Rustoleum roller job, check it out

[scooterhulk]

I'm rolling the last coat on tomorrow, but I took some pics yesterday and wanted to post them.

 

Rustoleum Gloss White, rolling with high density foam brushes. Paint mix is a little thicker than the recommended 50/50 mix with mineral spirits. I just liked the paint going on a little thicker...

 

Got lucky and have had more than a week of unseasonably warm weather, which I thought would help. Wetsanded every two coats - 800 grit, 1000, 1200, and I'm gonna do the last wetsand with 1200 before polishing. Car was originally metallic blue. Since I was going with a different color, I painted the door jambs with the roller and a foam brush. Also painted around the doors.

 

My hood was almost junk when I started the project. It was on the car when I bought it, and originally came off of a 72. It had rust and bondo, both of which I think I cleaned up decently well. The bottom side of it looked awful. It was chipping from at least three repaints. So, before I started rolling on the white, I rolled the bottom side with POR15 to smooth out the surface. I think it came out pretty well. And keep in mind before I started the entire car was covered with a 2+mm thick sheet of dolphin glaze. I used a screwdriver and hammer to chisel off around the windshield. I'll do a build thread after I finish putting it back together.

 

Til then, check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My welded-on gas filler

 

 

 

 

[BluDestiny]

That looks great, I've seen a few roller jobs but they were half assed. I didn't think it could come out so smooth.

[scooterhulk]

I got the practice out of the way earlier in the year when I painted my truck. I figured out you could use the rattle can to touch it up as long as it got several coats on top to even it out. Make sure it has plenty of time to dry (everyone says 8 hrs, but that bit me in the butt when I did the truck. I waited 8 hrs and one of the coats still wasnt dry. It screwed up my progress, making the layers beneath want to separate, I assume bc it had too much mineral spirits  given the fresh coat of paint combined with the not-yet-dry coat). I let it dry a full day between coats. Never underestimate how much wetsanding helps the later coats. I used a lighter grit sandpaper than most recommend (they say start with 600, then 800, then I think they finish with 1000 - some ppl will go to a lighter grit), but thats bc early on in the process, before I have a good base of paint built up, the 600 will strip it right off.

 

I didn't prime most of the car. As always, I was in a rush, but it didn't hurt anything. Except that this stuff doesn't really like to be put on bare metal. I had to redo one of the rockers bc the paint didnt want to stick. Everywhere the paint didn't stick (both of my fenders, the drivers side rocker, and the hatch top - I painted the bottom side first and it came out fine), I had to sand everything off and put a coat of primer on before starting fresh.

 

I have a friend that roll-painted his S10 recently and it looked like hell. I know he didn't wetsand, and I doubt he thinned the paint well. He just didn't spend a lot of time on it, and it is a process that takes A LOT of time. But it's documented online that this can be done outside by someone with little money and possibly no garage space, so there's that advantage. I didn't think mine would look as good as it does, especially the jambs and the hood. That hood was almost garbage when I removed it, and so was the hatch.

 

I had bought another hatch to replace mine, then found that the welds were cracked at the hinges. I couldn't get the new hatch to true up with the rest of the car, so I opted to try and save my old rusty hatch. I internal-frame-sealed it, ground off the rust, cut out the rot around the glass opening and welded up the holes. It is an excruciatingly slow process, but if you do anything too quickly it will definitely show, and people will immediately know it's a crap job. So far, I think by the time I'm finished you won't be able to tell it wasn't sprayed.

[tamo3]

Looks awesome! Are you going to paint clear coat on the top of this?

[scooterhulk]

No. And here's the (maybe odd) reason. I did one roller job prior to this, and when I did that one it was new to me and I was only following instructions. The write up said that you didn't have to clear it. Ive heard that other paints won't adhere well to the Rustoleum, so maybe the clear won't adhere to it as well..? I know with my truck, it looks great as long as I wash it every 3 weeks or so. But the finish is nice enough that it stays relatively clean, but looks awesome after I wash it. The finish on my Datsun is much better than the one I got on the truck. I think when I'm done polishing you won't be able to tell and it'll look pretty great. I'll post some pictures when its back together (goal is by Sunday, but will settle for mid-week). The bodywork isn't perfect. I had to straighten out the rear pan by hand. I had to weld a few spots at the bottom of the car on that 1" metal strip that runs along both sides where a saw had cut into it at some point. Drivers side qtr patch, both dog legs, several holes around the hatch glass and one or two around the windshield. The great thing about this paint is that in some places it can hide things. Sometimes it will fill in spots (don't count on it, but in some places it will), and it seems like the finish is bright enough to distract from most of that. I've noticed that now with both the gloss white and safety yellow.