largecar379

Yes, there must be 400 lbs of paint on my car.

After having a lengthy conversation with my restoration guy (Paul Wright of Advanced Restorations, Huffman, TX), he and I have come to an agreement about where to go in my quest for new paint. He does rotisserie restorations on HEMI Mopars/ and no, I am not doing a restoration on my Euro, just trying to do a nice repaint.

He had seen the car about a year ago, and remembered the problems I have with rust, body work, and previous paint job(s).

What I have on mine is 12 coats of paint in various forms. 2 coats of primer, then 5 coats of Oak Grun, then two more coats of primer, then 2 coats of Oak Grun and then a clear coat. All total, it's a about 1/8 inch thick.

Paul's suggestion (after listening to my painting goal) was to strip it to the metal, one way or another so to speak......just sanding over the current "mess" was not an option, as it would be a few weeks and something may come bubbling up from underneath, as he put it.......not something I want to have happen.

I didn't want to have it blasted off, as that would require disassembling the interior and much of the car, so that was out. Strike one.

Stripping the paint chemically didn't look like too much fun either, and I didn't want to have a chemical mess at the house. Strike two.

Next was sanding it off. Well, I should say.....grinding it off. Not much fun either, but the most attractive of the three options. I asked what grit paper to use, and he said just get after it with a #36 paper. I thought that was pretty coarse, but he reminded me that I'm going thru 12 coats, and I'd be next year with anything less. OK, I said, but was still concerned about grinding marks (scratches) and he said don't worry about it cause you'll need to go back over it with a #60 paper on a sander to smooth most of it out. Several coats of primer and block sanding would take care of the rest.......Sounded horrible to me, but he's the professional and I've seen his work, so off to work (on the car) I went.

Today was spent stripping the rear quarter panels and the roof.

Yep, 400 lbs of paint. Not to mention body filler in places that shouldn't have filler, and rust in places you could not see (windshield trim and under the aluminum trim piece that runs up the side of the windshield to the hatch).

One interesting find:

It appears the factory had replaced a section of the right rear quarter. I see no evidence of it being repaired after the car was built, but it is strange that there is a welded section on the C pillar and another just above the right taillight assembly. The welds in the quarter window track are OEM, there was no evidence of the second paint job being put on after fender repair, so I am puzzled by this discovery.....

The new hatch is on, but will come back off tomorrow for minor rust cleanup as well as stripping the paint off of it. Then it's on to doing the doors......(I'm really nervous about doing them 'cause they're aluminum---even more nervous about doing the hood and front fenders!).

Rub strips removed, as well as the antennae---holes plugged, but not quite satisfied with them just yet. Plan to lose the wiper mechanism holes as well (Roger will love this). More on that later.

Light coat of primer for now, just to keep it from rusting. Mind you this is just raw metal under the primer, no filler other than the rub strip/marker light/antennae holes, and those are very far from being finished. Lots of imperfections in the body panels at this point. The rust areas will need to be blasted, even though I removed as much as I could with the grinder.

(Mmm......sure would like to see a set of Louie Ott's Nizzazzz fenders on there....maybe before it gets painted.)


Many thanks to Merlin and JHowell for their advice on this project.

More later-----

--Russ

Mrmerlin

your into it now if you want some advice on a repaint PM me I would to tell you my 928 repaint story,
I already had a long page typed out and the puter dumped so its back to square one, I would rather talk, than type

IcemanG17

Hmm....did you happen to measure the paint before you started stripping it off?? I know stock single stage paint is around 4-5mils....clear coats slightly more......

MrGST

Wow. You seem to be making quick work of it!
I admire your tenacity.

mark kibort

Has anyone sanded a 928 down to the bare metal and left it like a delorian? (sp?) i guess the front and rear bumpers would be hard to coat with a metal steel color, and the rear quarter and roof would be hard to keep from rusting, unless you could coat it with a clear coat or something.
I think it would look pretty interesting! Polished aluminum looks awesome!

MK

http://www.autoblog.com/2005/11/18/w...rightest-audi/

largecar379

I suppose you could paint the bumper covers with some sort of "chrome" paint (that seems weird), and then polish the aluminum pieces, but given my nearly three decades of polishing parts on my Peterbilts, I don't want to polish anything on a 928.......the alloy isn't quite the same as what we use on the trucks anyway. It doesn't pull up a mirror finish like the trucks do......

No Ice, I didn't actually measure the paint thickness.....it just looks like there's between 1/8 and 1/4 inch worth......

Appreciate the thought Merlin-

--Russ

mark kibort

what about the liquid silver paint (as it is called on this thread,
http://forums.streetfire.net/showthr...4&page=9&pp=10 )

I think we need a 928 in this look. I think the 928 is perfect, as the lines and the lack of bumpers would make it well suited to the look. One of us needs to do it. Looks good as a street car or a race car.

I wonder if the lack of mirror shine of the aluminum on the 928, isnt such a bad think. the more matted finishes on that site look pretty awesome

mk

largecar379

Don't know Mark.....On our big trucks, we are always trying to see just how much chrome and polished aluminum we can bolt on......one of the guys who competes in the truck shows has a Peterbilt that has all of the paint stripped off of it (Peterbilt's body panels are aluminum), and is totally polished. It looks neat, but it's a pain-in-the- a** to keep it shiny......

I was surprised the Delorean didn't come out polished (mirror finish). Being as how Delorean ("rights" and parts) is now property of a guy just 5 minutes from my house, maybe I'll ask them one day why they didn't polish them.......


--Russ

Ron_H

Mirror finishes and shiny aluminum for the whole body are a possible safety hazard because they can blind people temporarily in the sun. The same for an all chrome. One thing I would not want is an oncoming driver dazzled by a full body reflecting sunlight into his eyes, not even for a second.

Dave H.

hmm...

Nicole

Me, too!

Are you saying it must have happened before the original paint job went on? Or what exaxtly makes you believe it was the factory and not just an awesome quality repaint after a repair?

Mike Frye

Wow, 36 grit paint?!?!

You sir, are a god. Great post and a great example of love for the vehicle. You'll likely never get out of it what you've put into it in time, but when you're done, you'll have saved another one from the effects of father time.

Keep up the great work!

Mrmerlin

what are you using for the rust on the water channels? I would suggest that you use a wire brush then use rust converter, then its ready for a top coat

Vlocity

A lot of elbow grease.....but well worth the effort.

When I did my full restoration on my Model A Ford, there were so many coats that I actually used razor baldes for the first few days......slicing a layer of that old red primer off one after another.

Question.....where in the world did you get the header side pipes? I used to have a pair on a 72 Corvette.

Ken

MPDano

Russ,

Looks like our Euros have the same holes (federalization light markers) in the rear quarter, I plan to do the same with mine and cover them up.





Leo