update on Rich's build

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, it seems that by now you are starting a second career as a bodywork man ! wow ! I bet that your work is better than 90% of the so called 'professional' companies. I am glad for you that you take your time and being able to repair that damage by yourself. Good work !

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich you've got her coming along very nice!  A little guild coat and the long board and that little neutral safety switch thing will be night mare from the past!  Keep at it, you are doing good.

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks DJ, Bill. It's coming along pretty well.....just trying to get as much done and still leave it intact enough for a little cruising. I've got to post some pics, but I've got the back quarter in the first coat of 2k, the door in it's second. I think it's ready for final blocking on the left side....the quarter went real smooth.
I've moved around to the front right fender and got it pretty well worked out and ready for it's first 2K....so all the body damage is taken care of. I'm planning on shooting the complete car except for the roof, so it's everything from the drip rail down. Haven't decided whether or not to remove the hood, trunk lid, doors. The underside of the all those will not be repainted.
All the trim, grille, headlights, door and side glass, handles,etc will be removed.
Except for fixing little owwies the car got along the way, the rest of the car will just have the clearcoat blocked out with 320 and shot with a coat of primer mixed to just the surfacing build, then sit for a week prior to final blocking the entire car. That will give all the new paint a consistent color underneath it.
My paint supplier said according to the manufacturer, all curing, shrinking, etc will be completed in 7 days if sprayed at the high build formla, faster if sprayed at the surfacing or sealer formulas. Can't remember if I mentioned it previously, but the primer I'm using this time around is a DTM (direct to metal, although I'm not using it in that way), and can be mixed either as hi-build, sealer, or surfacing.
Last night I got the hood "old" clearcoat scuffed/blocked. I'm using a 5" DA with 320 to get it started, then doing a final block by hand with the soft sanders and durablock. At that stage it's mostly scuffing, the critical blockings will be on the final primer prior to shooting the basecoat, and the final clearcoat.

[RICH MUISE]

The first pic above shows the crease pressed into the rear quarter from the trim piece being forced into it. The picture also show a crack along the tailight bezel where I had no seamed it. That crack ran a few inches above and below the crease. I was able to get most of the crease hammerer and dollied out, and the crack was cleaned out 1/2 wide and refilled.
The wheelwell flange was hammered and dollied to get it back in place. As you can see in the pics, most of the rear quarter blocked out pretty well just blocking the clearcoat....can't believe how much the ripples and waves came out on their own waiting a few months.

[RICH MUISE]

In the above pic of the Soft Sanders...The orange and red ones I use a lot, and the yellow one shows how the self-stick sandpaper is laid face down on the surface you want to work, then then the sander shaped to fit it. The sandpaper, as shown, holds the sander in that shape. The set of 6 I got is the shortest...they have them in several longer sizes, and you cand buy them in individual shapes several feet long if wanted. I love these things!!

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich you are doing some really nice work on the repairs.

If us "garage guys" had a good booth with the infarred lamps and heaters those little ripples and waves would never be a problem.  I try to let mean ol mr sun do my drying and shrinking.  Primer goes on a little at a time in panels so most of it is 3 - 4 months old before blocking.  After it blocks out with 400 it gets a 4-3-1 coat of primer.  Once the whole car is blocked and sealed it gets a final dry 600 prior to top coat.

[RICH MUISE]

Do you shoot base/clearcoat, or single stage? The way you do it is basically what I'm planning on this time around. When I painted the car the first time, I did the final blocking then sealed, followed by basecoat. The problem I ended up with is the sealer had some orangepeel, so even though the clearcoat got blocked smooth, the basecoat didn't flow as smooth as it could have. This time, if I do the sealer at all, it will be before the final surface primer, which will get the final block just prior to basecoat.
lol, I hope I live through all this blocksanding!
BTW, I was just planning on a 400 grit final block before basecoat. My supplier said if I wait a week before that final block, the 400 scratches won't open up further as it may if I blocked it too soon. That's what I did the first time I painted the car, and scratches from the 400 grit dry were non existant.

[Ford Blue blood]

I shoot single stage for solid colors and base/clear when putting on pearls and metallic.  My sealer coat is a very thinned urethane primer.  Not high build or self etching.  I shoot as wet as I can get away with on the sealer.  The base coat goes down in three trips around.  First two are to fill color, just a nice medium to wet on the second round and then the third round is put on while the second is still wet.  I raise the gun pressure up about a third more and move back almost double the distance to almost kinda dust the last of three on.  Doing this will eliminate any "zebra" striping and help the pearls and metallic to suspend evenly. 

After plenty of dry time the clear goes down in three wet coats.  I find a spot that will be covered and use it to test the dry time.  Touch the clear and pull your finger away.  If you have "spider webs" form as you pull away it is time for the next coat.  If you leave a finger print you need to go to a slower hardener.  You can mix fast and slow hardeners to "customize" the cure time some.  I do use a very good clear, no thinning, more expensive, a little more gun pressure, (10 psi) but it flows super and resist running.  The custom clears are pretty thin and the extra pressure make a lot of over spray but it does lay down nice.

Solid colors go one in three to four coats depending on cover.  The last coat of solid is thinned 25% more then the base two - three coats.  I tend to like shooting with 25% reducer, lets the paint lay down better.  The "spider web" test applies here as well.

Sorry it got so long and I hope I didn't get too elementary....

[RICH MUISE]

Not at all...thanks. Lots of good info there.
I buy the high temp/slow dry reducer always anyhow, but I've never painted in the winter either. It's been in the 90-100's here the past few weeks, but my new insulation on the garage is working great. One day last week it was 104 when I went out to the garage mid afternoon. It was warm inside, but not hot. I turned the AC on to 70*, and within an hour I noticed it was cycling on and off.....cool!! (pun intended). My point was, I shouldn't have to worry as much this time around painting in July.
The issue I'm trying to figure out is whether or not to pull the doors, hood and trunk lid. I really don't want to do, or need to do, the door jambs, but I do not have room to paint everything at the same time if I remove them. Masking so I don't have paint lines is gonna be a bitch either way though. I did buy a box of the oval self adhesive door jamb masking stuff and used it when I primered the door. seemed to work well.....although very expensive at 55. for a 50 yard roll.

[Ford Blue blood]

I have a rule...self imposed I guess....I never paint if the temperature is below 65.  I also try to avoid early morning, too much humidity, the metal is cooler then the air temp and the pesky little black flying bugs are out in droves.  I don't even try in the spring, way too much pollen in the air.  So I'm a summer and fall paint guy.  I do have both fast and slow reducers and hardeners and mix them to "customize" their sweet spot.

I love the jam foam!  Have used it for years.  I will have to get some more as I'm almost out....thanks for the reminder.  Like you there is just not room to blow things apart and get it all done at once.

[RICH MUISE]

Last night I decided I NEEDED to take this thing out for it's initial long cruise before I take it apart for painting. Still haven't decided on door removal, but the side glass, door handles, trim, headlights, taillights, etc all coming off , so once I got to that point it was no driving until I got it all done...4 to 6 weeks in all likelyhood. So, last night I put the driver's door glass and door lock stuff back in, and this morning I'm having the A/C checked again for a pesky little under the dash leak, then I'm headed out...I think to Oklahoma for a day or two. Should be about 1K mile trip if all goes well.

[RICH MUISE]

Trip went great as I posted elsewhere....now back to getting it done. Tomorrow I'll start pulling out the glass, trim, etc etc....OR do some more blocking. Here's one more pic I forgot to post last week

[gasman826]

...to beat an old subject again.  September issue of STREET RODDER under the PROFESSOR HAMMER column, a question about joining pot metal to steel.  The subject is joining '57 front fender extension to the fender.  The short answer is to solder pot metal to steel.

[RICH MUISE]

I experimented with low heat brazing rod...didn't work at all. The pot metal melted before the rod. Now soldering could be done I guess, but I'm not sure that would be the answer. Solder has not much strength at all....epoxies would have much more strength. I didn't read/see the article, but I did think about solder when I was playing with the brazing idea...just didn't think about it for long.
Have you tried it?
After seeing the very minimal seperation/cracking both my tail light bezel and headlight eyebrow had after the abuse from the accident, I'm 98% confident the mechanical/epoxy/por-15 approach I did is not going to have any issues. Now, if I could just remember what epoxies I used, lol.

BTW, work on the repairs to my car have stopped for the time being. I'm just enjoying the heck out of driving it too much to  tear it down right now. Took it to Santa Fe this past weekend....620 mile round trip... for a car show. I think gas mileage on this trip was about 23.5...down a few from last week's trip.

[gasman826]

At some future date, I will try soldering pot metal to steel.  I have repaired corroded pot metal by filling the pits with solder...block sand...send out for plating.