Dave W 1971/240Z rebuild

[grannyknot]

I've been using this stuff for many years, never had a problem. Stays semi soft, paint and undercoat stick to it well.  There are some pretty fancy/expensive seam sealers these days and I can see using them on new cars that will be driven daily in all kinds of weather.  With the way these cars will be driven, wash water and occasional rain is all they will encounter so a simple automotive caulking is all that is required IMHO.

Just a word of caution, these products are a lot more toxic than you would think, if applying in an enclosed space a good respirator with cartridges for organic compounds is needed.

 

[grannyknot]

I drove down to the autobody supply store and gave him the PPG and DuPont codes for 920 Safari Gold, no luck again. He searched through 3 data bases and could not find a formula for the colour☹️

So I took down one of the cubby lids for him to scan, pretty nice match.

[HusseinHolland]

Nice!!!! Does look a touch warmer, but that could just be wet vs cured. I'd be happy with that. I had spray cans of 302 mixed by the local auto body supply house, and they made 3-4 attempts before getting close enough for me to use it 😞

[grannyknot]

I was finishing up the sanding in the engine bay before spraying the high build primer when I noticed that I had forgot to remove broken battery hold bolt.

The epoxy primer was already on so I couldn't use a penetrant without contaminating the primer, same with torch. I had to get a pair of Visegrips in from behind using 2 fingers to clamp on, two fingers to turn the screw 1/8th of a turn, release it, clamp on again, another 1/8th of a turn.  That damn little screw took over an hour to work it out.

With 95% of the filling done and the epoxy primer blocked out and smooth, I sprayed 2 coats of high build primmer on everything this morning and 3 coats on the doors and hood.  Start the real sanding tomorrow.

[Namerow]

Will you shoot the colour coats, too, or will this be contracted out to a shop?

[grannyknot]

2 hours ago, Namerow said:

Will you shoot the colour coats, too, or will this be contracted out to a shop?

I'm doing the whole shootn match, colour coat followed by 3 coats of clear, let it cure for a week and then start sanding the clear.

[Patcon]

My paint supply told me I should cut and buff within 24hrs. That I would get better results before I let it get too hard. I don't always do that but I have found it easier to get good results that way

[grannyknot]

7 hours ago, Patcon said:

My paint supply told me I should cut and buff within 24hrs. That I would get better results before I let it get too hard. I don't always do that but I have found it easier to get good results that way

But then I've heard a few "experts" say that the clear is going to shrink as it cures fully, 2wks in warm weather and that the glass finish you buffed into it after 24hrs won't be as flat as it was after curing.  I never know who to trust but the last couple of paint jobs I've done I've let it cure for a few days, then block it out with 1200 and leave it for another week with the broken surface so it can out gas easier than with a shiny surface.

I don't really know if that helps cure fully faster but feels to me like it would, the manufactures say you can buff after 24hrs but I wonder if that is aimed at their biggest customer; collision shops who want the car out of there as fast as they can.

[Patcon]

Yeah, I don't really know either but the guy telling me this has helped me for a number of years and paints cars on the side.

Along the same lines, it seems like letting primer coats shrink for an extended period of time would have the same effect to prevent urethane wave

[grannyknot]

The big order from Datsun Garage arrived yesterday, I think Dave ordered this stuff last July. The order wasn't even complete.

Dave stopped by yesterday to check on the progress, he mentioned that he had never seen guide coat being used before so I thought I would include a few pics for anyone who might be interested.  I use to use spray can guide coat but have since switched to dry powder, a much better product to work with. 

So basically, the primer is covered with guide powder then you block out with which ever grit you are using until all of the guide coat is gone. Once that is done you can be sure the surface is a uniform smoothness for that grit, then you rub it all down with guide coat again and start sanding with next grit down. In this case I started with 220 and then will move on to 400, 600, then 800 is the final grit before paint.

[grannyknot]

I usually wet sand down to 800 grit before paint but recently I was reading a thread on the autobody forum, this guy was having problems with with adhesion of the paint to primer. He was also sanding to 800, so this time I just wet sanded to 600 and so far it's  looking good. I was afraid I might see some scratches but nothing is coming through.

I started early this morning taping everything off so I could paint and clear the engine bay, underneath the hood, hatch and door jambs. Later this evening I'll removbe all the masking and let it cure over night. There is always a little ridge of clearcoat when the tape is removed so I'll sand that out before painting the exterior.

Nice to finally have some colour in the shop again!

 

[Patcon]

You're flying! Great progress!!