September 1, 2012  
Today we worked on final preparation before paint.

The door had some pinhole rust spots that needed to be ground out.

The we applied filler and sanded.

We also skimmed the rockers with Rage filler again and sanded. 

Also the bonnet and boot lid.
Cleaned all the surfaces again and blow out all the dust using the air compressor.

Picked up a high build primer from NAPA..  Hopefully a quart will be enough.

Now we are ready for primer tomorrow morning.
Spent an hour masking the engine bay and around the door openings.

We just have to lightly sand all the panels to remove any flash rust that forms overnight. 

Then degrease one more time and shoot the primer. 

Sunday, Sept 2:  Today we shoot primer.  It took about two hours to get the car ready. We put the car up on jack stands and removed the wheels.  Found some old lacquer paint in several spots that we removed using a grinder with a wire brush.

Last minute check on the paint gun

Painting begins!

We hung the doors with wire so we could shoot around the edges.

Hung the boot lid also.

The bonnet was painted on a table.

Looking good! 

We put down two coats of primer on the car from one quart.

Letting the paint bake a little in the sun while we clean up the garage.

 

We probably spent as much time cleaning the paint gun as we spent painting the car!  Here are some parts soaking in paint thinner.

Once the paint dried, I went around the car with a Sharpie marker, looking for spots that need fixing with glazing compound.  Imperfections really show once paint is down. 

I found over 20 spots that need repair before painting color. This is probably the worst spot that needs fixing. It may need to be primed again after we fix it.

I anticipate it will take a day or two to fix all the bad spots and then a few more days to sand the entire care with 400-600 grit sand paper to get the surface ready for topcoat.

 
So far, it took two guys five days (between 60-70 man hours) to strip the car to bare metal, do the necessary body work, and lay down primer.  We will probably have 100 man hours into it before it goes to the paint shop.  Then another week to wet sand, buff, and put it all back together!

I can understand why paint jobs can cost $5000 dollars at a professional shop.  As amateurs, we will be able to get it done for less than half that cost.

  
Week 3, September - After a week off, we started working on filling all the bad spots with glazing compound.  Glazing compound is a fine filler that can be sanded easily.

It has to be block sanded by hand for a proper finish.

There are over 20 spots that need work on the car.

The edges of the fender wells need special attention as they draw the eye.

There were two small indents on the rear quarter panel so it needed a larger amount of glazing compound.

The bonnet edge also draws the eye.

So we are redoing the entire edge.

The edge between the bonnet and rocker panel was filled with the same caulking material I found in the boot.  It was so soft that I could nick it with my fingernail.  We had to use a dremel tool to clean it out on both sides.

Then we smoothed the edge out with Rage filler and glazing compound.

The rear was wavy under the bumper, so we applied glazing compound in several spots. This will require lots of block sanding by hand to get smooth.

The edge of the cockpit also needed cleaning up with glazing compound.
It will take several days of block sanding by hand to get all the spots smooth, then we will shoot another coat of primer before final sanding and paint.  
   

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