It has been a long time coming, 8 years, and I finally get to paint my car. Now that I have finished painting my girlfriends car, I finally get to work on mine.
With the Daytona show almost here, I wanted to make sure that my Cowl Inducted Hood Scoop was on and painted for the show. I am doing a color change on my car and It is just way to hard to explain what I am doing but you will see it all come together as it happens.
Since I need the hood done for Daytona, that is where I begin. I started to sand and the more I sanded the more it seemed like I would never get down to the factory paint. This hood had 6 aftermarket paint jobs on top of the factory paint! I have a sneeky suspicion that the rest of the car is going to be the same way. When I bought my car in 2001, it had just been painted with the paint that is on there now. Now from 1986 (when the car was built) to 2001 (when I bought it), I am curious as to why this car needed to have new paint every 2 1/2 years on average. What a rough life it must have had.
The underside of the hood was an eye sore to say the least. With that many paint jobs you can see all the overspray on the back. I was surprised to find out though that the bottom side of the hood had never been re-painted. I also cut out the opening for the scoop that will make it functional.
Top side all sanded.
Bottom side all sanded.
My Munson headlight buckets were just unfinished fiberglass on the bottom. I wanted to smooth all that out so it looks just as nice as the underside of the hood.
I kinda got excited to get this hood done so I did not take pics of primer and the scoop during prep. So here are pics of the scoop installed and the hood painted.
Top side of the Munson headlight buckets.
I still have to paint the bottom side of the hood and headlight buckets before friday so it will be done in time for the show. I will probably spray those thing on Wednesday.
This will pretty much be it for this thread till after Daytona. I will then begin the rest of the paint job. Stay tuned cause it's going to be pretty cool.
the multi color thing reminds me of a Karman Ghia i had years ago, it was faded red when i got it, yellow when i sold it. a few months after i sold it i ran into the new owner who was sanding it down to paint it yet again and he told me that in the process of stripping the car he found out it was actually 2 cars welded together! the rear was originally red and the front was originally blue:-) yours is looking great by the way. in an odd way, I kind of like the psychedelic red and black hood (volcano camo?)
Unfortunately, right after I cleared it, I realized I did not shoot the underside of the headlight buckets. I am getting up early tomorrow and shooting them in the morning. They should be set up well enough to mount them on Friday morning a few min's before I leave for the Daytona Show. Talking about doing things last min.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 03-25-2009).]
This morning I went out to paint the back side of the headlight buckets. First thing I noticed was that I did not sanded the primer yet. So I started sanding. As I sanded, I came across a dozen or so little areas that werent smooth enough for my liking. They need a little glazing putty first. Since time is extremely short (leaving for Daytona in the morning), I decided to chuck the idea of painting them prior to Daytona. I figured it was not worth rushing through and messing something up.
Anyway... I installed my hood back onto the car. Now I have a lot of cleaning and detailing to do prior to tomorrow morning.
Some pics outside in the sun. The white on the hood is the refection of the clouds in the sky.
For those of you going to Daytona... See ya tomorrow.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 04-09-2009).]
Well I had originally planned on getting back to work on my car after this coming weekend. I had plans for the weekend but they fell through. So today I removed the whole front end. The real work now begins.
Here is the whole reason my car has been wearing a bra for the past couple of years. It has way too many paint chips on the front end for my liking...
Passenger side showing chips on the bumper...
I am documenting each panel individually so there is a before and after shot when I'm done. Passenger side front fender...
Drivers side front fender...
All this read overspray is going by by. I will be repainting the Space Frame also. Pic of the front end removed.
This over spray drives me nuts.
I did not get a chance to work on the car at all today. I had to go do some normal work and make some money.
After I removed the front end, I took the fenders and bumper outside to wash them down real good before sanding begins. While washing the back side of the passenger side front fender, I noticed a 6"-8" crack that had been repaired previously. I had this same problem when I started painting my girlfriends car but her's was on the drivers side. Instead of trying to sand and fix the crack again, I will be replacing this fender.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 04-09-2009).]
Does anyone know where to get this material or a good substitute for it?
I know that Rodney Dickman sells a piece to replace this but I kind of wanna do it myself. I have gone this far by myself so I am hoping to do as much as I can without writing checks.
Well I had originally planned on getting back to work on my car after this coming weekend. I had plans for the weekend but they fell through. So today I removed the whole front end. The real work now begins.
I will post up some pics tomorrow.
That is some beautiful work, are you a professional painter? I would love to paint my own car but I know it wouldn't turn out that nice.
That is some beautiful work, are you a professional painter? I would love to paint my own car but I know it wouldn't turn out that nice.
Thanks
I am not anywhere close to a professional. I used my girlfriends Fiero as a Guinea Pig car and painted it as my very first paint job. You can check out the paint build of her car here... https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum3/HTML/000093.html It came out OK but I learned a lot while doing it and mine is coming out really nice. I am going to extremes with my car and everything is getting painted.
Randye,
No worries. Things happen and thats just life. Sure I'm bummed out about it but Homestead will be here eventually.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 04-04-2009).]
Does anyone know where to get this material or a good substitute for it?
I know that Rodney Dickman sells a piece to replace this but I kind of wanna do it myself. I have gone this far by myself so I am hoping to do as much as I can without writing checks.
It looks like your GFs car turned out great and yours may be better. Love your color choices. Do you need to watch the humidity when you paint or is the paint forgiving?
It looks like your GFs car turned out great and yours may be better. Love your color choices. Do you need to watch the humidity when you paint or is the paint forgiving?
I'm not sure just how forgiving the paint is with humidity. I just sprayed when I was ready
Thanks to Randye for suggesting this product to me...
This stuff is great at killing and removing rust off of metal.
I put a little into a paint cup and then soaked some nuts and bolts in it. It stripped off all the rust in about an hour.
I also used a stripping wheel on my Die Grinder to remove most of the heavier rust off the front bumper eggcrate support. Once I did that. I sprayed that stuff on it to kill the rest. I then re-painted the whole thing. Front side...
Back Side
Turn signal brackets...
Lower bumper support brackets...
Upper piece that the bumper attaches to...
Thats all I have for right now but I will be doing more each day. I will continue pics as I proceed.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 04-06-2009).]
Hey Jimmy what ever happened with the air pressure problem you where having?
It has something to do with the water/oil seperator. I just removed it for now. Everything works normal without it and I really don't need it just for the air tools. I will get a new one before I start painting the body.
Progress has been slow cause I have been doing 3 things...
1st - hours have picked up at work. I only have a part time job and my girlfriend works there also. We normally team up and do the work together. We picked up a few more stores so hours have picked up.
2nd - Taking my time and trying to not look over any details. I re-wired the whole front end.
3rd - Procrastinating. I don't know why but I seem to have lost motivation. I am working on it slowly but surely.
A before pic...
After...
The front portion of the front end is almost completed. I still have the spare tire compartment to paint and the rails where the fenders attach.
All of this stuff used to be located in the headlight bucket area on the drivers side. I moved and re-wired it all to clean up the areas that people actually see.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 05-04-2009).]
All of this stuff used to be located in the headlight bucket area on the drivers side. I moved and re-wired it all to clean up the areas that people actually see.
I really like this idea! Might just have to do something similar on my blue fiero.
I really like this idea! Might just have to do something similar on my blue fiero.
The only problems with this idea is... If one of those relays goes bad, it will be a lot harder to change.
If you decide to do this, be prepared to cut, extend and solder a lot of wires. Don't take the short cut of using butt connectors. Use solder and heat shrink tubing to save future corrosion problems.
Also keep in mind that some of those relays you see in the pic, you will not have. I have the Munson headlights so that added a couple extra relays and I also have driving lights which added another relay and a fuse.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 05-14-2009).]
I am getting up early tomorrow and shooting them in the morning. They should be set up well enough to mount them on Friday morning a few min's before I leave for the Daytona Show. Talking about doing things last min.
So I started sanding. As I sanded, I came across a dozen or so little areas that werent smooth enough for my liking. They need a little glazing putty first. Since time is extremely short (leaving for Daytona in the morning), I decided to chuck the idea of painting them prior to Daytona. I figured it was not worth rushing through and messing something up.
Looking good Jimmy.
