Home 
Home Search search Menu menu Not logged in - Login | Register

 Moderated by: Greg Fletcher
New Topic Reply Printer Friendly
Body Work and Paint?  Rate Topic 
AuthorPost
 Posted: 04-09-2005 10:01 pm
  PM Quote Reply
1st Post
Dan Eiland
Member
 

Joined: 03-18-2005
Location: El Paso, Texas USA
Posts: 159
Status: 
Offline
I am finishing up the rust repair on my car and the body is still on my rotisserie. I think I have completed the rust repair and am finishing up grinding down the last of all the welding. Where do I go from here? I was going to sandblast the tub down to the metal and was thinking of treating it with a rust converter and then something like POR-15. I was going to use some epoxy to smooth out all the areas that have some pitting from rust and sand it smooth. After the epoxy I planned to use body filler to smooth out the areas where I had to weld in patch panels. Once I was finished prepping the tub I was going to spray it with a good quality primer. Once the primer was on I thought I would go through the tub and apply seam sealer everywhere I think it should go to keep out the moisture and then a little more sealer just because it is a LBC and I know it needs more sealer to keep out the moisture. (this last step is just to humor myself.) Once the tub is ready for paint I was going to begin prepping the body panels and mounting them to the tub so I can spray paint it all at once. Since I have never done this before I was wondering if some of you who have some expertise in body and paint (we're talking cars of course) might jump in and save me from doing this all wrong. Thanks ahead for any help or pitty I might receive from this posting.

Dan Eiland                                                                                                                     74 JH 15069

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 04-10-2005 12:25 am
  PM Quote Reply
2nd Post
Gary Martin JH 15371
Member
 

Joined: 03-12-2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 98
Status: 
Offline
I restored a 68 Camaro Z28 in 1990. After I had the car down to bare metal. I used 3M Metal Conditioner to treat it.  This is a rust converter. I apply it with ScotchBrite and wipe dry. This needs to be done quickly after exposing the metal, as bare metal starts rusting almost immediatly. I would then apply the seam sealer next, as this usually goes on under any paint. Then spray on a good quality Epoxy primer. After the epoxy primer, you can do all your filling. Minor filling you can use glazing putty. For deeper filling you may need a little bondo. Once body work is done, spray a few coats of sandable primer surfacer.  You can get it pretty close with the primer surfacer, sanding in between coats. Then your ready for top coat. I like to spray on a coat or two of the top coat, let it dry. This will show all the scratches and stuff you can't see with just the primer on. Then wet sand the top coat with 600 or 1000 grit. Once you have this looking good, you will be ready for final top coat (and clear if your using it).  Sounds like a lot of work, and it is.  I'm not a professional painter by no means, and I'm sure there is more good advice out there. But this method works for me. The paint on my Camaro still looks perfect after 15 years.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: 04-10-2005 05:04 am
  PM Quote Reply
3rd Post
Art DeKneef
Member
 

Joined: 03-12-2005
Location: Mesa, Arizona USA
Posts: 338
Status: 
Offline
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

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 04-11-2005 03:06 pm
  PM Quote Reply
4th Post
Brett Gibson JH5 20497
Member
 

Joined: 03-17-2005
Location: Hilton, New York USA
Posts: 798
Status: 
Offline
Dan, you should be talking with Mitch Ware he did what you are doing now plus he owns a body shop and could probably give you a step by step on how to save yourself some time and trouble.







villageauto@earthlink.net

here's his link, plus check his car out on the JHS Photo Gallery under NY, it's a real beauty.

Brett.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: 04-11-2005 09:26 pm
  PM Quote Reply
5th Post
Dan Eiland
Member
 

Joined: 03-18-2005
Location: El Paso, Texas USA
Posts: 159
Status: 
Offline
Thanks Brett, I already did after I posted to the list.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 04-22-2005 03:35 pm
  PM Quote Reply
6th Post
SportsRodder
Member
 

Joined: 03-25-2005
Location: San Dimas, California USA
Posts: 27
Status: 
Offline
CAUTION!!

When considering sandbasting DO NOT use sand or go to a sanblasting company that does not do cars being restored.  There are other materials such as glass beads which do a better job.  In my ignorance I took my Jensen to a commercial sandblaster and have been getting sand out of the many hard to clean places for the last 15 years.  I installed a Delta front stabilizer bar last month and when drilling the holes got a face full of sand

Pat

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

Current time is 01:31 pm  
> Jensen Healey & Jensen GT Tech > Body & interior stuff > Body Work and Paint? Top




UltraBB 1.172 Copyright © 2007-2011 Data 1 Systems