I forgot to mention I owe a HUGE thank you to my brother who is letting me use is spare garage to do the paint work in....his basement to store parts in.....and his talent with a paint gun....I really do appreciate all if his assistance and without him this project never would have been realized.

I love ya, man. It was either this or see you in a Corvette Z06...yikes! :rolleyes:

Thank me when it's done. I'm in uncharted territory with the paint system we are using (DuPont Chromabase two stage urethane). If the color coat comes out as nicely as the primer, you can buy me a steak.

So far, so good!

Very cool guys. Don, I hope this is a stupid question... Did you fit the bumpers prior to the painting?

Not a stupid question at all. They were fitted right after they arrived from TRE. The front bumper took very little to mate up to the 930 fenders. It fits like a glove. The rear bumper took more work due to the fact that the flares had not been installed but were mocked up at the time. I was more concerned about getting the bumper centered and cut to fit the custom M&K exhaust that I am using. This is where my brothers true OCD came out....he actually took a micrometer to measure the openings for the exhaust...it is within a thousandth of an inch....side to side and top to each exhaust tip....that is close enough for me. The fit was again confirmed after the flares were welded on. I haven't had them on the car in a while because of all the sanding of the body and working under the car to get it painted. Its not that difficult to install them....Just time consuming. Since they wont be on the car for painting I just decided to store them safely until the time comes to mount them for the last time. Maybe in few more weeks there will be color on the car and they will be mounted again. I will be using a cut down rear grill to fill the opening in the front bumper. I think it looks pretty sharp with matching grills....just a little something different.

Looks like you're making great progress. I can't wait to see the end result.

BTW, do you have a higher resolution of this you could send me? It'd make great wallpaper!

Looks like a fun project.
Quick Q - Why didn't you remove the windows since you ended up doing a full respray?

looking good Don!!

i see you guys went with dupont. did you ever find the ppg supplier? of course, i remembered who we use a few days after i talked to you.

and you should really consider taking off the sunroof before painting also. trust me..

The glas stayed in for now because I was trying to keep the interior as clean as possible during the water sanding process....tape always seems to let go. The molding was trimmed back from the body far enough to allow for full coverage.

Rattlsnake...thanks for the input....I will get it out before the next primer goes on.

So you'll paint with the windows out of the car then?
2nd on what Rattlesnake said about the sunroof aswell.

Nice trick!

Yep, that's how I've always done them.. it works well and you'll be replaceing the window rubber anyway.

Rattlesnake is spot on about the sunroof.

Back in my days as a concours chair.. that was always the area I used to break a tie between two equally clean cars. In most cases someone removed during painting and someone didn't. Easy to tell!

I know, it's not being built for concour.. but your level of effort is there with this build.. over. :D

Looking good - glad to see another home body job done RIGHT!

Thanks for all the kind words. Its definitely not a concours type car....But I am trying to do what I can within my very tight budget to make it a very nice driver. I just have conflicting input regarding painting the sunroof in and out of the car...one painter says the metalic may lay differently when not painted in the same path as the rest of the roof...others say take it out. The seal is already out of the way so there is a gap around the sunroof to allow paint to lay....I have sent a PM to rattlsak as he is my local guru regarding this matter....

I shot ChromaBase for years, love the stuff! I sure wish we could still use it out here on the West Coast. The nannies out here have forced us to use water based crap..anyway

Which clear are you using?

FWIW-
What I remember about shooting ChromaBase:
I remember wanting to let it flash completely between coats, (either base or clear)... If you push it, it will solvent pop or blush (like any other product)
1st coat of clear was light-medium if over a light color high metallic base, followed by a medium-heavy 2nd & 3rd coat... Covering non-metallic or dark metallic was simple with a medium 1st coat followed by medium 2nd & 3rd coats..

Cut and polish within 24hrs if baked otherwise cut-polish after a couple of days.


sorry for the long winded response-


Great project!

Thanks for the input. I am sure he will appreciate your input. He has a friend that taught him how to paint years ago and also loves ChromaBase. Waiting for flash will not be a problem. We are taking our time and trying to do it right. He has all the documentation in a binder and following directions to a T. It will be going on over a dark metalic. Same Marine blue that it is now. I am not sure of the number on the clear but it is DuPont as well.

Don, i responded to your PM and when you paint the car have the roof on a stand and follow the same spray pattern and you wont have any issues. Whre you run into issue is when someone paints the top roof 'longways' and then walks over to the sunroof and paints it 'sideways' if you know what i mean.

Thanks buddy.....that makes sense to me. Thanks for the PM as well.

Well.....the sunroof is out....the front and back glass are out....one more day of water sanding some minor areas....and it will be ready to seal and paint...dont worry...the fenders are coming back off I just wanted to see what it looked like in one color with the fenders...didnt have the energy to mount the bumpers too.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1269986836.jpg

Looking good Don.
I'm sure you guys know all this also but won't hurt.

water down the floor, (& walls if possible), prior to painting.

lightly wipe the car off with the tack cloth. Really don't want that residue left on it.

Wear the least amount of cotton clothing as possible. Cotton leaves the most amount of fibers of just about anything. Blue jeans are especially bad. Have an old leisure suit left from the 70's? :D Seriously, try to wear nylon if you can. Maybe you can buy the tyvek suits commercially now. Check with like a Sherwin-Williams store or something. I know you can buff out contaminants in the clear but not the basecoat, especially a metallic.

Good luck!!!!

Yep, good stuff right here!

Paint suits are cheap compared to the time and labor off either re-shooting or buffing for hours...
Basic one are what 10-15 or I think I paid 35 for my reusable uber slick Tyvek's.

Buy your tack cloths too. They're nice and sticky for a reason.

I'm sure your guy already knows this but we get to feel involved if we pipe in with a few words of encouragement etc.

Excited! Can't wait for the finished product!