Roller Paint Job Diary

Yeah, I've got both types of putty. And I got a good demo on the tailgate with the slooooow stuff. But it got too cool to paint last evening so I left it for today. Luckily, I've only got three small dents (that I can see so far )

Thanks for the reminder.

On the primer, I'm using the rustoleum/Tremclad primer since it does provide some rust protection and does a good filling job. Not as good as the other stuff, but I basically need it as a color coat to see how far I'm sanding down.

 

well you did guide coat it right ?? that will tell you where your at as far as sanding ,low spots, orange peel etc,,,,,and did you prime the whole car or just spot prime it ?? i forgot if you mentioned in a previous post

 

So far, I've primed the roof and all the door frames on the body. I took off the roofrack and roof glides, so I wanted to keep the dew off the bare metal. I had a couple of rust spots/chips around the windshield and some shallow scratches between the roof glide areas, so I sanded down to the bare metal and put some rust reformer (rustoleum) left it for 24 hours, sanded with 320, tack cloth, then primer. The roof looks good to go. Belt line and below tomorrow and one or two doors, then the engine compartment.

 

Wagonmaster worked his magic and transformed my 88 megabyte Word 2000 download of the original first 43 and next 20 pages or so comments and pictures of the moparts.org Roller Paint job forum down to 9 documents totalling about 800,000 bytes! Windows Wordpad should open them too and I put the links into each document back to the forum's topic pages.

I'd suggest you right-click and choose Save Target As... to download them.

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty%20Dollar%20Paint%20Job%20Section1.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section2.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section3.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section4.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section5.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section6a.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section6b.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section7.doc
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/articles/Fifty Dollar Paint Job Section8.doc

 

Woodgrain Adhesive hiccup!

If you're lucky enough to have a late model woodie wagon, the 3M adhesive cleaner/remover probably works. But its pricey. I used Lepage's Super Stripper on my woodgrain trim pieces (aluminum), then POR's Metal-Ready to re-phosphate them (alodine) so they don't pit from our roadsalt, etc. Then I refinished them.

But, I still had some adhesive on the body and doors, and I left them thinking it would harden up and sand off. Fat chance!

I tried 60-grit on one, because it had some heavy rust pitting starting to happen. No need for that brute force. Back to LePage's Super Stripper, works like a charm! You put it on, juicy but not dripping wet, let it work for a few minutes (I did a door width (woodgrain area only) in three 2 sq. ft. sections). My dad used to say "Its a cinch by the inch and hard by the yard!" Well its true with the Stripper too. It will dry up on you before you get scraping off the first part you brushed it on. Small chunks, scrape, repeat if needed, move to next chunk and repeat, then wash off with water, and finally clean off with mineral spirits, and if you're going to use bondo or spot putty, use lacquer thinners for a final wipe about an hour later.

WEAR RUBBER GLOVES! They ain't kidding! That stuff is sneaky. At first, it feels cool, then it starts to bite - HARD! Especially if you've got cuts and scrapes and handling rusty parts. I'm pretty calloused from all I've been doing on the car and the house, but that Polystripper is meaner than a junkyard dog! I got one infection on a knuckle that stands out about a 1/4" and just my luck that stuff got in there. I had a pail of fresh water next to me, and that probably saved me from seeing a finger melt-down!

You really want to make sure you wash it all off of the sheet metal, because it can reactivate again every time it rains or you wash the car, especially the drips that get inside the door through the lock or the handle openings. It can eat steel too. Mean, mean, mean stuff!

Oops! One more thing!
Before you apply any spot putty or bondo, use POR's Metal-ready or a Rust neutralizer (phosphate agent) I use the metal-ready, but Tremclad's (rustoleum) Rust Reformer is a lacquer/acetone based product so it won't conflict with spot putty or bondo products. If you're going to patch with brazing or welding, the Metal-Ready will do a better job to prevent oxidizing around the heated areas (from welding). That way you won't leave grinding marks all over the place and thin the old sheetmetal too much!

 

UV Rating is a factor!

The Rustoleum/Tremclad paints are made with UV protection. You want the paint to cure properly so that it can bond to the previous layer, so you can't paint on hot metal, you can't paint in direct sunlight and you can't over-thin the paint to compensate for high humidity.

I noticed that when the temperature is the same, but the UV is 7 or 8, the paint dries faster (3 hours vs. 5 hours) above 23 degrees Celsius (72-75 F) and humidity at about 45 to 55%.

The fellow who started the Moparts.org thread is from Toronto, Ontario, land of high humidity levels and he recommended that the Paint thinner (100% Mineral Spirits) and paint should thin to about the consistency of 1% Milk (1% fat type). That's about 50-50 paint and thinners. Adding more thinners might be necessary if your humidity is like 65 to 70% while the paint is drying. If I paint by 3:00 PM (40-55% humidity) and the paint dries under a UV 5 in 5 hours, then 50-50 is fine (at 23C), at 8:00 PM.

If its a UV 7, I might cut back on the thinners by 5% (55 paint, 45 thinners, unless the 8:00 humidity looks like over 60%. 5 hours of drying does let it bond better. I sand in the morning (10 AM-ish), so as not to tick off the neighbours. The paint is hard enough after that many hours to sand off and touch up any dents I missed or made.

 

Detailing the Engine compartment today!

Actually I started yesterday but Ma Nature dropped from 18.5 C to 6C overnight, and that paint wouldn't have cured properly. It's like all plans of mice and men, they oft' go aglye. I got in there this morning, and started. The new brake vaccum, installed last August, had to come out. When I swapped to the I6, it was too damned cold to fiddle with cleaning off grease and muck. The same with the V8 sway bar. And I'm going back in this gorgeous day of 22C, mild breeze, perfect weather to wash it down and get that done. I did the engine yesterday, and I have to say that it is soooo much easier without a hood on! Lots of light, no head-banging, no support rods or hinges to fight when you need just the 'right' angle.

I want to get the hood, doors and front fenders on to do the bodywork, and keep them drier than standing on wooden blocks. Once that's done, they come off (not the hood and on goes the paint and woodgrain.

There's no hardware or glass to fiddle with or mask, and I've already done the undercoating inside the doors and hood and tailgate. Once painted, the glass and door hardware, then the wiring harnesses, interior, etc. That's the plan, anyway.

 

Me too! Damn camera doesn't work or I ain't doin' it right!

Well, the engine compartment is done! I even got the cross-member done! Looks sharper than smoldering sheep-poop!

 

Door shells, Hood and fenders are back on so I can prep them for paint! Man did I discover unused muscles! Ouch!

Rain is on the menu for this afternoon, but I'm going to seal up the doors, so dust doesn't get inside. I just finished coating them with new undercoat inside, so any dust will just absorb humidity. After today, there's no rain forecast for 6 days!

Might get some brazing done today if the wind stays down.

 

Hot Rod Magazine put up the full July 2007 issue article about Roller Painting a 1962 Falcon!
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0707_1962_ford_falcon_budget_paint_job/index.html

OK! I'm getting close to painting, at last! But FIRST!

Panel Alignment... I read this on Hot Rod Magazine's Tech Pages and took it to heart. Am I glad I did!
http://www.hotrod.com/howto/hdrp_0609_panel_alignment/

Unibody cars are different, but not that much, especially when they're 28 years old. With a framed car, you could heist them up on stands and go for it, except the X-Framed late 50's -early 60's Chevs and Ponchos.

Hours and hours of fiddling. You should have someone helping you, but I didn't. Its a long weekend, and everybody's doing their own thing.

It's worth the effort. I fiddled with the hood a couple of days ago, and realized I had to start from the back doors and work forward. Now all the lines match up and the trim will be better positioned than the factory did it.

The hood lip would never have lined up if I had started there. The front door hinges aren't accessible with the fenders on. Now my hood sits perfectly centered and the front edges (hood and fenders) line up like a new car!

I can imagine the edge nicks I'd have to fix, if I had done this afterward.

 

Norm...are you planning to paint the beast before the Snows hit..or are you shooting for next year to have her done?

 

This week! I'm down to the short strokes, so to speak!

 

Mother Nature got into a snit since the last post. Rain, threats of frost, odd day of sunshine and more rain - typical Prairie Fall weather. I've been getting the new interior together and restoring the hardware. It came from a 1983 Fairmont Futura 4-door that had been in the junkyard since 2003 open to rain and snow and people stuffing bumpers on top of the seats. They cleaned up great though. After tomorrow, we have 5 days of sun, over 13C, so I can finish the prep work and get painting.

 

The fall is setting in and that means some nights down to almost frost. This weekend looks like a summer weekend and the forecast says the whole week will be more sunny than the last 3 weeks. The problem was it wasn't warm enough to even put glazing putty on until noon! Tomorrow the day starts off at 15C by 8:00 AM, so this kid will be out there like a blue-a$$ed fly in mating season! 2 coats of paint, real paint tomorrow.

I just finished all the 320-grit sanding today, and found a few small nicks to fill, first thing, sand them down, then 400 grit the whole car, and paint!

I had a new 1981 Fairmont Futura wagon in 1981, and it came loaded. It had that pebble finish on the bottom of the doors, rocker panel and fenders, and I'm doing that first - it dries in an hour. Then the first coat, wait 5 hours, then the second coat. Then wetsand with 400, then wetsand with 600 grit.

If I have any runs, I get those out before the 400 wetsand. I only used my belt sander on one rough spot on the bottom of the driver's door frame. Not one electric tool so far, in the refinishing process. No need for gym classes. All that sanding and crouching made me into a lean, mean, restoration machine! Well up to a point.

My wife laughed her head off when I told her about an aunt who married a Greek chef. My mother told us that once their son got married, the aunt told him "Honey, when I first married you, I thought you were a Greek God, now your just a god-darned old greek!" He was 20 years her senior. The old buzzard always looked old since I first met him when I was about 9 or 10, and that's about 5 decades ago. My turn's comin!

The car will look better! My wife finally wants to get her Canadian Driver's License. I guess I'm getting parked!