Wanted to follow up on how this project turned out. The process I used to paint the body:
Removed front and rear body.
Washed and degreased and allow to try.
Lightly scuffed surface with a red scuff pad.
Went over surface of body with 50/50 mix of alcohol and water.
Just prior to applying any part of the paint process, I went over the surfaces to be painted with a tac cloth.
First I applied an adhesion promoter. I used Duplicolor promoter in a rattle can.
Then I applied the first coat of primer, allowed the primer to dry and wet sanded with 600 grit. Then I repeated the primer step.
Next, I applied two coats of base color. I used Rustoleum flat black oil based paint, thinned with acetone.
Next was the clear. I used automotive speed clear with a medium activator. The specs on the paint said 4 parts clear to 1 part activator. I also added 1 part Bulldog adhesion promotor/ flex additive for a 4-1-1 mix. I sprayed 3 coats of clear.
Because I do not have an air compressor that is capable of running an HVLP paint gun, I daisy chained two pancake compressors together and was able to make it work, although still not enough sustained CFM to run the gun as it should be. Because of this, I did get some orange peel in the clear coat that I had to sand out.
After the clear was allowed to cure for 24 hours, I started the wet sanding process. For this I reinstalled the body on the cart because I wanted some sort of rigidity when I was sanding. I wanted to minimize the flex of the plastic body as much as I could. I taped off the black moldings before sanding. First started with 1000 grit paper, then 1200, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 7000. I did not get all of the orange peel out mainly because I got tired/ lazy/ impatient, but I got most of it out.
After sanding was done, I moved onto polish. Using a DA polisher, I started with a medium cut foam pad and polished with medium cut compound. Then went with a fine cut pad and low cut polish, then finally a finishing pad with final finish polish. After that I put a coat of wax on.
I think it turned out pretty good but it was a lot of work. I also painted the top black with rubber undercoat spray, and painted/ dyed the seats black with leather/ vinyl spray paint. Here are some pics of the process.
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