Took these pics just before I put the car in the shed for the winter. All the snow has melted again but the sand and salt and mud is everywhere so no point in driving it. You can see that everything is tucked up above the frame, and how it is a bit crowded around the turbo area. The charge piping runs above the exhaust pipng for a short distance but there is good seperation. Overall there are a lot less places where the charge piping can pick up heat. The area where the heat exchanger is about the coolest spot anywhere near the engine. This is all the work I will do on the car until some time in March probably, when the snow melts again and I can get it out of it's shed.

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 01-06-2020).]

This is my present paint job, done about 7 years ago. It was done with Rustoleum Universal brand rattle cans. It is getting long in the tooth and takes a lot of waxing and buffing to make it look good. I learned a key thing about this paint when I painted a 91 civic wagon: you get a nice gloss and a smoother finish if you paint with the temperature lower than 60F. I had the shed heated to over 70F and that made it impossible to keep a wet edge going as I sprayed. The edge would dry too quick and developed stripes of gloss and semigloss textures. I fixed this by wetsanding and then waxing the finish. And that was a lot of work. I know I can do a better and faster job now. I do not think the colour I have on now is available, at least not at my 2 local suppliers. But gloss white is available, I have always liked white Fiero's so I may go that route. I have time to kill over the winter so this will be a good project.

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 01-06-2020).]

I thought I would experiment on the front hood with some Universal Rustoleum white pearl metallic I bought a while back. The results were bad. I got the same striping that I had trouble with when I painted the grey, even though it was nice and cool in the shed.And it did not come out white, even though the can says paint and primer in one can. I liked the colour it came out but there is no way I can make a good job of it.

I have always found that using mettallic paint out of a rattle can only comes out well on small objects. And this stuff needs a white base to work properly. And none of the stores around here stock white in this product. So I will have to order 12 cans of white gloss unless I find something else.

The reason I like the Rustoleum Universal rattle cans is they can be sprayed sideways, upside down or any angle. And they have a good sized spray pattern making it easy to do large areas.

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 01-12-2020).]

Slowly getting the hood painted. I took most of the old paint off, tried a different gloss white that didn't work out and took it back down to where it was . This was the second light coat of Rustoleum universal . I had to do two more coats and now it looks pretty good but I managed to get two small runs in it, up near the windshield wipers. The up turn makes the perfect place for runs to form. I am hoptng to be able to touch up the runs, I do not want to paint the hood again because it would mean sanding it down again. I have found the hood is the hardest part of the car to paint, with a rattle can anyway. All the other parts of the car(except the roof) can be painted in small chunks, making it much easier.

After the hood dries, then I mask it off and everthing except the roof. I paint that big area and then cover that over and then unmask and paint one piece at a time unti it is all done. It is a lot of work but it keeps the over spray off the finished parts and if I paint too much at once the fumes get really bad. The shed is passively vented and keeps the dust out. I wear a resperator designed to eliminate paint fumes and you can not smell the fumes while painting but I still like the idea of short exposures.

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 02-09-2020).]

So I hung the hood up sideways and vertical and gave it another coat of paint . Came out much better but not perfect. No drips this time and I should be able to buff out the imperfections so I am going to call the hood done.

I use this product to buff the finish. It is the only compound I have found that is compatible with this paint:



I have found one problem with the white colour. If you use anything other than the cheap blue windshield washer fluid, you can end up with stains on the finish. Not a problem for me because I always use the blue fluid because the washer bottle also feeds the water meth injection system.

The hood scoop is out in the shed, have to get some double sided tape on it and stick it back on. I will paint the rear decklid the same way with it hanging sideways and vertical. The sides of the car should be fairly easy to do, but the roof might be a problem. Luckily it is much smaller than the front hood.

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 02-29-2020).]