Preparing to paint car!

JawKnee · Post by **JawKnee** » Wed Oct 23, 2002 7:54 pm

MAN THAT WAS QUICK!! I spent months working on mine.. You are already past this point, but for next time think about a primer/surfacer! one you can spray on thick and sand down to perfection.

You will probably want to start sanding your drips lightly with 600 grit.. MAYBE 400 if you are impatient. Work your way through at least 1200 grit, probably 2000 grit in 200 grit increments. Then you will have to polish those spots. I used all meguires stuff to polish. Start with a medium cut cleaner, then fine cut cleaner, and then a swirl mark remover. (the proper pads to use will be documented on the polish compound. You can knock down your orange peeel by sanding (maybe with 1000 or 1200 depending on how bad it is..) If your drips aren't too bad and your orange peel isn't too bad, then I would just say live with it!! Polishing your paint is pretty scary!! be very carefull and start out slower than you think!! don't use too much pressure!! you can burn your paint and make it look worse than it is!! But for $160... you could always re-do the whole thing and still be waaay ahead of a lot of people!

Way to go!! Can't wait to see some pics! I will post a pic of mine right now on this forum and the T3 forum...

Johnny

74EMPI · Post by **74EMPI** » Wed Oct 23, 2002 8:40 pm

Jawnee,
I am very happy with the results. I learned alot and I think with a little more work the paint will look very good. The body work was the biggest challenge and I am still not happy with the front fenders. I had to make up pieces and weld them in(all this because they were German fenders and I wanted to do this on a budget).
I am in the middle of installing and setting up a new computer so I'll try to post a pic tomorrow when I install my card reader on the new computer and get the pics from the Digital Camera.

Your car looks really nice. I considered painting my car Sierra Beige but ended up going with Baltic Blue instead.

Mike

74EMPI · Post by **74EMPI** » Sun Oct 27, 2002 6:05 pm

Here is link to pics of the completed paint job.
http://home.carolina.rr.com/theoreillys/mike.htm

Mike

fredybear · Post by **fredybear** » Sun Oct 27, 2002 6:30 pm

That looks cool......bug on rollers..i like that....i feel bad for a slow dial up modem on these pics...

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Fredy-
55 bug-
63 bug-
67-bug sunroof
68-bug

74EMPI · Post by **74EMPI** » Sun Oct 27, 2002 6:47 pm

I work on the car by myself so the rollers make it easier to get it out doors and to clean the garage up.

Mike

paulwright · Post by **paulwright** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 11:04 pm

I have a question... did you paint the car with the fenders,doors and hood still on??
If you left the doors on did you just leave them open to get under them??

I am paying very close attention to these post as I am currently working on the body of mine and am getting ready to also try my first paint job.

Thanks

~Paul~

74EMPI · Post by **74EMPI** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 11:40 pm

I painted all the pieces seperately and then reassembled. It was nerve wracking to assemble the parts. I let them set a couple of days before I put it back together.

Mike