Ol' Blue, my 68' fj40 project (6 Viewers)

[2fpower]

hey, epoxy primer again???

Had a lot of dedicated time over the weekend in the garage. 12 hours yesterday, and 8 today.

Started with taping down the lines for the seam sealer. I used SEM 2 part sealer, and was happy, but learned that the working time is not enough for one person. you need to have a buddy there to pull the tape after you lay the sealer down, and set it into the grove with your finger. I laid down about 10 feet of lines, went back pulled the tape quickly, dipped my finger in laquer and went across the lines to lay them down flat, and when I picked up the gun to go to the next section, the sealer had hardened in the mixing tube. Lesson learned. Overall, I am happy with the sealer, but not perfect. Oh well, I will know better for next time.

So, I hung all the pieces in the makeshift paint booth, cleaned everything with Southern's water based cleaner (mostly rubbing alcohol by my nose test) and let it set for an hour.

 

[2fpower]

next

Up next was to put another coat of epoxy on. In my mind this was going to be the last coat, then shoot color on satuday.....

 

[2fpower]

more

more pics

 

[2fpower]

and more

shiny photos

 

[2fpower]

Sunday

So, woke up today with thoughts of being able to lay down some color on Ol' Blue. Then my mind wandered to the question if I change her name when she is green..... oh well egg before the chicken.

Anyway, I digress..... I was very excited until the roller coaster started the first plunge to the earth. Got outside to the shop to check out and see how it looked...... I could see every single scratch in the paint. We are talking worse then Earl Shive ever did. My final sand of 240 was not fine enough.

So, went back and read the MUD painting 101 in the paint section, and realized with the new fancy paints, I need to wet sand with 400 then 600 grit before the final coat.

So, spent all afternoon sanding out in the garage. It is about 10pm now, and I am letting it dry off.

Plan is tomorrow to blow the 2nd "final" coat of epoxy (because I sanded through to metal in a couple places) and then Tuesday I can blow color and clear, and Wednesday I will lay down the textured interior.

I will try to post daily so you will gladly write a check and have someone else paint your rig.

This may be the best paint job I ever do, mainly because it may be the last one that I ever do.

 

[exrsa1]

Great work! I agree with the writing a check for painting. It will be perfect once you are done though, just like everyhting else you have done so far. Keep it up!

Brian

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

"This may be the best paint job I ever do, mainly because it may be the last one that I ever do. "

That's some funny stuff right there! About as good as my working on the basement a week ago.. Came upstairs asking if Jenn was going back out for stuff for turkey day cause I was out of beer.. I had to comment to her that I was making more progress than normal as the beer fridge was empty.. Her reply.. Uh there's beer up here? Me? Uh.. Didn't know that!


Kelly.. Looking great! So.. You hand sanding or using a DA to go to 400 then 600. And would you have sanded the "primer" with the 400 and 600 instead of sanding on the epoxy if you were to attempt another paint job?

 

[2fpower]

That reminded me of some great Homer quotes on Beer:

Opinions
Bart, a woman is like beer. They look good, they smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just to get one!

Parenting
Aw, there's only one can of beer left and it's Bart's.

Parenting
Now son, you don't want to drink beer. That's for Daddies, and kids with fake IDs.

Wise Cracks
All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer.

Opinions
Beer... Now there's a temporary solution.

Opinions
I like my beer cold... my TV loud... and my homosexuals flaming.

Opinions
Ah, the college road trip. What better way to spread beer-fueled mayhem?

Opinions
You must love this country more than I love a cold beer on a hot Christmas morning.

Opinions
I've figured out an alternative to giving up my beer. Basically, we become a family of traveling acrobats.

 

[2fpower]

To answer your question, on the 400 and 600 grit, it is all hand sand past 180.

So, to recap, I did the following: Note: I would not had to use epoxy if I were ready to paint next coat within 7 days.... I was really slow between steps....

1: epoxy primer sandblasted tub.
2: bodywork
3: epoxy primer (for adhesion), then build primer
4. sanded with 120 grit on long board (needed more build primer)
5. epoxy primer (for adhesion) build primer
6. sanded with 180 and 240 grit on long board
7. epoxy primer
8. wet sanded with 400 and 600 grit
9. epoxy primer for covering all
10. color next
11. clear final

So, if you were to work on small parts, or work fast, you could skip the epoxy in step 3 and 5, and if you had enough build primer, you could wetsand with 400 and 600 without step 7.

For example, when I do the hood, my hope is that I can:

1: epoxy primer sandblasted hood.
2: bodywork
3: build primer
4. sanded with 120 grit on long board
5. more build primer ;p
6. sanded with 180 and 240, 400wet and 600wet
7. epoxy primer
8. color
9. clear


Anyway here are pics after the step 9 on the longer list.....

 

[2fpower]

I wanted to add for those that are working on a fender, I was quite proud of my 5 minute brackets for the fenders. I cut some 4 inch angle iron that was sitting around, marked and drilled 4 mounting holes for the fender, bolted it to the fender and c clamped it to the table. WOW! made it easy to sand, paint, repeat....

I will throw a pic up later.

 

[madcardisease]

I am actually a paint tech by trade for a collision shop here in Topeka. And I must say, I am actually impressed as to the great lengths you are going through to make this project right! Most people that do a job like this from thier home skip alot of steps, or don't have a good attention to detail. So far I like what I see, Good job and keep with it. I hope to see this in person sometime, and if you have any paint or prep questions feel free to contact me I am always willing to help in any way I can.

 

[kc_chevota]

Kelly I have been warned that you should shoot every thing at once as you could get slight color varance due to changes in weather conditions. not sure if thats true but I thought I'd pass it along.

 

[2fpower]

Madcardisease. Thanks. I worked for a painter/ restorer back in high school and through college, (late 80's and early 90's) so I remember the "old" way to do things. This epoxy is all new to me. I hope it holds up - that is why I used it.

I agree with you Rob. Always heard that too. Just not possible in my shop booth. It is a solid color, no flake or metallic, so I hope it is good enough. If not, I can always scuff the next panel and blend it in.

Oh, it is 1am now, and just finished blowing the color on. Started about 9pm. and finished before midnight. I put on light coats at first then stepped it up a notch. Had a couple runs, and a couple times the cup hit something. I will wake up early in 5 hours or so, sand them out, run to home depot to get new filters for the exhaust, and shoot on the clear. Spec sheet says to shoot clear within 8 hours, so it will be close if HD opens at 6.

Looks good so far. Excited to see it in sunlight.

Cheers.... almost.

 

[2fpower]

eye candy

Here is pictures of the base coat on.

Lessons learned:

A: Two 20 x 25 filters on the exhaust are not enough. What I did was that I have a large 24 x 36 casement window on the side of the garage, bargain basement shopping years ago, anyway, I took a piece of plywood and cut to the size of the outside frame of window. Then cut hole for squirrel trap to blow out. As the window is on my wall of shelves, I then just boxed in with scraps a 30" by 40" shaft to the front of the shelf. Then I mounted two filters on the front. Super, except it was way not enough surface area. I ended up changing filters between coats, to keep air moving. Next time, I will likely blow straight out (with the junk media filter to slow air slightly) and just cover window with plastic.

The last picture is the angle iron mount

 

[2fpower]

more pictures of color

color base on

 

[2fpower]

Clearly better

clear went on at 6am

 

[2fpower]

more you say

I am in the giving mood. Actually, I little high on fumes likely...

 

[2fpower]

You want more, hmmm I say....

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!

 

[2fpower]

Next up:

Wait 24 hours, then I will tape off for the raptor liner on tub floor, running boards and tunnel.

Now, I need to start thinking about where all these painted parts are going to go until installation time. HMMMMM.

 

[mwalls54]

Awsome. Thats great work.