calories and paper at an alarming rate. 800 is my step this morning . Ill try the other side of the decklid there.
Picture AFTER 800 grit shows just how bad the surface really is. I have a feeling that this is going to be a LOT of work wetsanding and buffing.
Can i used the porter cable da, or do i need to get one of the big grinder looking buffers from harbor freight?
Making me feel like a pro paint man.
In reply to Professor_Brap :
I do what i can! This is the worst paintjob ive done. I blame the valspar. It just didn't spray worth a damn.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Me and Monica where curious. We saw some of almost the same color at Ollies for $2.... I am glad we didnt.
I would strongly recommend spending a little more money and buying rust-oleum
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
frogs got warts, bro. spend the next 4 months designing and building a remote controlled bug-catcher tongue and weld the headlights in up position. bonus points for "ribbit" horn.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
I need to learn how to wetsand and buff. This thing seems like the perfect canvas to practice on. After all, we sprayed 1/2 gallon of paint in it. And its not exactly high dollar materials if it goes wrong.....
Looks like a couple things going on.
The overall texture looks like it was too hot, and the paint was partially flashing before it landed.
The little craters are fisheyes. This is usually from contamination. Either surface prep, or more likely oil in the air system.
In reply to Crackers :
It just now dawned on me that we never put the filter in the air line. Crap.
What are the chances of sanding and buffing out fisheyes?
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