Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Day 169 & 170

The past couple of days have shown some good progress.  No pictures, unfortunately.

First, I started blocking all the larger parts.  I got one door done yesterday and made a run to the paint store for more primer filler to the tune of $500.  Silly that most of it will be sanded away anyway, but it's the good stuff!

Today, I got the other door done and 4 fenders.  I switched up my technique because using 400 grit to start I was taking a long time and using a lot of paper.  Instead, I started with 220 to get most of the major issues taken care of.  I didn't even go on to 400 and 600 because all the fenders and doors will most definitely need another spray coat of primer filler to even out the imperfections.  Some of them may need two more coats.

Tomorrow I hope to get the decklid and hood done.  Then I should be ready to spray another coat of primer.  While that cures over a couple days I'll start blocking the actual body.

Good to see progress!

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Day 168

Some more progress today.

First, I sourced a replacement visor for the one that was broken during "restoration".  It should be here Monday and I'll get it sent out to get restored, properly.  I also sourced a couple horn buttons which are in nice shape to replace mine which has a bunch of cracks and crazing.

Today, I started block sanding some of the small parts getting them laser smooth for the final paint application.  I started with all the "small" parts for the car.  The rear tail light housings, license light housing, brackets, supports, speedometer cable tube, the dash grills, etc.

About half of them blocked out fine the first try.  I started with 400 grit and then went to 600.  They turned out nice.

The other half were suspect to begin with so I blocked them until I started to see metal showing and stopped!  The idea is to sand down the high spots to meet the low spots.  Well if the low spot is the metal, you can't sand anymore.  The next step is to apply more primer filler to raise the lows and then block it again.  This could go 3 or 4 times.  Because I spent quite a bit of time on body work I'm hoping to only have to prime twice, but I'll see and do what it takes to do a good job.

Here's a sample of what I was doing.  First I sprayed a guide coat which is a contrasting color onto the piece.  Then with the sand paper and a flat block (of rubber-ish material) I sand in an X pattern to get the primer flat.

As you can see below the guide coat slowly gets sanded off as the high spots are brought down to the lows.  More or less you are trying to take the peaks down to the valleys to make a nice plain.  A topography analogy, brilliant!

This glove box door was one of the pieces I could not get flat on the first try.  As you can see, there is filler (blue) showing through which is the same as sanding to metal.  There is also metal showing on the bottom right.  The next step in this process is back into the paint booth to apply more primer filler onto the piece.  This will bring the valleys up higher which allows them to meet the bottom of the peaks when sanded down again.  Make sense?

I'm going to run to the paint store tomorrow.  I need some more primer filler ($$$), guide coat, and some other odds and ends.

I have the fenders, doors, hood, decklid, and full body left to sand...a lot of repetitive motion in my future!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Day 167

Well it's been a few weeks since I had any real progress.  Work and life get in the way I guess.

It hasn't been as insanely hot so it is hospitable in the garage, which is a good thing.

Today, I got the interior items (and my last "random" color!!!) sprayed.  L471 Stone Beige is the color.

Overall, very happy with the results.  This is a single stage paint and I don't know if it is my technique or what but I really enjoy spraying it.  It lays out so much better than the epoxy primer with NO runs.  I feel like a pro shooting it.

Setup.
Ready to spray.
Results

Next step is sanding, sanding, sanding all the body parts!

Monday, July 13, 2015

Day 163 - 166

It has been almost a month since the last update!

I have had progress just a bit slower than I'd like and with less frequent updates.

Everything has been primed and is ready to be block sanded now.  The body turned out pretty good although there are several runs in the paint I have to take care of.  It's very strange because on the color coats I had almost no issues with the runs and when it came to the primer it was a bit more troublesome.  Anyway, no big deal as I can sand out the the problems before my final coat of paint.

I also sent out my rear view mirror for restoration and it came back broken which was a bit of a shame.  The company that did it is looking for a new one, we'll see what happens.


And I was able to get the glass logo etched on my side windows.  They turned out pretty good and I'm happy with them!


When I have some free time I'm going to finish painting the ivory items for the inside of the car and then off to block sand!