7/21/2013 Finally Paint

What a great time. Moving on to a new phase, and by now you know how happy I am moving on to new phases. We have finally added some final paint and some clear coats to the body, but still more sanding. Since I'm still sanding, maybe this can only be considered a half phase move.  Anyway, counting the final sanding of the unprimed body with 400 grit paper, there are a minimum of six more times the body and fenders will need to be sanded. Only then, can we start with the buffing

So far, I have progressed from 80, 150, 220, 400 and 600 paper, prior to color paint. Now it's time to go to 1000, 1500 and possibly 2500 paper after the clear coats. Then at least two levels with a buffer and maybe some wax.



Here's our progress for the past few weeks. But first,        I think I'd mentioned we were not going to make it to the NSRA show in Ridgfield WA this year with my 33 but were pushing to go to car shows in Hamilton MT and West Yellowstone MT. during the last week in July....... Well nada this year either....... I really hate to mention the  upcoming Good Guys car show the end of July, here in Puyallup, or the Good guys in Spokane during the second week of Aug. for fear of not being ready for them either. Hey, there's Walla Walla the second week of Sept............ At this point one never knows.


 All of this time and push, push, push leaves me with little time to do anything else like flying or hitting the treadmill like I'm supposed to. When I go to my cardiologists this fall and hand him my treadmill schedule for July is going to look rather weak. I'm in trouble now. 



Even though we were not able to bring our American Speed 33 to the Ridgfield WA NSRA show this year I was lucky enough to ride in with Eddie R. and be with a great group of our very good friends. As Dave D. a friend in Spokane says "Good food, good drinks and good friends, it doesn't get any better"

This picture shows the line up of cars waiting to get through the entry gates. Those in the line on the right are heading down the road about a mile, they will then do a 180 and head back this way. Sounds kinda  crazy, if you're to really think about it.

On to the progress.

The second coat of primer has now been wet sanded with 600 paper.



The color paint will be purchased from PPG. I decided not to go with flames on the 33, although they look rather striking on this PPG truck at the NSRA display in Ridgfield WA.



In this photo, the first coat of actual color is being applied over the the dull black primer. Both coats of primer were lightly sanded with 320 then final sanded with 600 paper.

 Speaking of primer, I feel very fortunate that I didn't have to use a fill primer, which is tan in color. Therefore, everything we applied to the body and fenders of the car is now black in color (should there ever be any rock chips the underlying color will be black and therefore the chip will be visually more difficult to see) If you recall the pictures of the trailer, it was primed with the tan filler primer, due to the trailers overall unevenness. Fill primer needs to be used if there are larger imperfections or an unevenness of the surface that needs to be filled prior to the next level of sanding. The type of black primer I used has very little of this filling property but offers excellent etching properties, which acts as a bond between bare metal and another layer of primer or paint.



More color coat being added over the primer



The first coat of the black color paint is now almost completely applied. An  identical second coat of color will be applied over this coat.



Once the color coats have been given about 45 minutes to dry the clear coats are applied.

In this picture,  two double coats of clear have been applied and we're starting to see some shine.



After the clear has dried for a few days it's time to finish sand to a 1500 or 2500 level of paper. Since I will be using a rubbing compound after the finish sanding, the level of final sanding paper is actually determined by the coarseness or roughness of the compound and buffing pad a person chooses. So, if your compound will remove 1500 sanding scratches there isn't much need to sand with the finer grit 2500 paper. Let the buffer do the work.


A very common problem in painting is a slight unevenness of the applied paint and/or clear coats. This unevenness results in a surface like the surface of an orange or the surface of a basketball. Now, think of a surface with mountains and valleys. What our goal is is to sand off the tops of the mountains until they are an equal height to the bottom of the valleys and we end up with a flat surface.

I'm told there are many causes for the orange peal effect, distance the spray tip is away from the surface, air pressure, temperature, paint viscosity and over spray or drift. The above picture is an example of orange peal I could find and by lightly sanding it stands out very well. At this point, I have lightly block sanded, dry, with 1000 paper on a taco board. Thanks Tom M.

You can also see three dots which are dirt specks, which will be sanded from the surface. This is one of the trailer fenders I brought home, after the two coats of clear.

So here's the bottom line, the better the painter the less orange peal that will need to be sanded. I think anyone can apply paint, but it takes a painter to eliminate or reduce the orange peal.

 

Here is the fender after entirely sanding the orange peal off the top half, where the color now appears 100% grey. I used 1000 and finished with 1500 paper. Now, all of the orange peal will be sanded off and the entire surface will look like the top part of this picture.



This picture is actually a reflection taken from the top of the above trailer fender prior to any sanding and shows the average of the irregularities in the surface of the trailer fender prior to any sanding. There is a small amount orange peal in this surface, which was about typical for most of the body and fenders.



Here is the exact same area of the fender after I sanded and buffed. It still needs to be polished and waxed.  



Back to the body shop. Over the weekend, the painter said he decided to lightly sand the last layer of clear on the entire car with 600 paper because he felt he could apply a smoother final coat of clear. Here is the car after two more coats of clear have been applied. I think it was a good call on his part. I can tell you, just by looking, that this decision will save me many hours of sanding with 1000 paper. He paints and I sand. Thanks Gary D for this decision.

This picture is another reflection and it shows another car that's about 15' away, after the side and door have been sanded, buffed and polished. It's finally coming together. Now, on to sanding and buffing all of the remaining parts and then on to putting the fenders, running boards etc. back on the body for the last time.