Steve Arndt baja build project

[bajaherbie]

looks good, nice work for sure.

[BAJA-IT]

Glad you could save it!!!

[turbobaja]

Looks as good as new!

What do you have in mind for a hood latch?

[Steve Arndt]

Looks as good as new!

What do you have in mind for a hood latch?

Thanks.

I use the "jeep" style spring loaded clip/pull things.


They scratch up the paint and are ugly, but they work well.
The way my hood "fits" I need the extra pull of those to hold the hood against the apron. They help to kind of bend the hood in to compliance.

[Steve Arndt]

My first solo paint job.
Harbor freight paint gun, regulator, and water separator. Rustoleum gloss white thinned 10% w/ acetone.

Better pics soon.

[Steve Arndt]

All finished painting! I didn't run the paint a single time. The 2nd coat went on too dry in a few spots but it should polish out.

I spent about $1500 in prep supplies, and only 35 for the paint. Hopefully it holds up for a while.



I may change my bumper and side bar color from black to dark blue. Haven't decided. At least with the paint done I can do the headliner and window rubber and actually drive/tune the thing. These projects take forever.

What do you guys recommend for sanding out the dry spots and heavily orange pealed areas? I was thinking 600 then 1000 grit, then some buffing compound. Maybe I can get by just with the compound. I have a power buffer I can borrow.

Steve

[turbobaja]

What fun is it if you don't run the paint at least once .

Looks great! I'd just hit it with some compound and a power buffer. I had some really dry spots in my clearcoat, some I resprayed clear, some I just buffed out. Once the surface is nice and smooth/shiny, the small amount of orange peel looks fine. If you go wet sanding, I'd start with 1000 grit and work up to 1500-2000, I think 5-600 is too hungry, unless you really want to flatten out all your orange peel = lots more work. Give the paint a week or 2 of dry time before you hit it with any kind of polisher, and I'd test a small area to see how your paint reacts to polishing.

[Steve Arndt]

Thanks for the advise. I really want to start putting the car back together, but I know I need to give the paint some time to cure. If I would have thinned the paint more it would have worked better. It was hard to keep the gun flowing even because the paint is so thick. I had plenty of runs when I did the dash and jams with spray cans. Using a paint gun takes a lot of skill. I should have tried painting something simpler than a car for my dry run w/ using a gun.

[Big Dave]

Does it have a clear on it or is it single stage?
1200 works pretty well to flatten things out, then hit it with two stages of polishing/buffing compound.

[Steve Arndt]

I had a body man buddy over last night. He said "not bad for a first try", that was nice. He told me that enamel paints can't be polished. He said they only skin over, and don't fully cure like acrylic or urethane paints. I wasn't aware of this. I will have to test/attempt my polishing in an inconspicuous area to make sure I don't make it worse than it already is.

[Big Dave]

That is my experience as well. Since its a single stage, its probably not worth messing with. Its very easy to burn through the paint with a polisher. Just let it sit for a couple weeks, then put it together and drive it.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I have squirted enamels, pure and acrylic some and I am pretty sure you are stuck with what you have. I think full curing time is in excess of 6 mos.

I was also told that you can do some cleanup if you shot the enamel hot; I have seen it done once and was impressed with the results. It was done by an old body and fender guy and all I think I remember is that the temperature was to be an even 79 degrees, no more, no less. He had a paint pot heater and a thermostat on the lid of the paint and we waited for the temp to even out then he shot the paint. It was a touch up of a recent paint job he had done and had marked it in a parking lot. This was probably 40 years ago.

Lee

[Steve Arndt]

It is still 80% masked off. I could scuff it up and shoot another coat. Now that I have a plan of what to paint first, and where to move during the spraying process, I know I could do better.

I just don't really know if it is worth the time and energy. This is the heart of baja season right now, so I'm itching to hit the trails! The places we offroad we rub up against trees, mountain mahogany, sage brush, etc, so it will be scratched up the first time I take it out. I think I'm going with Big Dave's advice...
s

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Sounds correct to me!

[Steve Arndt]

-Door handles and strikers installed.
-Type 2 bay window bus rear view mirror installed.
-Hood latches installed! No more hood flying open. They were rusty chrome, I bead blasted and painted them black.



Next is fender beading and light wiring. Followed by sound deadening, headliner install, and window rubber. Those Yokohama Y742S tires are killer huh! Man do they carve a turn.

Steve