Roller Paint Job Diary

dood you outta have pics on here so we can see your progress...


*disclaimer* if you said you didnt have a camera i apologize the thread is long and i just joined.

 

I know, but the buddy that lent me this 'no-name' camera has been out of town and although I've got a Pentax, a Canon and a couple of high-end Kodaks, (all film types), I can't get this thing to even click! He's just moving back into the city this week from cottage country. It sucks, because I've done some neat stuff.

One tip from the Roller-Paint author that I never noticed was how he sealed the backside of his Bondo work. He used the Rubberised Asphalt undercoat whereever he had to drill. Well I wanted to fill in the nameplate holes (2 Ford, 2 Squire and 1 Fairmont), since the nameplates on mine are foam backed with no mounting pins. So I used some body sealer on the inside of the front fenders and the tailgate and then glazing putty on the top side. Bob's your uncle! Done!

Now, you gotta know that I don't have a nice, dry, cozy garage, right? So I made up a lean-to out of my laundry line post and trailer on one side and the tubing from a long swingset that somebody threw out. I used my big tarp (16 X 19 feet IIRC) and a stretched it across 3 2X8's with some wood slats to support the tarp for rain. Works perfect! I used another smaller tarp to shade my tool bench, eat my lunch and fix parts (rain or shine!) My wife is allergic to chemical sprays, so I couldn't refinish in the basement workshop.

No bird-droppings, nice breeze, no dust, no fumes, but, no rain control. When it comes with 30 MPH winds, I have to stop, haul everything thing and work on other stuff!

Anyway, it works! I've tested the paint process on a couple of panels and there's no dust problem. I did find a couple of small spiders stuck in the paint the next day, but that's it! Even a garage would have that!

I'm used to good cameras, but the new digitals are still too expensive for what's in them, and they just haven't settled down on the refinements enough to go and drop a few hundred for something that will last more than a Windows upgrade!

My Pentax is 25 years old and still does a super job. The Canon is 10 years old and likewise takes great pics, and the Kodaks are even older and still work great. But I should have pics soon, like next week-ish!

 

you outta take your fil and have it developed on a cd. or scann, thats what i do, i hate digital. only the wife has digital. i love the old stuff, or else i wouldnt be here
good luck ill be watching....
Raf

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

You can watch Tremclad primer dry. Well in these 35 mph winds anyway, it flashes (goes dullish) in seconds! The can says 4 to 5 hours drying time, so I'll be good and wait until 7:30 PM.

The Rock Guard stuff only takes one hour to dry and it has to be above 16C. But it wants either bare metal or primer underneath. See! I do read the instructions BEFORE all else fails!

Then I can paint over it. At least I'll get the hood, roof and tailgate painted today (First coat only). I was hoping to get two coats on but had to get all the dusty plastic covers off the inside floor. There's no windows or anything inside (I mean nothing!). I have to wetsand between each 2 coats (400 on the first pair, maybe 400 but preferably 600 on the second pair, 600 and 800 on the third pair, and 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 on the seventh coat. Then buff. No polishing for 7 weeks.

Back at it!

 

you dissassembled number 5!

no seriously all the way? what did you do on the little crevaces??? spray bomb it? im gonna be attempting this in the summer time, too rainey in the invierno for me, llueve mucho aqui pa' tanto desmadre.

 

Coat Number One is on!

Boy its been a long journey since last November to get to this point!

I got the Primer and Rock Guard on too, and its as dry as a bone. We're still at 22C at almost 10:00 PM, and 62% humidity, so it'll dry solid by morning, ready for wetsanding.

I gotta say that I forgot about how great water is as a cutting lubricant. I didn't want to wetsand until I got to the paint because everything was open to the inside of the car (no windows, seats, wiring, nothing but a clean shell), so I went through various packs of 100, 200, 320. I used one 1/4 sheet of 400 to wetsand the roof and the hood/cowl and tailgate and I couldn't believe how well it came out!

Anyway, back at it tomorrow. The Weather forecasts are run by witches with dirty crystal balls. Environment Canada says 17C for a high, the Weather Network (Also Canadian), says 14C in the afternoon, starting at 13C at 7:00 AM, and the US Weather Channel says 14C. They never seem to agree even though they use the same local weather stations!

The rub is the Government one is more wrong than the other two!

 

wetsand by hand? or machine???

 

Ye olde handjob! I wanted to feel the for dips and nicks where the roofrack goes.

 

I stripped the car from under the hood, all the doors and hardware, windshield and tailgate glass, both front and rear wipers, and refinished the inside floor, window frames, every nut and bolt and screw was derusted (soak in vinegar with 2 tablespoon of salt = mild hydrochloric acid) then used Rustoleum's Rust Reformer on all the fasteners. Got a decent interior from a 1983 Zephyr 4-door and restored the upholstery, customised the fabric from the rear seatback for the swing-down wagon seat, and restored all the seat hardware.

If it could come off, it came off!

My car didn't have a heated rear window, but after some kids shot it and side glass (rear pass. quarter) with a pellet gun, the dealer installed one. My car didn't have the wiring so I used that part of the factory circuit from the Canadian donor (1978 two door fairmont sedan) and merged in with mine. While I was at it, I had to merge the underhood wiring for the Dizzy II distributor. (I swapped my 302 V8 out, changed the K-member and dropped in a newly rebuilt 200 I6 and tranny.)

Huge job! But worth the pain. I should be all done in two weeks, on the road!

 

Oops! Forgot the little crevices. I got Pro-Form's Body sealer (brushable) and went through every seam inside and out. I used Dominon Sure-Seal's Rubberised Asphalt undercoat under the car, inside the doors, under the fenders (when I had them completely off).

About the only thing I haven't done is the Rearend. I had a new exhaust and the brakes redone just before the V8 died in November.

The good thing is the stores and bodyshop supply places are one bus-ride away. So is the grocery store.

The donor came with a new Toshiba Cassette/Stereo radio, and mine had died. The speakers in my dash were all dried up and dying, and the back ones were dead when we got the car in Guadalajara. The donor had new ones!

I used a special vinyl paint to refinish all the interior moldings and trim plates and repaired and refinished the dashboard too.

I was a tech in the Army, so I refinished my guages and dash instruments and then I refinished all my woodie exterior trim with graining as well.

And lucky for me, a buddy had the complete set of 1978 Fairmont Ford Factory shop manuals and the City Library had a 1979 Fairmont Chilton manual. I already had the Haynes manual, and I've still got the Spanish Owner's manual for the car.

 

yeah im thinkin a light machine roughening of the paint on mine and fix up the imperfections and repaint (roller) then hand wet sand the body, and spray bomb the jams with a like color... if i had a house to call my own id strip er down...
man i cant wait till get a camara (digital) good luck!

 

That's what I did too! Rattle-can the door and window frames on the body and the dips on the hood to avoid runs in the gulleys. You do those gulleys, dips just before you roll close to them, otherwise its like a runny nose.

I've got a new Dual-Action Orbital Sander (6") and a 10" as well, but I really wanted to get the hidden rust nicks out, so that this rust paint could provide some end to that rust. I'm sure I got 95% of them, and the little ones that may show up later I can touch up easily now, since I know how to use this roller system.

 

I resisted the machine sanding, because the top-end bodyshops don't except where they have to fill or patch. They use long-boards (16 to 18" long) and sand on the length of the car panels. With a woodie, the only panels that really show is the roof, the hood and the tops of the doors. The bottom of the doors, and fenders are done with the pebble-finish Rock Guard so the real work is getting it smooth on the sides to make sure the new vinyl woodgrain sticks properly (no rust and no gaps).

On the the woodie sides, I'm just going to 600 grit, then finish the rest of the car to 2000 grit. Buff the whole car and put the vinyl on after about a week or two, while I get the rest of the car back together. Then I'll polish it. The rust paint needs a few weeks to release its chemicals, so you shouldn't seal it with wax for about 7 weeks. We don't really get snow until late November, so I'll be just within the limit before they start using salt on the roads.

 

At one point I thought about removing the doors and tailgate to put the new woodgrain vinyl on. Ford had a better idea! The only really tough one are the front doors at the front edge. You can get to that inside edge from behind the fender with the isolator pad removed (its like fiberglass insulation, held in place with 3 plastic push pins). I had to take it off anyway to take the vacuum tank off and check for rust (its one of the Fairmont's weak spots unless you use body sealer and undercoat, after cleaning it up. Check for front floor rust while you've got it open and finish it up too.

Anyway, its open enough to get a heat gun in there and press the vinyl's wrap-around edge properly onto the inside front edge of the door. The inside edge of the front fender (at the door seam) is just enough to get the finger(s) in, since the door swings into the body, when it's wide open.

I had to take another look, because it took me a couple of hours for each of three days to get all the doors and hood to line up right. Its a fiddly job, as the Hotrod Magazine tech article points out. Once they're on and painted so nicely, it would be a heart-breaker to take them off again. :banghead3: