The repaint I have put off for the last year has begun.I took the car down to our shop last weekend and started prep. 1st pic is day one. Start disassembly, other pics are 4 days in. Sanded and blocked with 320.
Another day of prep, then masking, then primer, then more sanding, then base, then clear, then dry, then color sanding several times, then buff.......now I know why it cost so much to repaint. Seriously labor intensive ! Paint and supplies are way over the top expensive. A qt. of PPG Deltron in my color is $128. No room for mistakes in this project. I will be back at it next week. Hope to shoot color in two weeks! Looking forward to getting the car back up to par.

 

I'm interested in your progress. I'm going to tackle this next year hopefully.

 

Are you staying with the original colour or doing a change?

 

Staying with the original color Slate Blue Metallic. Still need to finish prep, remove sunroof panel and replace broken/bent blinker on left front. result of a run in with a dog at 70mph. Had to replace front bumper witch was also broken up.

 

So when you keep the "glass in" and remove just the trim there is plenty of room for paint as it meets up against the glass.

In other words it fine to just remove the black trim around the car and paint.

 

The windshield, hatch glass , and door glass will stay in. No need to remove. On the quarter windows I use a little molding trick. After removing all the metal trim, I insert a string of the proper diameter under the outside edge of the rubber molding around the window. This works to hold the edge up off the metal while I do final prep, primer and paint. It holds it up just enough to let the paint flow under molding and not leave a hard edge. Of course this only works if car has no rust or problems under rubber molding. Mine has spent its life in AZ. so its all good metal.

 

Well the car is in primer sealer and final sanded before paint. There are a few small imperfections left to sand, notice the putty spots. I hope to shoot color on it next weekend. Then color sand and buff it out. Body is smooth as a babies butt!!

Notice the Nova has also come along way in two months !

 

I am interested in "how you removed the molding around the front door window?"

 

As I recall, the door window molding came off in three sections. I used a small piece of plexglass ground down like a chisel on the end. Gently tapped it under the molding at the back end by the curve at the door handle. It is a very tight press fit on the edge of the door . When you get it up off the lip you can move forward along the molding with the tool. It will come off but go very slow and easy to not bend. Use the small tool you made to slowly pry up as you go around the window. I know that sounds clear as mud.

The small front bottom corner piece is riveted to the door frame. I used a sharp narrow chisel to cut off the backside of the rivets and the piece came off easily. that piece can be destroyed fast if your not careful. Its easier to show someone than explain it.

 

looks like a great job and you will be rewarded with an excellent paint job.
I love that trick about using string to hold the molding away from the surface
from the pictures along the rockers its hard to tell if your using any body texture in addition to what is on the car,
3M makes it , use medium build and two coats is usually enough. if you choose to use it.

another suggestion when it comes time for paint lift the car about 2 feet off the ground ,
so the rockers and lower edges can be fully sprayed,

NOTE remove the wheels and tape off the suspension.
Goodluck with your ride,... painting is fun the first time,
after that its work LOL

 

The string trick or variation of it works well. I used some bare copper wire to do that on a car I painted ( I think #12 ga) & there was room to get the sandpaper under the rubber as well as paint later. Didn't want to chance a windshield r&r.

Nice job!

 

It's gonna be nice Kev. Herman K just dismantled a 87 Dark Blue with Dark Blue interior and has some interior pieces you have been looking for. T

 

Nice work and nice to have so much elbow room to work in.

 

Finally got the color and clear applied. The light metalic color is a PITA to shoot. keeps changing in the light and making it hard to see light /dark areas. I think we got it licked ! Three coats of color and three coats of clear. let it sit up this week then back at it to color sand and final buff.

 

Wow! Nice work!