Project Zeke - Part II

[Porsche_monkey]

Some of you may have read my thread in the 911 forum, this is the (hopefully) final push to finish the car off.

Body Guys - I Need Help

I started off with this:



And after months (I really don't want to add up the hours) I'm here now:

Aligned, primed and (almost) ready for paint. This is the bodywork equivalent to 'while you're in there'. I have stripped every piece of trim and panel off the car, the glass is out, and every spec of rust (yes, there were few spots) has been cleaned up.

I water sanded (400 grit, then 600) the entire car. Primed it and resanded.



A few 'issues' popped up....and were filled and need sanding/repriming:




The standard Porsche door crack was tig welded but still visible, body filler was added today:









Gravity feed paint gun:



Paint & Filler



Sanding tools:



Advice I can offer at this point:

The Valspar pimer filler is very good, easy top apply and sands niceyl. It does have a tendancy to 'orange peel', which can be sanded out. I will balme that on the painters inexperience not the product.

The body filler was a problem until I put in the paint shaker. It needed a good stir. It also went on much better when I thin it slightly with laquer thinner.

I wet sand everything, except my first rough pass on the bondo. Water is your friend when when wet-sanding, keep a pray bottle or hose handy to remove the waste.

Finally: I will never ever question the price of a paint job from a body shop. The amount of work required to do this properly is astounding.

I've done the painting so far, it's time for a pro to help me out with the base and clear. I'll update this as we move along. Slowly but surely.

[cgarr]

Cant wait, I will be painting mine this weekend, black also..

[Porsche_monkey]

Have you picked a paint and clear-coat product yet?

[cgarr]

I am going with a single stage off the shelf black

[Porsche_monkey]

Chicken.

[cgarr]

Originally Posted by PBH

Chicken.

I will loose points at the Concours d'Elegance competition if I change from the factory system

[Axiom]

Originally Posted by cgarr

Cant wait, I will be painting mine this weekend, black also..

Good luck, post some pictures when you're done.

[Porsche_monkey]

Several months later I have accomplished a few things:

1) sent my daughter back to University
2) ditto for son

So, now that I have some time.....

Top coat #1 with pricey DuPont paint...







Using this stuff at over $150 per quart:



And then water sanding with 800 and 1000 grit before the second coat:








Still a ways to go. But I'm getting there....

[SCWDP911]

anything new?

[Porsche_monkey]

Yes. And no.

Education is expensive, so take the benefit of my time and money:

1. You do not know how to paint a car if you've never done it before. You only think you know.

2. An old car has a lot of dings and nicks you never saw until it is painted.

3. Black shows every flaw, see 2. above.

Having said this...

Removable bits have one coat of base, are water sanded and ready for top coating:









The fender had a 'bad reaction' in one spot, I am assuming I missed a spot with the primer, which allowed the new base to contact the old paint, and produced an instant wrinkle finish. So this was re-primed and wet-sanding is almost done:




And the body is primed but needs lots of water-sanding since I didn't put on quite enough paint. No flow means a rougher finish which means more sanding. So few days at this...






And I'll be adding basecoat #1 to the body.

[rennch]

It's looking good! It's too bad you're so cramped in that small space to work.

[Porsche_monkey]

Crap accumulates to fill any voids. Just give me time...

[gsmith660]

I used dupont chromasystem and that is why I only did bodywork I had someone who knew what they were doing lay on the paint my paint only totals were around 1000 dollars, and it went on nice.

[azasadny]

Incredible work! I admire you guys who bring these cars back to life!!

[Porsche_monkey]

Call me a suck if you want but I chickened out and took my car to a painter.

I am losing my workspace shortly, and given the price of paint and clearcoat it seemed crazy to move forward on the assumption i could do a high quality paint job on my first try.

The car is back (most of it is). Just re-assembly is left.

[calling911]

You arent going to wet sand and polish? Be a huge mistake at this point.

[Porsche_monkey]

Originally Posted by calling911

You arent going to wet sand and polish? Be a huge mistake at this point.

That's been done once. He wants to finish off with a finer compound when the clear coat has hardened more.

[ToolZero]

Where is the update to this awesome story?