Garage paint job - Aussie GL project

[bug man nrg]

this is tihgt work when will you be done i would like to see the end product
what size engine are you going to use?

[Dasdubber]

Cheers,

Hopefully will be done in a few months (but have already overshot estimated date of completion a few times!).

Engine is a type IV 2L (71 x 94) with 2L heads (but 1800 valves)....etc

This is a old photo but you get the idea:

[ubercraP]

Beautiful, I love the color!

[Dasdubber]

Managed to get the doors relatively straight (not too bad anyway considering they were warped pretty well by the sandblasters) - now just have to find time to finish our house renovations (which you can see half completed in the reflection!).

[mattfaulkner]

For a first timer, garage job, that looks sweet!!! Congrats man. One thing I've seen done (in boothless situations) is to open a door on opposite ends of the room, put a big air conditioning filter against one door, and put fans blowing outward in the other doorway. I painted my car doing this, and it worked really well. Again, you'll never get "boothlike" results, but if you're going to sand the clear, it really shouldn't even matter.

[Dasdubber]

Cheers Matt, paint has come up pretty well. Finished sanding the body with 1500 and 2000 wet and dry - tomorrow will start the buffing process - slowly but surely getting there.

[jimby]

thats ****ing beautiful, its a **** load of work too, i can well appreciate it. earlier this year i did up my mrs's ghia in a similar but not as good a way and its got a feature in may 2005 volksworld, i reckon theres a well deserved magazine feature in the making here

[Angelo Amato]

you have given me inspiration to prep (and maybe paint) my fasty.

if you could, please would you post a brief stage by stage for the prep. i.e. did you strip back to metal ? sand with what grit grades? laying on paint... layers, etc...

cheers.

Angelo (budding painter?!)

[zen]

or better yet, put it in a tech article template (on the main page) at the same time.

[Dasdubber]

Thanks Angelo, here is a very brief rundown on what I did - I'll try to find time to write something up properly and put it in a post so maybe it can be made a sticky/tech article.

1) Totally disassembled body and stipped out everything (wiring and all), then separated body from pan.
2) welded in any obvious rust repair panels that required replacing.
3) had body media blasted and etch primed
4) welded in any small patches required for pin hole rust etc
5) panel beated body back into shape (sounds easy hey?)
6) Used dual action orbital air powered sander with 80 grit to rough in the filler to shape, with 120 to smooth out scratches
7) primed with one pack primer to show obvious areas of concern - always easier when it is one colour
8) more glaze putty to fill pin holes and sanding scratches etc
9) block sanded with 120 and 240 by hand
10) layed down high build primer
11) block sanded with 240 and 400 grit by hand with guide coats
12) sealed it all with a sealing primer - light rub with 400 grit to denib
13) applied base coat
14) applied clear coat
15) wet sanded with 1500 to smooth out orange peel, then 2000 wet again to smooth out sanding scratches
16) cut the paint back to restore the gloss with cutting compound, then swirl remover (all with variable speed sander/polisher)
17) waxed it using sander/polisher again.

I seriously suggest to do some indepth reading - both in print and on the net. The majority of my learning was done via the net (eg. www.hotrodders.com in the body work section of the forum) and trial and error. No matter how good a tech article can be, theory is different to actual practice. The only painting I had done previously was the sides (two tone) of my old beetle in acrylic - this was my first full car and first in two pack. I sprayed all the inside of the guards, bonnet etc so I could learn from the mistakes in areas that were not as visible.

Here are a couple of links which documents all the paint/panel work I did:
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/gallery/album148
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/gallery/album192

Alan

PS here it is as of a week or so ago:

[Angelo Amato]

Cheers Alan, exactly what I want to see :agree:

I know within those few line you wrote, it cannot represent the number of man hours it takes to get where you are today with your car. I am starting to appreciate more the work required to get a car 'properly' painted. I had one quote by a very reputable VW painter in the UK at £4000 UKP +taxes (17.5%)

He sent me a work sheet for a customers car (diary), showing work carried out and how long. At a resonable hourly rate that he'd quoted, it seemed a fair price, but not for my pocket (just could not justify it). So hence the leaning towards me having a go.

I may bow out of actually laying on the paint (restrictions on a location to do it) but I am inclined to prep the car as much as possible before handing over for a final prep n paint.

your car has given me inspiration PRAISE THE LORD !!!

[DORIGTT]

Hey dasdubber,

What experience (other than your work on this car) do you have with bodywork? Your skill seems to be higher than that of a 'rank amateur'.

[Dasdubber]

This resto constitutes around 80% of my experience thus far in body work and paint. I am an Audiologist by trade (fit hearing aids and perform hearing assessments/rehab etc), so I have no background in this type of work other than what I do in "leisure time".

Like anything I tackle, I do as much reading and research as possible first (probably the scientist in me coming out), ask questions to people who know what they are doing, then practice on something that is not critical if I screw it up (eg. spare fender/door etc).

During the process if something is not going right I go back to the forums/resources on the net, or ask the pros....then go back and try again. Eg. when I started spraying the underside of guards etc I was getting bad tiger stripes (dark stripes in the metallic) - was pi$$ing me off so bad, but I asked around, did some searches, then went back and fiddled with spray fan, pressure, distance from panel and paint flow until I sorted it out.

Likewise for body work - wasted a bit of material through trial and error (a few times I had to sand it right back to primer because one coat of filler didn't cure properly).

No magic formula I guess, just a bit of patience, perseverence and a degree of general intellegence required to analyse why something is not working, then the dedication to resolve the problem. It gets easier and easier the more practice you have - by the end of painting this car I was quite comfortable with spraying a fairly complex metallic dark colour (with pearl). But I can see areas where I could have done better on the body work, so next time I will apply that knowledge - hindsight is wonderful!

Cheers
Alan

[DORIGTT]

Thanks! I'm going to work on my Ghia as opposed to spending $8,000 (US) to have what I want done. I've got friends with years of experience to lend a hand if I run into snags. Your success inspires me.

Thanks again.

[Dasdubber]

Sounds great, part of my motivation was from not shelling out $5000+, and secondly it was to gain the satisfaction when people say "nice paint, who did it?".

It is a long process (when done correctly) and hence why it costs so much in labour for the pros to do it, so providing you have the patience and willingness to learn, I am sure it will work out well. It probably took me around 8 months of weekends and after work weekdays to get the bodywork and paint done. Much quicker obviously if you can have a week or two straight to work on it.

My philosophy is to give anything a go, if you stuff it up, well you've wasted some time (doesn't cost you anything) and maybe a bit of money (hopefully not much) but at least you can appreciate whats involved...and either have a crack at it again....or bite the bullet and pay someone to do it!

I'll get off my soap box now

This is me in my parents garage (mine is too small):


See its not pefectly straight but I can live with it:


Here it is just after the clearcoat was applied - thats when you realise all your hard work was worth it: