Hot Rods Louver Sanding Help

Just had these louvers punched on my Healey hood:



Now comes the fun part of priming and block sanding. Anybody have any tips or techniques they could share on the best way to do this on the louvered section?

 

My experience on our 36 was just sand it by hand around the louvers. Wrap the sand paper around your finger and go at it - one at a time. Careful you don't cut yourself on those edges. You can block sand the other areas. Very tedious but probably worth it to have nice louvers....................

 

Sand and then go rob a bank because you will not have any finger prints left.

 

Would one of those flap wheel sanders work? Maybe not fine enough grits available.

 

I've had pretty good success with the 3M softback sanding sponges. Cut them in half and fold them over. Saves the fingertips a bit...

 

I wouldn't use a flap disk on them or get it anywhere close to them. I did pretty much the same as they did and there are 120 in my hood. Takes a lot of time and a lot of sore fingers. Wish I had known about the 3M softback sponges.

 

Louvers can be painful. It's the price we pay for cool.

 

Hire out.

 

Indeed. Looks like a good job for a couple of neighbor kids.

 

I remember sanding the original 25 louver hood on my deuce sedan,my fingers were raw after sanding the inner & outer louvers,that's 100 in all.

I love louvers but despise sanding them. HRP

 

LOL- my first job as an apprentice in the restoration shop I worked in was to sand a set of wood spoke wheels that were primed in a nice cream-yellow color. While working on my third wheel, the color started turning red- thinking that I had cut through the primer, I called the boss over. He got a little smile on his face and thanked me for being so honest, then he said, "take a look at your fingers..."

I had sanded through the pads on my first three fingers

 

Have the best painter you know spray 4 coats of perfectly flat clear so all you
have to do is wet sand with 1500 then color buff. You'll probably still burn through in a couple
of places. Most frustrating and time consuming thing I've ever done. Oh yeah, have somone scallop the edge
a different color with a striping brush. Hides a lot.

 

Sanding sponge and base coat clearcoat

 

here is how i do it maybe not the best way. i first block sand all the area around the louvers making sure i do not repeatedly sand against the edge of any louver. then i sand the "face" of the louver with the sand paper wrapped around a rubber squeegy . avoiding the rounded corners. when that is done i use one finger, in the CENTER of the piece of paper, to sand the rounded corners. doing this creates no sanding "edges" because the pressure applied by your finger tapers off to the outer parts of the sand paper.
ppg 9300 straight color urethane enamel

 

Why not buy a pair of Kevlar gloves (the sheet metal trades use them)? Any place that sells safety supplies should carry them. They're not expensive and would save your fingers. I use them to shuck oysters. lol

 

Lots of good advice here. Thanks, guys. After reading some of the horror stories, maybe I'll just keep it in bare metal with a nice coat of Gibbs Penetrant!

 

just paint it!

 

I did about 50 louvers on the hood of a roadster... use a guide coat and do it by hand


"Keep on keepin' on"

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain and post the pictures of your technique. Very helpful and one I'll follow. I'll also give the sanding sponges a shot. Kevlar gloves look like a good idea, but I wonder if they'd be too bulky to get in between the louvers? Thanks for all the tips.

 

your welcome. one thing to also remember is, the edges of what ever block/squeegy you use is the enemy. repeated strokes in the exact same spot will leave a ridge that will show in the final paint. the blocks i am using in the photo have very worn edges and the paper hangs over the edges.

 

First thing , while it's in bare metal sand the louver edge to remove the burrs and smooth the edge so you won't cut yourself . After you've rough sanded and primed the hood do all of your sanding using a soft block , try not to use your finger tips as this will end up as little ridges after finish paint . Good luck

 

Wrap your sanding fingers with masking tape. Chances are you will be bleeding if you don't.

 

Not sure my wife sanded all 270 lovers on our shoebox . Yes her fingers bled on her car. You cant sand in one direction only as there will be lines at the ends of each row you need to go around the curves. I think a lot of the final finish has to do with who originally pressed the louvers. On ours there are creases at the ends of most that she couldn't sand out, you sure cant fill them all and get a nice job. So we just live with it, but the she paint stripped them all. Sanded through 3 seperate primes then colour sanded the clear.

 

When I wet sanded the 72 louvers on my hood, it was all done by hand. It took a while and I thought it would never be done. Don't be in a rush because if you have to re-paint, you'll kick yourself hard.

 

and painted........global dg single stage

 

There are 78 louvers on the hood of my car. I'm going to buy a case of band-aids.

 

My 39 Deluxe Ford coupe had 106 louvers in the hood I hand sanded them it was a pain in the ass but I would have used one of the sanding pads if they would have been available then they would have saved my fingers

 

I cut pant sticks into mini sanding blocks
different sizes and shapes
used sticky paper and trimmed to fit the 'blocks'

find a mental happy place and sand