More Paint

 Now that the epoxy is all done I can move on to bigger and better things.  But first I wanted to take a break from painting as it is very stressful for me because its has to be done so quickly and I don't have time to review and changes things as I go like I like to do.  So I am in the process of finishing up the wiring job.  This is one of my favorite tasks.  The wiring is all installed and scattered about, all the connectors are on except for 3 or four that will wait until things progress more.  I have about 40 percent of it tested out.  The gauge controller and gauges are working correctly, the security system is working correctly.  These two conponents are a huge percentage of the entire wiring.  Now I just have to test the lights, wipers, radio wires.  Plus under the hood the EFI system is all connected and the car still runs.  Thats huge too.  Wires look good.  These engine bay fuse and relay block is also built and installed.  This controls the headlights, torque converter in the transmission, and the city lights.  

So thats moving along great and giving me great pleasure.  Not like sex though.  I have the dash area all painted in its final coat of black paint.  Looks nice.  I installed the dash pad tonite and that appears to fit well.

So back to the painting project.  Man I wish this was done!  With the exception of the main body, I have all the panels prepped and ready for the color coat.  Take a look,  they are all in Lee's bedroom.  This includes two doors, two fenders, and the trunk lid.  I guess I shouldn't say all because the hood still needs the backside painted with the final black coat before the color goes on the top.

Some needed the high build primer to smooth all the little bumps and dents out.  You can see the trunk lid directly above.  This one I only had to sand the epoxy coat down and you can see it looks pretty smooth.  In the bedroom picture above the parts that are more grayish have been prepped and sanded with the high build primer and the more blackish parts like the trunk were only epoxied and they were done.  I am amazed at how well the high build primer smoothed out the panels.  I only had to put two coats on, sand it and I was done.  When I painted my white hot rod, I had a helper, unfortunately he died on my, and we had to high build it 2 or 3 times, so this was great.  Probably mostly becuase of experience.  This is my third paint job.

I am hoping later this week I will be able to finish the paint on the bedroom parts.  They all have to be the exact same color before the blue color coat goes on because that paint is somewhat translucent and the undercoat is designed to add to the affect of the color.  The paint people have recommended that the undercoat for this blue be white so I have a white epoxy sealer that will go on first.  Probably only one coat.  Then 20 minutes later I have to have the gun all cleaned, paint mixed and then the parts get two or three coats of the blue base coat.  Then if all has gone well so far and there are no major runs or other problems, I have 30 minutes to 1 hour to get the gun cleaned out again and the clear coat mixed.  Then 2 or 3 coats of clear go on.  This is the hard part for some reason.  Hard and messy.  But, if if goes on good it will look beautiful and I will be patting myself on my own back.

If that goes ok, and thats a big if, I will attempt to do the hood the next day, or maybe the hood and the trunk lid.  I can only do what fits in the garage at one time and I need to do as much at one time as I can so I do end up with wasted paint to through out by mixing too much at a time.  This paint is $100 per quart and I don't really want to buy more to finish up a small area.  I have 1.25 quarts of sealer, about a gallon and a half of blue, and about a gallon and a half of clear.  If I run out without finishing the whole process on a group of panels they all have to be resanded and start over, you cannot pick up in the middle a few days later.  This gives me stress.

When those parts get completed I will step back and evaluate.  If I end up with a lot of orange peel or runs they need to be fixed.  So long and the orange peel and runs are only in the clear coat its can all be corrected with wet sanding the clear coat with 1000, 2000, 3000 grit sand paper then the part will be dull and ugly, but if I can smooth it out without sanding through the clearcoat it will then be buffed with a cut and buff product and will end up shiney again and be perfectly smooth.  Just takes hours to do it.  I have already talkd to a guy that detailed my Chevelle last week getting it ready for a show we are going to enter.  He said he can to the wet sand and buff for me for $2k.  Lot of money but may be worth it.  

Heres my car after the detail.  This was the first application of wax after the car was painted.

I am really excited to complete Lees car because I want to get back to work on mine and fix a few things that never got done because I wanted to start on Lee's car.

So Lee said she may be able to visit in July.  I didn't think I could wait that long to do the rest of the work on the main body but I may have to because that's the hardest part for me because its so big.  Its a bigger problem if the gun goes empty halfway through a part and the main body is all one part.  On the smaller parts you can check the gun before you start each part to see if there is enough paint to finish it.  On the main body you can't.  You need someone mixing paint and you go and ready to fill the gun when it goes empty because the paint dries so fast and you cannot start painting on an edge that's too dry.  I also need helf keeping the hose out of the paint while doing the roof.  If it touches the color coat of the clear coat you're pretty much screwed.

So if she still can come then I will probably wait.  If we miss July then it will be too hot until fall after that unless there are a couple days only in the 80's.  I have plenty of other work I can do on the car while waiting, I'll just have to mask more stuff off, which takes forever.