Little sneak peak.. What Ive been up to.

[Bartman]

Sorry to hear about having to redo the paint, that would piss me off as well!

 

I was thinking of painting just the jambs, underside of hood etc.; off the car and then putting at all back together with foam tape in the jambs (to protect them from overspray) before painting the exterior. Since I'm painting a pearl color as well, I thought this would prevent the problem you ran into. Do you think this plan would work well?

[MusPuppis]

Two stage with the pearl in the base.

 

this time around the car will be completely assembled. Buckets and doors on, hatch, everything. I'll be able to walk the car properly this way and the pearl should flow properly from peice to peice since they wont be painted seperatly.

 

 

 

Im still steamed about it.. having to redo it. Rags is likely to kill me, lol.

[MusPuppis]

I lay it as wet as I'm able to, hehe.

 

What I do is lay two dust coats, one fairly minor, one a little thicker all over the car to give the base something to stick to. 5 minutes tack on the dust coats, then I start to lay down wet coats. I go as wet as I can without risking a run. Im using DT895 Reducer to aid in wetting out and make sure it lays down smooth. I give a 12 minute tack time between wet coats.

 

Our booth sits around 85 degrees once its up and moving, ideally, i think I could manage a better over-all finish if I could effectively keep the temp down some. Maybe 75-ish. would give the base more time to wet out. We also have too much air flow IMO. Causes the base to dry up a little quicker than i would prefer when going for the best possible finish. In a production enviroment the booth would be great, spray it, dry it off and get it out, lol, but for this, I'd like a little difference here and there. Its nothing that wetsanding cant cure, but the better the finish in the onset the less time I have to soaked in clear residue and soapy water saying a prayer to every god I can think of I dont burn through and bork the job.

 

Pearl wont blend (more than likely I simply lack the skill..) and it makes me sad.

 

The car is re-prepped and goes into the booth tomarrow.

 

edit: On the base.. I've been reading up on pearls and such and some painters like to do their wet coats and when the whole job is done they like to pull back, turn up the pressure and pattern some and lay a dry dust coat over the whole car in one massive motion. The idea is to evenly distribute pearl over and across all the panels so everything flows more properly. I did a couple test panels but didnt notice a difference myself, but the test panels were small, so that could very likely effect the final product.

[rags]

Mus,

 

Kill ya? Na. I really admire your determination! All the stuff you guys are talking about now is why I was so afraid to tackle the paint myself. Keep at it man, I'm sure it's gonna turn out perfect!

 

Joe

[MusPuppis]

Thanks Rags, I appreciate your patience. It will be done any day now and its gonna look just plain sexy.

 

RacerX,

 

THANK YOU for your observations and experience. Armed with more knowledge, this Z will be that much better when I respray. Which should have been done today but Highway 80 forgot to put my order on the damn truck =/.

 

So, TOMARROW (god I hate that word) I'll be spraying the car unless the sky should fall or some ther catastrophy befalls me, which is a possibility thats flat out reasonable given the string of idiocy that follows me around these days.

 

Something I'm interested in knowing Racer.. Can you effectively tint a sealer? I have some light grey sealer I would love to darken to as near black as possible. If I cant manage it I'll just weasel a deal for some DP90.. A guy at the shop as a half gallon I might be able to work a trade for, lol.

[MusPuppis]

We cut through in a couple areas, which is why we wanted to reseal. We also had Sikkens Clear and were laying PPG base down over it, which made me a little nervous. This has been one of those Murphey's Law cars so I didnt want to risk any possible screw-ups. I ended up just buying some DP90LF in black.

 

600 grit on the clear, as recommended in my PPG refinish manual.

 

I resprayed the car today. It went well and everything seems to be in top shape. Of course, I thought that last time to, lol. I went over the car very carefully though and didnt find anything out of whack this time around and I dont expect any issues (knock on wood). I painted the car as a whole, all the penals on and in place, I walked the car, followed your instructions and I'm pretty happy with it.

 

Oddly enough, the PPG2002 clear didnt lay down as well as the Sikkens did. It wet out ok, but just didnt spray as smoothly. I pissed around with the gun for a while thinking that was the issue, but it was just more textured for some reason. Its still a smooth finish and what texture there is I'll kill when I wetsand the car, but I was disappointed. I had high hopes for the 2002 as I'd heard good things. I was un-impressed though. The Sikkens I sprayed the first time around was like glass, man it was smooth. Of course, clear has more properties than just spraying well, lol. Hopefully this stuff will harden up like a rock, but not before I get the orange peel out, lol.

 

Pics to follow tomarrow. I forgot my damn camera today =/

[Oldestzguy]

Reading this, I felt myself getting a little nervous as if it was my car and paint job. How did it finally come out. Any pictures yet?

[MusPuppis]

Pics today as a matter of fact!

 

They arent that great really, but they give an idea. The re-paint came out very well, except a very orange peely clear. I cant figure out why it sprayed so poorly.. Oh well, just means alot of wetsanding.

 

Little info right quick, these shots are of the care cut with 3m cutting compound (step one in their 3 stage system) after being wetsanded with 2k grit. I'm not happy with some areas. They still came out orange peely so I'm going in tomarrow and hitting most of the car with some 1500 I picked up today to flatten out the trouble spots some then just rebuff. But, still and all the pics give a decent idea what it'll look like all said and done. Keep in mind, its still only the first stage, and its shiny as all hell.

 

I think I have officially decided to use this exact color on my SHO if I can EVER get the money together to paint it. Of course 12 seconds after its painted it gets a for sale sign on it, but till its sold I'll look good drivin it, ha. Soooo gonna buy a DSM.. or Miata. Off topic? Sure..

 

Anyway, here is the Z as of today. Tomarrow will see it backtracked some, but the end resuly will be worth the trouble.

 

Who needs a mirror? Everyone wave to me!

 

 

 

 

[2003z]

and where is the orange peel???? It looks damn good to me!

[Guest reborndomestic]

looks great i have always been a fan of black pearl .i am going with a triple black and pewter myself.i think it will look awsome on my 93 240sx.

 

 

later

todd

[MusPuppis]

haha, thanks Ernie.

 

The car is done! Well, little more o-peel than I care for on one or two small spots I'll re-sand and buff come Monday when I get back into the shop, but for all major purposes, it is finished. I like it.

 

And yup, the pearl is laid like I wanted it. Even distribution, flow from panel to panel. Very happy with it.

 

These pics arent the best by the way. It was a really overcast and dreary day, so it doesnt show how shiny the little bastard really is. If its any better this coming week I'll snap some more in sunshine or push it back in to the booth, ha.

 

Oh, ha, the o-peel doesnt pick up much in the camera but it was definatly there. Something was squirrely with the clear, it sprayed VERY poorly. It was textured all to hell and back and required some pretty major work with a wet block, ha. Most of its taken care of though, couple minor spots I'm gonna rehit and I want to completely rebuff the car but thats an expenditure in time of about a day or leisurely work, ha.

 

I am still planning to do a write up on the process' I followed, but havent had the time I thought I would. This weekend has been SLAMMED. Ever tried changing a water pump on a 99 Contour? Yeah.. I know the trick now, but GOOD GOD.

 

[jbk240z]

Looks pretty good! Great job!!!

[Bartman]

Looks great! Can't see the pearl in the pic's, but it looks nice and smooth with a good high luster.

[MusPuppis]

Yeah, the pearl refuses to show in any pics that I take. The crappy cast to the day doesnt much help either, You can see some of the o-peel I'll be resandind on the rear driver seide quarter though.

 

I just want to know why the clear sprayed the way it did. I fought and kicked and it just would not lay down worth a damn. Maybe Ernie has an idea?

 

Reduced 4:1:1. PPG 2002:DCX61 (if I remember correctly): DT885. On the final coat I went about 20% heavier on the reducer to get it to wet out a little better and it worked to an extent.. but not real well. Booth was approx. 75 degrees, give or take a swing of +/- 3 degrees. Iwata LPH400LV, 16psi at the inlet (as recommended), 1.4mm tip. I know using the 895 would have been preferable but we were out and I just dont think it would have made THAT much difference. Something else is squirrely here.

 

Its a mystery to me honestly. The Sikkens clear I sprayed the first time around laid down like GLASS (as evidenced by the pics) and the 2002, which I understood was a better clear to begin with just went on like arse. Very annoyed. I half wonder if it wasnt an issue with the clear itself? I know we lent about a 1/4 cup to some guys to spray a pair of door jams and they used their own gun and it sprayed similarly poorly.

 

Dunno.

[Careless]

Whew!! Sorry for the sermon.

 

Thanks for listening!

 

Ernie/RacerX

 

<3

[MusPuppis]

Thanks very much Ernie.

 

I love this forum and the poeple here. I learn so damn much, lol. I have a notebook full of little notes I take from posts here and write down as I go. I printed out your last post Ernie and added it, lol. Im learning gradually how much I'm NOt learning in school. I need to get back on track with my personal research.

 

Do you have any good books to recommend Ernie?

 

That does explain alot. The first coat of clear was wretched, I just made it worse as I went, lol.

 

Yeah, the o-peel will come out with more wetsanding. its just annoying, lol. Had it laid down like it did the first go-round it wouldnt have required half the sanding this one did/does. Fortunatly I got a healthy three thick coats on the car so we have alot of clear to work with.

 

Hm. dont suppose you could toss me a PM about getting the clear to flow out better since you dont want to post it publicly... hehe. Always interested in different methods. The more info I amass the better I become.

[MusPuppis]

I did not know that actually..

 

Let me know when your taking pre-orders!

[240zwannabe]

nice job, hows the dirt and what not in your alls booth? wanna come up to louisville and paint my Z?

[MusPuppis]

The booth is pretty damn dirty. I spend a huge amount of time maintaining the booth while spraying, i mop it, wipe the walls down, my hoses, myself, If I stay on top of it its pretty clean.

 

What all needs to be done before the car can be painted?

 

Anyone need anything painted? haha. I need a paying job over the next couple months, lol. Eating water and noodles 4 nights a week and waiting to be evicted is annoying, haha.

[MusPuppis]

Well, the Z left Ky last night! Rags picked it up from school about 6pm or so and I watched it fade into the distance. I have to say, I am HAPPY TO SEE IT GO.

 

Dont get me wrong, I have loved working on this car, but it has been the biggest pain in the neck I have yet touched. Everything that could fght us has fought us. Everything that could go wrong has, its been a butthole to be sure.

 

In the end though, it looks good. It needs a good wash and a wax (weather and shop conditions didnt permit a proper wash before it was picked up) but the paint is flat, pretty and pearly! Ill have a pic or two of it sitting on the trailer in a little bit.

 

On to other things.. Hopefully Rag's GN in a couple months! haha.