5280's Paint Project

[Tools R Us]

Originally Posted by 5280Hawk

Man, it takes a lot of buffing.

I have a rotatry orbital buffer, and it's taking forever to get the paint to shine. I started with the Turtle wax buffing compound (red label), then went to the polishing compound (green label) It's shining up but it's taking forever.

At this rate it MIGHT be done by spring.

To make the job quicker use a more aggressive compound. For the first step after color sanding I like Meguiar's Diamond Cut Compound 2.0, it makes quick work of it. Use it to knock out most of the dullness, then move to a finer compound.

The good thing about the "normal parts store" compounds is that they aren't very aggressive, so it's harder to mess up and take too much paint off. The bad part is that they aren't very aggressive, so it takes a lot more work! When you move to more aggressive "professional" compounds, you have to be much more careful around edges, ridges, etc. It's much easer to remove too much or all of the paint in those areas, but they are much faster in large flat areas.

meguiars.com: E-Store /Professional (Mirror Glaze Brand)>Auto Paint Care>Paint Cleaners/Compounds

They also have a good forum;
Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online - Powered by vBulletin

[5280Hawk]

Thanks Alot for the tip!,

I think for the fenders, now that i know what to expect, I will get through them a lot faster, I'm not as afraid to used the more aggressinve compound, anfter the final wet sand.

[Tools R Us]

Another thing to be aware of is that new paint is soft, takes a while to fully harden. When you sand it, scratches and burrs that stick up are formed. When the paint is soft, the burrs are like little plastic flags, the buffer hits them, the fold over and pop right back up. If you wait until the paint is harder the tiny edges, burrs break off much easier, making the job easier.

Also new paint off gases solvents until cured, so don't seal, wax it for at least a couple of weeks. Warmth and putting it in the sun will speed the curing process.

[jsaltlick]

Hawk- do you have any orange peel on that hood what so ever? I'm using 600 grit and I'm either burning through the paint or it's still faintly orange peeled. How did your hood look when done? It it slick and smooth or is there some small texture to it? Thinking I might throw on the next 3-4 coats then sand after those are done to have a thicker base. Either way I'm still gonna have to wet-sand a bunch.

[5280Hawk]

I had oarnge peel on the first couple coats, but not after a few more coats and wet sanding.

It seemed like I would get it where a lot of bubbles formed. I started going back over the areas that had bubbles, with the roller really dry, to smooth them out.

If you're getting alot of Oarnge peel, the paint is probably to thick and won't spread.

Also, when I wet sanded that hood I would use very little or no pressure on the block. I let the "suction" of the water and sandpaper apply the pressure to actually do the sanding, take your time and you wont burn through the layers.

I had a few really small spots that no matter what i did i could still see though the paint to the primer. I ended up just dabbing a small amount of paint right on the spot with the end of the roller, or a foam brush, then wet sanded it with a small peice of 1000 or 1500.

The photos of the hood look better than it does in real life, It's probably a good 3-4 foot paint job, and that is just fine by me.

[jsaltlick]

Cool. Mine's at about a 10 footer right now.

[5280Hawk]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Back to work in the garage today.

I got the JBweld all sanded down, you can see the filled holes for the snake blinders. JB weld really worked well, Thanks MUD!



I went with your advice and primered the fenders and Valence before rolling on paint. heres a few shots of the First coat of Rustoleum after the primer.

[5280Hawk]

I can't remember if this is the fourth or fifth coat of paint on the fenders. Either way i feel like i'm getting pretty good at getting it to go on flat.

[Project60]

Looks good... I still need to drop by and see the color in person.

[5280Hawk]

Project60, I PM'd you

[5280Hawk]

What do you think the record for length of time to paint a car is?

[5280Hawk]

Whew,

I just threw down some cash!. Got a decent bonus from work, so the said i could spend HALF of it on the Cruiser....

I got new Tail lenses and markers all the way around.

I got new Emblems, all that stuff from CCOT.

Plus a 1" Body lift and new bushings from 4Crawler,

and New Aussie Knock-off mirrors from Man-a-fre.

I figure if im putting this much effort into the paint job, the rest of the exterior better match up!

[5280Hawk]

Figured I better post an update,

fenders have the final coat of paint and sanding, I just finished w. the 2000 grit. I am starting buffing tonight.

Front doors will be next.

Also I got my new emblem and tail lenses. Photo -

[5280Hawk]

Progress!
Yesterday was beautiful here, 60 degrees out!

I got the fenders done yesterday and took the tarp off and pulled the 60 out to remove the front Doors,






Im getting rid of those Mirrors. They're the Man-a-fre Knock-offs, if anybody wants them.

[Project60]

Originally Posted by 5280Hawk

Im getting rid of those Mirrors. They're the Man-a-fre Knock-offs, if anybody wants them.

T'was nice this weekend, nice progress! Sorry I haven't been by to see the truck... been busy working on the wife's projects.

If you haven't given them away, I'll take the mirrors... I need everything I can to keep my project cost down at this point .

[5280Hawk]

Sure man,

When you come by you can pick them up.

[ColoradoLC]

Looks great hawk. I'm down in Centennial. Let me know if you need any more help with this any time. I'd be willing to trade help just to learn how to get the clearcoat on right. I have my own paint gun and compressor too.

Same color 60 for me as well. Where did you say you got your paint?

PM me if you are interested.

Winston

[5280Hawk]

Looks great hawk. I'm down in Centennial. Let me know if you need any more help with this any time. I'd be willing to trade help just to learn how to get the clearcoat on right. I have my own paint gun and compressor too.

Same color 60 for me as well. Where did you say you got your paint?

I had to order the "Sand" Rustoleum Color special from Home Depot. They had the "Smoke Grey" color in stock.

thanks for the offer by the way and the compliment. I have no clue about clear coat, unfortunately, as the Rustoleum doesn't require it.

More progress on the Doors tomorrow.

I almost had to get stitches last week when i cut my arm pulling off the clip that holds the lock cylinder in place. left a 1" gash on my Wrist.

[5280Hawk]

Started masking and Sanding the Front doors today before the big Game, I pulled the Door handles and locks and Masked all the trim. I also pulled the rest of the chrome trim.




Sanding mostly complete in this shot. I've been using a Black & Decker orbital sander, and 150 grit pads.



There were a couple tiny dings on the ridge of the door, now filled with bondo.

[Project60]

Sorry to hear about your wrist...

How long did it take to sand down the door that far with the sander?

[5280Hawk]

About an hour for that much sanding. The dust gets everywhere!! When i am done with this I will have to pull everything out of my garage and wipe it all down.

[Project60]

Originally Posted by 5280Hawk

The dust gets everywhere!! When i am done with this I will have to pull everything out of my garage and wipe it all down.

That's what I was afraid of...

[5280Hawk]

I got 5 coats of paint on the front doors now. Time for the second round of sanding - 800 grit this time.

The doors are so much easier than the Fenders were, just because there are co curves and only two really straight ridges to deal with.

I am dreading the rest of the Body once i get to that point. The Roof is soo Big!

One thing I'm wondering, I have a Dent in the roof that I want to try to Pop out from the inside. My roof liner is pretty shot so I was going to just pull it when i go to fix that dent. I won't be able to put a new liner back in for a while, Any reason that will be a problem???

[DocuDude]

Looks nice. An inspiration to us all. I need to learn more about the JBweld

[TJDIV]

good work. looking forward to seeing the finished product (as I'm sure you are).

Reminds me of a time this guy did a 45lv in durabak.