Roller Paint Job Diary

I should outlive this restoration job. I give it 10 years before the rust pops out anywhere on the body. At today's car prices for a decent 'wagon' type, I figure I'll save $300 per month in payments. I used the PPG paint on a '55 Stude President! Excellent Paint, BTW. But like you said, I was already into this process, and I like the way its coming along.

They're promoting flu shots here in Canada. With all the exercise, sun and fresh air (here in the prairies we still get fresh air! ), I haven't felt as fit, since I did all the house siding and insulation. It makes me wonder who is restoring what. Me or the car?

Even my wife gives me a 'second look' , or am I 'de secundos'?

 

Post Paint Re-assembly plan

I'm about 3 or 4 days away from starting to re-assemble the car. It's gonna be a bit cooler by then, hitting 12 to 14C (mid 40's F), but not -6C to -15C when I started this last November. We call it the flight of the kiki bird! ki-ki-kirist! It's c-c-c-cold!!! So I did a final re-assembly Excel 2000 worksheet, laying out the different stages of which parts I need to, or can prepare and/or install, with dependencies on stage of readiness, estimated times, and dates of completion. If its useful to anyone, I uploaded it. It's only 41 KB in size!

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1019

What it means for me, is that I can prep certain parts while the paint dries or if its raining or too humid (not likely this time of year, here).

In my case, the only parts on the car are the engine/tranny, disassembled doors. Electrical, Interior (including headliner, seats, carpet, heater, dash, door latches, handles and locks, are all out) There's nothing outside either. We are talkin' NAKED CAR!

Heck, I have to re-install the emergency brake, most of the engine compartment bits (alt, pwr strg, msd, vacuum, carb, wiper, pwr brks, horns, antenna, woodgrain, moldings, and all the brackets.)

Its the 6th today, and I want to be done by the 16th of October. I'm estimating based on Mitchell's manuals for the Fairmont, but Motor's manuals would be in the ballpark, too. There's about 100 more hours to go, I hope, I hope.

The thing is it gives me a visual schedule, notes of unknown or remaining tasks, and I know which order works best to get the most out every day.

Its adjustable to change the date and balance the hours to something reasonable. For me, a 10-13 hour run in a given day is fine, but if you're working a job and restoring the car, this might help to focus your thoughts and max out your time.

We're a bit like the Rev, semi-retired, self-employed. We don't have any kids either, so that makes us Double Income No KidS! Time is of the essence anyway.

 

The weather is horrible. We never officially got to 10C, but I put a good thermometer out near the car and it was 13C! Hehe, the kid got to wetsand the car! Then I prepped and painted the plastic 'fender extenders' and the fresh air grille for the cowl with the Tremclad. They came out great!

Tomorrow, it's going to 8C and 1.5" of rain - all day and night until Tuesday morning. Yuk!

No matter, I've got the chrome trim to sand and finish. I'll spray it up in the attic so my wife doesn't get nauseous. It's warm enough up there. I'll finish the plastic parts up there as well.

 

What a yukky day! 8C (46F) Winds from the North at 20 klicks to 40 klicks and humditity at 82%! The forecast called for 10C which in my yard goes up to 12C (don't know why) and my high fence cuts the wind, but the humditity? Oh well, I'm cleaning up my window moldings in the kitchen (the SWMBO is out) so I'll stay on schedule. Tomorrow is cloudy again and maybe today's twin - another yukky one, but I'll get the seats re-assembled (upholstery to frame). Did I say I took the WHOLE car apart!!!?? Yeah right down to the bed springs!

The aluminum trim is generally in good shape, so I'm just cleaning out the road tar and dust, and pressing out the bumps with a wooden spoon (rub hard or use a small rubber mallette to tap out as much as possible, then rub out with the spoon.

The worst ones are the rocker panel moldings of course (road tar plus) and some corrosion, but I'll use the POR15 Metal Ready to stop the corrosion and etch the aluminum and then clear coat.

I've got one 1/4 hole in one and I'm debating whether to use body sealer in behind and liquid metal (muffler repair material) to fill it, then sand and then clear coat. Glazing putty would probably fall out, because people are used to kicking off the snow from their boots on those moldings. And what makes it worse, the molding clip goes right behind that small hole!

If that doesn't look feasible, I may make a fancy PVC cover for each end of the molding and bond it to the molding. I'm not out to win "Best Original Awards" with it. I want to drive it and keep it looking sharp!:banghead3:

 

Weather links

For those brave souls who dare to take up their rollers and do this I apologize for not posting this link that I found a few weeks ago. In itself it's not useful if you don't live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - the North American continental Navel. We're dead center between the two coasts (East and West) and the North Pole and the Equator.

BUT!

Ah yes, the infamous but. The icon links link back to virtually every weather service on the Planet. And I'll bet that many universities have these local Weather Stations. What's good about it, for me at least, is that it's closer to my home (10 blocks) than the Federal Weather Stations and gives me an update every 5 minutes. So I can tell if the Federal broom-hildas (witches) have really used a dart board or a clean crystal ball for their miserable and often erroneous forecasts. These guys are government bureaucrats with a sour puss - negative, negative, negative! So this one gives me a shimmer of hope that I can do the paint (over 10C or 45F), whether the humidity is decent (don't want to trap moisture under the paint) and accurate windspeeds (low dust and enough drying time to get the chemicals to 'breathe out' before it hardens.)

Is a spray painter sounding easier? I've got two, but I don't have a garage, so I can't tick off my neighbours and send my brown overspray over to their windshields, one guy's nice shiny fishing launch and the patio furniture on both sides of my house.

Anyway, the links are all over the page. There's a blog there too, but I think its for students and faculty.

Just run your mouse over the icons and see which national or university service it points too.

We just heard of a Science Research paper from 'Nature' Magazine, that the Earth's humidity has gone up by 2% and will continue to rise to just under 24% more by 2050 (get those Arizona cars quick!). I don't think I'll last that long, even if the car does, but it does mean that people will buy more dehumidifiers, even for simple stuff. It means more chance of mold in cars, attics, etc. And probably means that jobs like this will need different chemistry (thinners, fillers, color pigment bases, etc.) Even a garage won't help that.

Here's the link:
http://weatherstation.uwinnipeg.ca/

 

ya know i,m not generally keen on goopin stuff in holes ,,i,d rather weld or repair in shall we say more better fashion but,,,,,,,i bought a gas tank fer my harley a number of years at a swap meet it was a little rough but i did,nt care because it was five bucks,,,,,so anyways i get home and start strippin paint off and find a bunch of mud (bondo) in one side ,,,no biggie grind it all out and find a hole in the bottom of this pit of mud about the size of a dime,,,,,,filled with ,,,,,,,jb weld now this stuff looked like it had been theere a while and there was no indication of fuel leakage a pretty nasty repair but it seemed to have held,,,,,,so i first pulled the dent out welded up my pull holes and cut a plug to fit the dime size hole and welded it up and finish the metal work skim coat of mud,, finish work etc,etc that was ten years ago and a WHOLE lot less bondo but there are some good products out there that would do the job and do quite well,,,i was just sharing a pointless story of hole gooping techniques

 

80, I never thought about the JB Weld, but that would do the trick, Thanks!

Got the third coat on today, and now I see why a lot of guys stopped at 4 coats. It looks sharp!

I'll get the fourth coat on tomorrow, then wetsand with 600, then two more coats. The days are really short and don't warm up until mid-day, enough to put the paint on, so I can only get one coat on per day, and wetsand after the second, fourth, sixth, until the next day.

If I see that it helps, I may go seven coats.

I upgraded to a finer brush and it makes me wonder if using the roller to spread the paint and the brush to smooth it out and level out where runs happen (molding rivets, door handle cavities, sheetmetal bends, etc.) makes more sense, because it comes out much nicer than just the roller applied paint. After today's run, it almost looks polished.

 

Pictures? I don't need no stinkin' Pictures?

My buddy came over with the sad news that the no-name camera was DOA, NFG (No Good!), but he brought his fancy, handy dandy Canon. He took a swath of 'em. Even me! And the camera survived!

He's going to put them on CD RW and bring them over tomorrow.

Anyway I got the fourth coat on! I am impressed, and that was sanded with only 400 grit. Tomorrow I wetsand with 600 and put coat five and six on.

There's a hornets' nest around here and they came crawling, but they waited until the paint was touch-dry. The little black flies aren't that smart, they must have got high smelling the thinners coming out of the paint, 'cause they just seem to land on anything but their feet, and they always seem to hit the tacky sections!

Anyway, it looks sharp for a car that's being painted outside, in the cool fall, by a guy who's only done bodywork when he was younger and stupider (that's debatable). I'm really happy with it.

 

The Province is going to change our licence plates soon because they flogged a new slogan. The old one is Friendly Manitoba. The new one is Spirited Energy.

I know I can get a custom plate name but it can't be more than 7 letters. So Roller Blade won't work, Trem Clad could be shortened to TRMCLAD, but I might try "4Q2" (its an obscure math formula) if I don't come up with something good!

I've got time, I renew next month and I've still got about 2 weeks worth to do.

Suggestions?

 

Getting down to the short strokes, I thought about materials and figured I'd write down some tips.

I bought one can (litre or US Quart) of Tremclad/Rustoleum primer and used about half. I didn't need that much really, because I did the rust nicks and pin holes in the original paint with their Rust Reformer, a pint would have been enough. The Chestnut brown is theirs as well and it is also a rust paint. Where I used the primer mostly was on the rocker panels door bottoms and some small parts. When I did use it on the body, I thinned it down as well (50/50) and it did fill ok, but the paint flows better and fills fine sanding marks even better. I bought 4 litres (one US gallon) and had I watched the bubbles on the first two coats, I'd have enough for 8 coats over the whole car. As it is, I planned on 6 coats, but I may do the seventh on the roof, hood, upper tailgate and the tops of the fenders. The doors, tailgate bottom and fender sides get the woodgrain anyway and the door bottoms have the Rock Guard. So 4 litres is enough.

I used 3 gallons of mineral spirits - 1-1/2 were for cleanup (parts, brushes, containers) the rest was for the actual paint and wiping off the residue after wetsanding.

4 tack cloths, one package of the foam brushes (crappy and fall apart too easily). I'm on the second tack cloth, and its clean and tacky. The first one got filled with glazing putty dust and some overspray where I sprayed the door frames on the body. I'll probably use the last two.

I changed to a quality brush (for varnish) with bevelled brush tips (1-1/2 inch wide with 2.25" bristle length, and it does a far nicer job. The foamies break up when you run them over the molding rivets and they don't pick up the excess paint at the rivets, where it will run down - note the keyword "Will". After about 10 minutes you can see the brush marks are gone. The paint lays down just fine. The trick with either the foamies or the brush is to hold it at a 55 to 60 degree angle from the wrist - no pressure on the brush, to get the bubbles out. That's tricky when you're riding down the front of the roof line or hood line (front faces, not edges), but when you don't you'll get bubbles remaining and then runs and sags.

Make sure you run the brush along the edges to catch any bubbles that flowed down and any excess paint, because it will build up and then you'll have to touch up when it chips off, after it dries.

The original moparts.org forum guy, 69Charger, and others repeatedly recommended that you stick to one panel until it was painted. What that means is get the fresh paint on, nuke the bubbles, catch the runs and sags BEFORE you do another panel. The roof is a bear, even on a Fairmont. I mentally divided up into 4 sections (my arms length). The first coat - post bubble issue - went on rolling from centre to side, then I figured out how to keep rolling on the roof length (stand in the open door, not on my fancy 12" boardwalk perch) and it came out much nicer.

A wagon roof is tricky because they don't provide the same rigid cross bars underneath, at the rear of the car, (above the headliner) so you can't press down much or it springs up. I'll check tomorrow if I can fit a piece of styrofoam in or a cloth between the 'rafter' and the roof skin.

That's a pain when you're wetsanding, but after the second coat, most of the need for pressure is gone. I block sanded the roof and hood and door sides with the 400 grit, but I'll probably not use the block as much with the 600 and up grits. I had a few thin spots on the corners (sheetmetal bends) after the bubble-boo-boo, and I don't want to cut through them. Also the roof-rack mounting holes were a bit distorted and they sanded down to bare metal, so I'll just pass lightly around those by hand. One trick I found is that after you use the brush to stroke out bubbles, it has some paint that's getting drier and it's just sticky enough to put some color over an oversanded spot elsewhere on the car.

If you mix 50/50, the paint will start flashing faster, so if you aren't watching for runs and sags, they can be a bit tough to work out, so A) Don't do a large area all at once - I do 3 roller widths (overlap by about an inch) and then brush out the bubbles. B) If you do get too far ahead, run the roller (before you reload it with new paint) over the sags and then stroke them out with the brush.

When you're working near a crease/bend, don't press down on the roller, try to get to the crease after you've rolled out 2 other widths of the 3 above. Then do the vertical bend, just touching the wet paint on the horizontal surface you just painted. Make sure that the ridge got covered with a wet coat, but not running wet. You can pass your brush over and connect any small dry spots so that the paint will flow together and lay down seamless. Always start with the horizontal surface (paint, and sh!t run downhill). On the verticals (pillars, sides) the paint will want to run straight down. I rolled it on horizontally (across even the narrow pillars, and then I started brushing out the bubbles (horizontally) from the bottom of the fresh paint to get an even coat at the top of the pillar. Then running the brush vertically on the height of the wet area to ensure a smooth finish, without horizontal streaks.

For any novices to a paint brush, especially a fine-bristled brush, once you get paint in it, the idea is that the bristles hold the paint between them until you apply pressure. Using it to puncture air bubbles filled with wet paint also helps to store the bubbles between the bristles. So if you press too hard the bubbles come back on the paint surface. It's the chicken and egg problem. You're the rooster, the brush master and it takes a bit of trial and error, but after thinking about the threat of sanding off few thousand bubbles, you'll get it. Promise!

The roller is another story. It's cavities are meant to hold paint, but when you just barely float the roller's paint onto the metal, the cavities start collecting air. If you press down, it looks like a gillette shaving foam and you're chasing big bubbles and running paint all over the place. If you do lean on the roller too much, roll out the paint foam into a new dry row - Don't Press down! And roll the mess out.

I tried putting paint with the roller down hard and it does go down smooth, hardly no bubbles, but when you release the pressure, out shoot the bubbles like a shaken champagne bottle. It's a no no!

 

Wow! That's going to be handy!:banana:

There's 52 pictures. He emailed me a picture of my Mexican Garage and told me there's 52 all together, so I guess I'm playing with a full deck, even if I'm occasionally one brick short of a load!:banana:

 

My Mexican Paint booth and yours truly

I didn't want to put this one in the Photo Gallery because it doesn't focus on the car, but I wanted to give you an insider's view of my working conditions. I have to go the mirror and ask the boss for a better shop, eh?!



That little smoke stack is where one of my neighbours smokes his fish catch.

 

I should have said "Nice from afar, but far from nice." or in French "Beau de loins, mais loins d'etre beau!" and for $arge "Que Guapo este cabron!"