Chop the top, of course.......... (j/k) Thanks for the comments guys, here's the progress for this weekend. Dan has been reinstalling the electrical components and guages to get a head start, hopefully we'll make the 15th. The radio will have to wait until after the paint job to leave room for installing the rear view mirror to the top of the dash. While Dan kept busy on the electrical stuff, I was masking the body panels and reinstalling. The carbs have been rebuilt and should go on tomorrow night. A door and a hood left to go, and then I can roll it outside and clean out the booth.
EXCELLENT TREAT some real nice work going on here showing a lot of patience. It'll all be worth it in the end. Cruiser
Not being a wise ***, or anything here, but I see you painted the edges and jams on the car. I've painted my share of cars in Candy paint, and found that if I did this, and backtaped them (or hardtaped them) to paint the outside, I got a really thick, noticable edge. How do you plan on getting the inside/outside paint transition to look good? Have you done it this way before? I can see your bodyworking skills are very good, and your paint techniques are as well. But have you done any Candy paint jobs this way? I know base'clear jobs can get away with this technique, but I never had any luck doing Candy that way.
Ideally the loose body panels would have been sprayed silver base and cleared on the back sides, re***embled to the car, and then the complete car been base, candy and cleared. Then break down again, and candy the back sides, blending up to the "overspray" from the front. then re***emble again. I have not yet tried the method you see unfolding, but once the owner decided this thing had to be in Vegas by the first week in Oct for a B-J auction, (and it still needs upholstery), well needless to say that doesn't leave enough time to do it the right way. So my compromise is to "back tape" in two steps, the silver will be applied to the outside taped edge, (maybe first coat of candy also) and then the rest will go to the next taped edge. I'm also using candy concentrate added to the mix so I won't need as many coats, so hopefully it will not be as much build. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed......
Thanks so much for keeping us updated on your work. Unbelievable how much work is involved in QUALITY body and paint work. You are one patient dude to do all that masking. If anyone freaks out when they hear about paint jobs costing 10-20k, send them to this thread and they'll see why ... prep.
Well I spent the biggest share of the day last Saturday (the 13th) starting about 7:30 am until about 10:30 pm masking off everything on the car to get it ready for paint. This time the wheelwells, rockers, and valances were taped to give better access for spraying the lower edges. And if you've ever had your air hose get caught under a tire, this is an attempt to cure that issue: Wiped down with preclean, tacked, and repeated twice: Now, in the typical fashion for this car, Murphy has once again smiled on me with his vengeance. It didn't help that the owner's manager has been calling me twice a day leading up to the painting session. It didn't help that his latest "deadline" of the 15th was a short two days away. It didn't help that I had ordered medium reducer for the typical weather we had seen for the past two weeks, and now it was high seventies with about 95% humidity. (you folks from TX might be used to this, but I sure wasn't!) I only had one gallon of slow reducer, so the slow and medium had to be mixed together. It didn't help that I had been working on this car for the past 15 hours, and the manager's parting comments when he left around 9pm were that he could buy us a couple days getting it to the upholsterer, but this car needed to be painted. It didn't matter to him that weather and humidity conditions were't ideal and that I wanted to wait, he wanted the car painted. At this point, everything was going smooth, absolutely no dust in the paint, nice smooth finish. After the second layer of Candy, the high humidity had taken it's toll, and I had some condensation drip out of the mask. I didn't see it until too late. I let the Candy harden up where I could wetsand the defects out. After this done, the problems seemed to continue to spiral out of control, and I had everything from dust in the paint, to runs, and even had some zebra stripes in the Candy. This was working on about hour 27, not ideal conditions for anyone. When he showed up the next day (for him anyhow, I had only had about two hours sleep) to look at the results, I told him he wanted a rush job, and I hope he liked the results. After seeing what the car looked like, he was not happy, and was quick to point out that the heat and humidity issues were on me, even though he had told me to get it painted the night before. Now I am sanding it back down to primer, trying to get it ready again. I think we missed the deadline. Sure glad it had to be done that night. In hindsight, it sure was beautiful out today, would have been a nice day to paint. The drama continues.......
I feel for you! Candy paint is NOTHING to try and rush through! Anyone ***ociated with a paint shop should know that, shame on him! The main thing is to get it right. In spite of the owner/shop owner's deadlines. They aren't the ones who have to resand and repaint the whole car (probably remask, too!) It's very sad to see how some folks do not listen to people with experience and talent. They think just because they are labeled with the "manager" ***le, they know it all. Anyway, good luck to you on a difficult job. Up to now, it's been a very nice build. BTW...that's the way I also do the jams and edges on a candy job. I guess you've done a few before as well....
Just to give you an idea what I've been up against here (through the whole fiasco), the owner and manager ask for a price to paint the car, fix a couple of visible cracks, and the cracked hinge boss in the trunk lid. One thing leads to another, and once the car is stripped other problems crop up, as one can normally expect from a vintage automobile. With each problem that has been encountered, the "manager" was called and informed of the issue, told of how it should be fixed, and we were given the go-ahead to proceed. During the dis***embly phase, when the body was at Dan's house getting stripped, the manager decided we needed to send off the chrome to get plated. I suggested that we wait, and fit everything to the body once it was blocked out nice and straight. This held off the urgency for about two weeks, and then it was an issue again. Needed to get it out ASAP! Still need to fit it to the body I said. I guess I didn't know what I was talking about, because if the chrome came off that body, it surely must go back on (even though we had purchased quite a few reproduction parts due to advanced pitting/damaged pieces) So I spent the time (not in original estimate) to get the chrome ready, wrap it up, box it, and pay shipping to the Chrome Plater of his choosing. This pattern continues, and it seems that every time he would make spot checks, he always found something else that needed to be done, much more than the realm of the original paintwork. He never discussed price with any of the additional work, including the shaving of the stainless on the sides. If the owner wanted it, go ahead and get it done. I did however, keep a fairly good account of the additional items. But it seemed everytime he showed up.....Are you gonna do this.....are you gonna do that.....never satisfied. I finally told him if he wanted a body off restoration, he should have said so long ago, as this thing started as a paint job. Jump ahead to the painting fiasco, after everything went downhill and he inspected the final results of what he absolutely had to have painted in what I told him were poor conditions. His first comment was to ask if I had ever done any Candy paint jobs before. Sure I have. Showed him pictures. I replied that I just have never had an auto mechanic tell me when and how it should be done. Hope you're happy with your rush job. Now apparently he has someone else on the hook to paint the car, and it is on me to get it ready. This includes stripping back down to primer and blocking it out. Again. (this would make about the 6th time for blocking it out) And apparently there is a new deadline, this one hinging on the next B-J auction scheduled. I kindly suggested to him that this was an old car with old car problems, and that he should schedule the upholstery on any future endeavors after the car was complete and detailed to his satisfaction. Then schedule your auction after the upholstery is complete and the car is to your satisfaction. The unrealistic demands to meeting this schedule (and I have full time employment besides this), in addition to all the other items he was constantly adding, would drive anyone bonkers. I had gotten the trunk lid and part of the convertible top cover stripped when he called and wanted to make sure I'd help him get it all back together and get the chrome back on. Hey, nows a good a time as any......"What are you gonna do about the chrome that doesn't fit?" ( I had tested a couple pieces the night before) This kinda took him by surprise, and I had to remind him of his other great decision about sending the chrome out before the body was ready for fitment. Well, it now looks like I'm fitting up the chrome, and Mr. Painter No. 2 is going to strip the car. Hey....I did give him a choice between the two. So far, everything I have fitted on the rear bumper pieces has required grinding and will need replating. Boy, that's gonna cost another bundle! You've got to love a know-it-all that tells you how to do your own job So where I'm at now is fitting chrome, and he's supposed to pick that up this week to send back to the plater.
People don't realize that the bumper fit on 53-55 Vette's from the factory are bad, real bad and that it needs to be fitted after it has been primed and blocked. The problem is they sit flush with body, if you want them perfect it will take a lot of time. I have seen original Corvette's with 1/2" gaps between the bumper and the body and it looks like ****. I spent 2 days of grinding on my 54 bumpers to get them right. I feel your pain!
With the "manager" issues you described - it is time for a face to face meeting with the owner of the car to iron out any additional costs and other issues.... this entire post says it all... AB
usually when someone says they are taking their car to another shop to have all the work you just did stripped, is when I would be telling them to get a trailer and get the car out of my shop by the end of the day or its going to be in the street. your work so far looks great though im surprised anyone would even consider stripping it off. Everyone has bad paint jobs now and then its just how it is. Ive dripped out of my respirator onto paint so many times on hot days...ugh..
The manager does not use the net, to my knowledge. Really wouldn't care if he did. Well, he did stop by to pick up the chrome corner pieces this weekend, out of 16 pieces 14 need to be redone as they needed grinding/refitting. Then we got into the heart to heart talk. In a nutshell, I told him I didn't mind helping to get the car together, but someone was going to pay for my time. The little bit of money I had rec'd thus far hardly touched my time in this car, and I wasn't going to put this thing together for free. Either that or the whole works can go away from my shop. He never really answered to that, just spouted off some more of his infinite wisdom. When he left, I had no clue of where we still stood. He calls back about ten minutes after leaving, had spoken to the owner, and he wanted me to sand the areas around the headlights to insure they didn't get messed up (he was worried they may get sanded too much at the next shop......I did test fit the headlight buckets and trim rings last week, they fit perfectly), and then he would pick up the car and everything else at the same time. When it comes back from painter no. 2, he will be re-***embling it himself at his place, if he needs ***istance or it needs to come back to my shop, it will be pay as they go. It has been enjoyable bringing the car to where it now, but not working with a knowitall leaning over my shoulder and calling 5 times a week. A true eye-opening experience.
Well....I'm dying to know how the story ends..... Is there more or is it in another thread somewhere?
The Jalopy Journal
