[Brewster]

Awesome booth Michael and lots of killer input from the guys that have perfected these systems. Crazy, great stuff!!!

[mrennie]

Done. What a massive job. Everyone was right, prep was 90% of the .work.

I have dust nibs and some orange peel but with 4 coats should be able to cut and buff.

I'm tired, sore, and hitting Cuban rum to celebrate.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice!

[JUDGE3]

Awesome. the whole thing. excellent work, paint booth, jigs for holding the parts, beautiful paint job. I'm taking notes!

[400 4spd.]

Originally Posted by JUDGE3

Awesome. the whole thing. excellent work, paint booth, jigs for holding the parts, beautiful paint job. I'm taking notes!

Looks fantastic! Congratulations to you on your hard work. Now take a break and let it cure.

[MUSLCAH]

Just 50 hours of sanding and buffing.....then you’ll know what sore is....lol

[MUSLCAH]

Or you can paint it twice...like Grave Yard Cars..

[dataway]

Love it! Can't wait to be there myself.

[ZeGermanHam]

Looks great, congrats! Excited to see more photos as it comes together.

[Greg Reid]

Very, very nice. I'd love to try that some day.

[webfoot]

Congrats! Looks like you did a great job.

[Shiny]

You must be really happy after all that work. Nicely done! Looks beautiful.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Nicely done - congrats on the milestone. It can be a long haul sometimes. Looking forward to seeing it come together.

[mrennie]

Thanks for the support! I'm more relieved than anything, as I was very concerned about screwing this up!

After closer inspection, I have some boo-boos that will need fixing...I have a sag on both sides on the quarter panels near the quarter windows and a small run on the quarter window opening. I will have to learn how to fix these. For now they will sit and cure as I take a break and get things done around the house.

Halfway through my last coat, I started to notice the gun seemed to slow down and I did not realize that the regulator had started to unscrew and my air pressure to the gun was lower. I finally caught it but must have done 15 passes that way. This, coupled with the fact that my technique of making passes on the quarters overlapped with my passes around the quarter window opening led to excess paint in the same area on both sides. I'm disappointed in this but its my first paint job so I'm probably expecting too much. The main thing is there is lots of paint to work with for repairs, so unless I really mess up I believe I can fix these and buff it all out.

Even after all the prep work and cleaning and getting things just right, there are still so many things that can go wrong during the painting!

Having said all that, I still have no regrets about doing it myself. I know it will look great when I am done and I have learnt so much (and will continue to learn for the cut and buff )

[mrennie]

Also some info to share.

Even with the front tires on the ground and the rear tires removed and a jack under the differential (lowered all the way down), I did not feel that I could reach the centre of the roof without getting the airline or my paint suit in the paint.

I had planned to use the same 3' long work platforms that I used to block sand the roof, one on each side of the car, and walk them while spraying then move them out of the way while I did the rest of the body. However, when I practiced this before painting I was still getting my suit in the way and also did not feel comfortable leaning over as there was nothing to lean against.

What I ended up doing was to use a 3 step folding step stool that had a loop at the top, and set that up just even with back of the door opening. From this location I could stand on the third step and spray 95% of the roof nice and wet without having to relocate the step stool. When I got off the stool, I could then move to to the back window opening and use it to reach the middle of the opening and get full coverage to the window channel as well as make sure the back section of the roof was wet. I then moved to the front and with no stool I could get the front edge of the roof and window channel. Once I did all the paint down to the rocker area I pumped up the jack as high as it would go and did under the rockers, then lowered it back down for the next coat.

This stool was also good because I could lean against it with my stomach and my paint suit wasn't flapping all over. Leaning against the handrail of a stool isn't OSHA approved but worked well for this job.

With a paint suit, air line, and supplied air hood and hose (+ a beer belly) there sure is a lot of stuff to drag through the paint if you aren't careful!!!

[mrennie]

Regarding supplies...I've seen lots of posts asking how much paint is needed to do an entire car. I'm sure this is quite variable depending on mix ratio and number of coats, gun type, etc.

In my case I had bought 1 gallon + 3 quarts (so 7 US quarts) of single stage R-M UNO-HD. I mixed all this paint in a plastic tub to ensure there was no variation in the tints then I put it all in new 1L cans. I had a total of 6 full 1L cans and one 3/4 full 1L can.

The mix ratio for this product is 3-1-1 paint-hardener-reducer.

Front and rear valance got 3 coats on exterior side.

Doors and trunk lid got 4 coats outside and 2 coats on inside jamb area

Hood got 4 coats on exterior.

Nosecone got 4 coats on exterior.

Body got 4 coats on exterior and 3 on jambs. I used exactly 116 OZ of mixed paint for the body shell.

I had wasted about 10 ounces of mixed product throughout the paint job by mixing more than I needed to spray.

I ended up needing to use around 4-6 ounces of paint from the last 1L can, leaving me with just under a quart left so I probably only needed 6 quarts of paint. Bear in mind lots of paint jobs only use 3 coats of paint so I used lots more to have that 4th coat to cut and buff. Still happy I bought the extra quart in case I ever need to make a repair down the road.

Regarding sealer...I mixed SPI epoxy as a sealer, reduced 33%. Mixed this way it sprayed very thin. I didn't keep track of the rest of the panels, but for the body shell I used exactly 1 full mixed quart to do one coat of sealer.

[mrennie]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

Just 50 hours of sanding and buffing.....then you’ll know what sore is....lol

If cut and buff is ONLY 50 hours then I will be quite pleased!

So sick of priming and blocking (and blocking too far) then having to reprime then block, (then block too far) then do again...

One thing for sure, blocking goes better with beer and loud Classic Rock...and it makes a huge difference in the final outcome.

[mrennie]

The painting step stool.

[MUSLCAH]

Do you have experience running a rotary Buffer ?

[mrennie]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

Do you have experience running a rotary Buffer ?

No. But I've been watching videos and doing lots of reading.

Looking at using 3M's new Perfect-it 1-Step system. No wool pad, only one foam pad and 1 type of polish. That system requires DA sanding with 3000 and 8000 Trizact before polishing. 3M advertises it as great for newbies and pros alike

Any advice?

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by mrennie

No. But I've been watching videos and doing lots of reading.

Looking at using 3M's new Perfect-it 1-Step system. No wool pad, only one foam pad and 1 type of polish. That system requires DA sanding with 3000 and 8000 Trizact before polishing. 3M advertises it as great for newbies and pros alike

Any advice?

Not a fan. It is full of fillers and usually dies back. You will be disappointed imho. I use this with a black wool pad.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-3D-ACA-...MAAOSwsblfY0ip

Follow up with their 520 on a foam pad.

Don