Well, thats exactly what it is. Im doing my bodywork and paint in my garage, and its coming out nice. Lots of reading, and some quality tools- Im figuring this out, and its fun to play some music and sand until my arms ache. This is my first time and I think its going to come out sweet, I just need to sand my way to shiny paint. Heres some pics- From the start of sanding and removing paint and bondo, to priming, to blocking. I just have to rinse and repeat the primer, guidecoat and blocking! enjoy! P.S. My guidecoat looks awfully dark in the photo, really its not. 2-3 p***es with the 180 grit, and shes almost gone- cept' for those damn low spots!
To me block sanding a car and getting it in the final coat of primer was the best part of the project, shooting color was sort of a letdown. Wet sanding the color and buffing it proved the primer blocking was done correctly.
That's what makes or breaks a paint job. There are a couple of local painters who are pretty good with a spray gun but I don't believe they even own a sanding block or long board. Every car they do ends up looking like a shiny washboard. No runs drips or sags in the paint though.
sanding ****s. all of it. rough sanding bondo ****s. especially tight countours. the ****** fingertips from the 80 grit are the worst. so you get to the stage you are at now, and it really ****s! ten times over the car and you still don't have the waves out and every time you find even more flaws to fix. you finally say "**** it!" and quit obsessing over every last little low spot. your arms are numb and haven't been this tired since you discovered ************. but there's light at the end of the tunnel, you'll be shooting color soon, it's all downhill from here! right? wrong bucko! you shoot the color, and amazingly have only a few runs and debris that need to be sanded out, that only takes a day of sanding fresh paint that sands about as easy as, well, fresh paint. finally you blast on a few coats of clear, being a newb you say screw the manufacturers recommendations, give it a good half dozen coats so you got something to work with, which ironically gives you more opportunities for **** to land in the paint or for runs and orange peel to develop. so you get to the cut and polish stage. the excruciatingly slow removal rate of the fine grits of paper is torture enough, let alone the worrying about sanding through and having to reshoot a panel! about this time is when you realize that you should have spent that extra few hours back at the primer stage fixing those last few low spots you gave up on...because you sure notice them now every time you have to put down the rubber block and finesse those low spots in by hand! yet again, you get impatient and call it good when there are "just a few" spots of orangepeel showing, you tell yourself, "it won't be noticeable!" so you proceed on to the finer and finer grits. and finally(ha!) fire up the buffer and put some shine to some panels. hey! those few spots of orangepeel sure do stand out when you can read a newspaper off the rest...and theres some sanding scratches visible, so you break out the 1000 grit yet again and touch up those few spots you're not happy with, only to realize you sanded the entire damn car yet again! you attempt polishing the paint one more time. now is when the neighbors and your wife think you've gone completely off the deep end as you roll the car back and forth out of the garage from harsh indoor lighting to natural outdoor lighting, examining every inch of the vehicle like a tweaker counting the metalflakes in the paint. yes it ****s.
Goooood times........Mine took awhile to do also, just turned up the stereo and went at it...I would just work on a few sections at a time using the guide coat...then I would roll it out of the garage and run the hose down it and let the water sheet off and you can see how its looks with some "gloss" to it.... Any little flaws I would circle, then pull it back in the garage and go at it again! Have fun, it will be worth it in the end....
I'm scared. And can't help but to wonder "What have I gotten myself into?" I hate sanding and am now wondering if I'm up to the challenge. Your work on the otherhand looks pretty awesome! Gives me a little hope for mine since this is your first too!
-I half-***ed the front of my '64 this Winter...and now I'm paying for it... Looks like quite a bit of sanding is in my future as well...
looks good so far man! What are you doing for your shaved handles as far as opening the doors? solenoids or something else?
Something else of course My wing windows are working pretty well at the moment. I plan on installing solenoids when I do the interior, and a cable for the decklid.
oh ok. What else have you done to the car? Pics? I just bought a 52 vic project a couple weeks ago, thats why I ask.
Ive read here differing opinions on the subject. My plan is to smooth what I have with the 180, and work my way up. This is my first layer of primer as well. 800 grit for sanding a guidecoat over the first layer of primer?
Back in the early 60's when I started my apprentice ship in auto painting we used to dry block the edges of the repairs with 180 dry paper then brush on 3-4 coats of enamel primer onto the repairs leave over night then we would block sand with 180 grit wet then if not right we fill it again then more blocking until straight.Then sand the hole car down wet with 320wet dry of then spray 2-3 coats of primer on leave over night then depending if it's laquer we would rub with 320 wet then 400 wet then clean of and spray the final color on ,if enamel it would be wet rubbed with just 320 only.With all this rubbing I had plenty of worn through fingers but I learnt the hard way.My how times have changed.
Being a finisher, a true automotive finisher, is the most difficult task in any type of car build. Very hard work to do right. The average body shop tech can do many things quickly but that final finesse to perfection takes discipline and dedication. Everything else is fun and instantly gratifying but the finishing stage seems to go on and on sometimes. Every task starts out pretty easy but it's amazing how "long" a panel gets when you start blocking. That final wipe down with the micro towels makes it all worth it. Then someone comes along and sets something on the car during ***embly and you want to beat the living **** out of em! I commend ya for taking on the task. I hope it comes out to your expectations, or better.
I do my fillerwork and then put on 3 coats of 2 pack primer, guidecoat it and flat back with 600 (straight paint) or 800 (mettalic).
you are so right about block sanding being tedious,,, good prep work is 90% of a nice paint job,,definitely not a good idea to cut corners there,,when it gets boring, walk away for a while rather than settling for good enough..use long blocks wherever possible,,the flexible ones with the metal rods are fantastic for this,, cole foster gave me these four words of advice on time, and i always keep it in mind when i do anything on my car: NICE **** TAKES TIME.
i'm right there with ya. i've been blocking my wagon for what seems like an eternity. i've sanded so much at night , i wake up with swollen hands. outlaw 52 has some good advice with using water as a "pre-view " to what it will look like with paint. after every stage i've been using wax and grease remover as my "pre-view" .
Figure on spending a total of 5 months on this job. I started mine before Christmas and finally finished it just a few weeks ago. I bet.. counting the wetsanding it took a total of 200 hours of sanding and mudding alone. Can't beat the price! and the Labor is free. I would suggest concentrating on a hood or trunk. All the way through the final paint. That will give you an indication as to whether you have the techniques down pat.
I actually like the hand sanding. I try to avoid the air sanders all together if I can. I just end up sanding too far with them and have to do it again anyway. Slowing down to hand sand takes more time, but the end result is nicer. At least for me. I've stopped worrying about it so much (I don't do the car show thing anyway). It seems like every time I get one finished and as close to perfect as I want, someone just opens a door into it, or rocks get kicked up at it while driving. Paint never seems to stay perfect. I figure you can either look at it or drive it. I'll probably end up painting it again anyway if I keep it.
I guess I'm just crazy 'cause to me blocksanding is not that much of a chore..I've been the one to do it @ the shops I've worked for. can't wait to get my F100 or the wife's '53 buick to that step.
You coming to Ohio anytime soon? I'm going to start sanding on my bodywork, sanding this weekend. My son wants his daily striped. I told him to come over this weekend and for every minute I hold a striping brush, he slides a some sandpaper. I figured I'd take more time then normal on his car and we both win! Vance
Thats a good plan. Just read the tech sheets for the primer you;re using. Most often they will reccomend the grit for the initial block sand. The HOK primer I use, starts at 100-150 and I finish with 320-400 wet. Then sealer and base wet to wet. Blocksanding ****s. End of story. It seperates the people that just "do" it from the people who actually care about it.
Do you use a different grit rateing on your side of the world? I dry block primer with 150 and work up to 400 wet, or 500 if it's going black. I'v seen paint come off in sheets when the primer was prepped to 600. I sand clear with no finer than 800 when reclearing a repair, or flow coating.( two coats of clear, sand wet w/ 800, then two more coats of clear)
This is the result of too much blocksanding. When getting the Kart ready for paint, I lierally sanded off my fingerprints, and proceeded to sand the rest of the skin of my fingers as well. I didn't cut myself here, I sanded through my skin all the way to my veins!
The one thing about blocksanding at my shop is thats the time I can hear the radio good. Fast bluegr*** music seems to work good for making a rythym if you need it.I'm down to my 360 grit blocking on this guys 40 Ford coupe. It will ge black. Put masking tape over the ends of your fingers when they start bleeding, thats what I do.When it all comes together though, you forget all about the pain!
The Jalopy Journal
