View single post by Art DeKneef
 Posted: 04-10-2005 05:04 am
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Art DeKneef

 

Joined: 03-12-2005
Location: Mesa, Arizona USA
Posts: 338
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Thoughts on the procedure based on what I have done in the past and am doing now to my 74.

First, the sandblasting. Did you get a bigger tent? If you are going to do this yourself, are you going to do the whole car or just some areas? I wouldn't recommend doing the whole car. If you don't move around fast enough, the metal will get hot and warp and you'll have more problems trying to fix it. When I stripped mine, I used a 8" sander and 80-grit paper to remove most of the paint. What I couldn't get with the sander, I used paint remover. This was easier than blasting the car. If you do decide to blast, use an abrasive, not sand. Either way, blasting will be messier and you'll discover little particles showing up for quite a while.

You can work in sections by sanding if you want. After sanding, you have a couple of options. If the doesn't need any work done to it, spray it with epoxy primer. This will seal it and offer moisture protection. If you don't feel like spraying a section at a time, then use Picklex 20 on the clean metal. This will protect it until you get ready to primer the car. For the interior of the car where you have removed all the rust, or most of it as the case may be, and am down to bare metal, use the Picklex 20. Here it will protect the clean metal and convert the rust. After it is thoroughly dry, I would cover it with Zero Rust. Works better than POR-15 in my opinion. Based on using both products.

If you need to use body filler anywhere, apply it directly to the metal, sand, then primer. You get better adhesion doing it this way than applying primer, then filler. If you prime with epoxy, be aware that some sand better than others. No doubt the car will have some low areas. To fix these and get a good straight surface, you'll want to spray some polyester primer next. This is high build primer that allows you to fill any little imperfections you might have. You might do with one coat, guide coat sand, spray another filler coat, guide coat sand until smooth.

Know comes the base coat. Spray a couple of coats of this and then comes a couple of coats of clear. After that drys and hardens, comes the polishing.  Should take you a couple of days, right? :-)

Each of the different paint products has their own time frame when you can move from one layer to the next without extra work. If you go past this window, you'll need to scuff it up before applying the next layer.

What kind of compressor and paint gun are you going to use? What kind of paint were you planning to use? Decide on a color yet?

All this is a lot of work, but is doable if you plan and take your time. Something we have plenty of. :-) But the feeling of having your car come out looking great afterwards is worth it.

Let me know if something isn't clear. There probably is since I gave the short version of the whole process. Or you can give me a call because this is one of those subjects where a lot of questions comes up once you start.

Art