Primer / Sealer

[aacorp]

I took a series of photos of the various steps, will post them in a logical order - let me know if I missed a step. (I know I like it when folks post lots of pics, so here goes!).

Overall, it went well - till the very end, so typical when you're tired and feeling a little over-confident!

Finished the body work, sanded as much of the filler off as possible. I personally like the USC product called 'Icing', I think other products are equal and/or better, this is just personal preference.





I like to lay out my chemicals up front, just to make sure I have everything. Here is the cleaner, AP, primer, and sealer


Laid down the PPG adhesion promotor, it is very thin and I honestly could not tell how much I was spraying nor where I was overlapping. I'll blame the poor lighting (I'll use that excuse again, and again!).

[aacorp]

With a few more projects in the works, I decided to retire my HVLP gun to 'primer only' duty. It is just your basic gun, nothing fancy, but I make sure I have a good line dryer at the gun and a good Sharp air regulator. I have 2 additional, much larger line dryer / oil separators upstream in the air line. I also run 2 air compressors, 1 is a 220v 60 gallon tank plumbed into a 30 gallon tank (I don't run this one though, just use the tank), then a dryer into 25' of line coiled on the floor (to cool / condense the air), then into another line dryer, then another 25' of line to the gun reg and dryer. This might be overkill, but it took me years to figure this out so that I could get a large volume of clean, dry air. Can't keep trash from falling from the ceiling though....



Laid down a nice even coat of K36 primer, reduced.






I had filled a long scratch on the quarter panel of the body, and found that the primer sagged almost in line with that repair line. At the time I didn't think much of it, blamed the tight quarters, the lighting, late at night, rusty rythm, etc... Sanded it out the next morning, now I'm not so sure....

[aacorp]

After 4.5 hours of sanding the primer, and a good cleaning, I was ready for the seal coat. I used PPG's DP90LF, it is black - I would have preferred to shoot the gray DP50, but already had the 90. I laid down one even coat per Master's tutorial, the less solvents the better.



Once I had the black laid down, I could really see how visible this 'dent' was going to be. Someone must have really hit it hard during its golf course days! The edge of the well is kinked, preventing this dent from bouncing back. Rather than fill it with body filler, I decided to leave it alone. In hind site, should have left the 'Do Not Step' treads in place - as I didn't see it until I removed them. However, I ruined the treads during removal. This will hopefully be covered up with a back seat in a year or so.



I was pleasantly surprised how insignificant this dent became after the color and clear were on though.

[aacorp]

I left the sealer sit for an hour, then tacked it and mixed up the base color. It is metallic, so I stirred the quart can for at least 20 minutes!

Broke out the new gun, used lacquer thinner to clean it out and to adjust spray pattern and air pressure. Learned that 30psi at the gun equals 10psi at the cap.



Sprayed the first coat very thin. I don't know if this is proper procedure, but I've learned to shoot a slightly dry coat first and give the next 'wet' coat something to grip onto. Here, after 4 coats of base - it looks much darker than I thought it would, starting doubting the use of the DP90, but that decision was 'water under the bridge'.

[aacorp]

Used the hour wait time between base & clear to really clean the gun, then went after it with the clear coat.

1st coat of clear


2nd coat of clear - starting to lighten up a little


After the 4th and final coat of clear



Final body


Final nose


Up till now, I was doing so well - no trash, no bumps with the air line, no drips - runs - sags.... Master was right build up the clear coats. When it is cool, the paints sets up slower allowing more time to sag. I think the clear coat hardner was also temp sensitive, and was 'slow' - and I knew the temps were dropping in the shop....

I went around everything one more time looking for 'dry lines' in the clear coat, thought I saw one - right where I repaired that scratch. So, I blasted it and started the cleanup. One final visual before turning out the lights, and I was horrified to see this:



I laid the clear with a 1.3 tip, and have very little orange peel. I thought it was going to be 'easy street' just putting this thing back together! I'm blaming the poor lighting - again!

So, Master - you've been a HUGE help thus far - what do I do now? I was thinking about taping off around it, buying a nib kit, then wet sand it. If it doesn't turn out, maybe just cover it with some vinyl racing graphics.

[aacorp]

One final NHRA pic - I'm sure you'll recognize this one!

[master66]

Ah it's all good we have all had our share of runs I am sure. You can get the nib kit if you want but be very carefull in the area where the body meets the fender flare. When you get the large droplets removed I wrap 1000 or 1500 around a small hard block like 1" x 1" the hard block allows you to stay on top of the sag. When you think you have it down enough go back with 2000 grit and a regular foam backed wet sanding pad. Pour water over it to create a shine to see if you have removed the whole sag. If so then wet sand and buff, if not keep sanding BUT BE PATIENT because if you blow through to the color then you have created a whole other problem.

[aacorp]

Thanks! It's been a few days since I posted that pic, and I needed to capitalize on a few days off from work. So, since I live but 4 miles from The Eastwood Company, I put the body back into the truck and drove it over there so their paint expert (40 years) could provide insight. He said almost the exact same thing as you Master, 'you could go with a Nib kit, but it would be risky on the curve of the fender flare. Instead, shave each droplet down with a fresh razor blade until flush with the surrounding clear coat, and then wet sand'.

So, I bought one of those retractable razor blades and broke off the first section - it made the perfect sized scraper! It took about 2.5 hours of careful surgery, but it came out good.



I made one mistake though (apparently, this is trend!), one of the droplets was not completely cured inside and I dug in a touch too deep. It left a pinhole after all of the wetsanding - hard to see, but I was curious if I could dab some Super Glue into the pinhole with a toothpick?



Feeling better about the whole thing, I went after it with the wet sanding - following your advice, I started with the 1500 grit instead of the 1000. This worked out much better, and once I hit it with the 2000 - it took very little sanding to work out the last bits of orange peel and other little imperfections.



Of course, the hook kit decided to fly apart while buffing - after 12 years of sitting on a shelf, the foam backer just couldn't take the torque anymore! Back to Eastwood for a replacement...



All buffed and ready for reinstallation - but that would have to wait till morning.



Mid 30 temps, and a 20mph wind makes it quite cold. So, we put the big halogens and a heater in the race trailer and reassembled this thing - I really needed to finish this task, before it finished me!



Even the quarter panel turned out nice







Overall, a good experience, and I'm pleased with the results. A genuine 'Thank You' to Master66 for the initial step-by-step tutorial, and for the advice along the way!

[master66]

That looks like it turned out great, good job taking your time. Glad I could help with the questions that is what we are here for and love this site.

[aacorp]

Got it completed and locked away in the shed till Spring just in time - woke up to this view today!



Looking forward to cruising in style when the weather breaks.