Roller Paint Job Diary

Was it a 240Z or a 280Z???!!! Well, I'm going one better. Hand-rubbed Orange Peel!

Actually, there's very little of it and what there is goes under the woodgrain, after I do this final coat today.

It sprinkled a bit this morning, but the humidity is down to 61% and no wind. No dust, no bugs, nothing but a perfect Painting Environment.

The thing is that Wednesday MIGHT be a better day at 14C, but today is just warm enough at 12C. After that, it's plastic-on-the-storm-windows weather (7C in Day, -3C at nite). They're getting 5 to 10 CM of snow right now up in the Pas (400 miles north) and that weather is cycling down here soon. I've got to get the car back together this week.

But I'll wait until Wednesday to do the final wetsand (1000 and 2000 grit) and buffing - give the paint a few sunny days to cure up a bit.

After this, the windows and roof rack, etc. to close her up.

 

Lots of oomph! A friend bought a new 240Z in 1975. He took it back the next day, because it had too much power than he figured he could handle and got a B210, after taking a huge hit on trading 'down'. He almost took the B210 back for the same reason!

Anyway, today's the first time I use a brown mirror! The car just gleams! Holy smokes, batman! What a difference 200-grit makes!:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

I was rolling away (in 10C temperatures, that's briskly rolling away! ), and came up with:
* ONAROLL,
* ROLLED1 (in case I do another Squire),
* ROLLART (Chiquita is too long, but she is Mexican and she is smaller than most American wagons, and I was artistic in the way I bit my lip ),
* COLDROL (cause you get cold poking bubbles out in 10C! )
* ROLLMAN (We have Rothman's cigarettes - bit of a stretch, uh?)
* SWFROLL (Recognizing Station Wagon Forums, but some could take it as Single White Female - I don't think so, with the ROLL part in there.)

Only allowed 7 letters or less, eh!

 

I would too!

Thanks for the ideas, though. I'll tell you about how 4Q2 actually happened. The car plates are handled by ICBC, Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. They have offices and agencies all over BC. This engineer in West Vancouver really wanted this for his Jag, so he tried, and they told him no way. So he went to different agencies, looking for someone who would. He finally found an agent who spoke good English, but didn't understand the meaning. He explained that it was his favourite math formula in engineering school, and the agent bought the argument. Once you've got the 'private plate', its yours. So here he goes back across the Lions Gate bridge, up into the wealthy West Vancouver area, and some TV reporter spotted the plate, and a Vancouver Sun reporter was in the car with the TV guy.

He made Page 2 and the evening news!!!

 

Hey Stefan! How about PHOQUEU2!

 

Oui, je le savais!

Well now I know why you can't paint this paint when it won't flash above 10C, and when you get fog on it while it's still curing (releasing chemicals). Two things happen:

1) The dew spots the paint to a lighter color - splotchy. but that disappears once you dry it off and then stays the right color.

2) The parts that I did earlier in the afternoon stayed shiny, but the sections I did as the temperature went too close to 10C, lost their shine, some of which came back, but it never got over 8C today. It won't be until Tuesday that we're at 12C, but you can see the shine underneath.

I think it could buff out properly, but I'll try a side panel (where the woodgrain will go) to see. If it looks marginal, I'll wetsand with 1000-grit and do one more coat on the roof, hood, exposed panel areas.

 

8th Coat done!

I wetsanded with 1000 grit and got the 8th coat on. Smooth and so shiny! Still got enough for one more full coat, too.

The forecast calls for rain and/or SNOW, during the early morning hours, even though we won't hit freezing! Way too early for the fall, here! We usually get snow in mid-November, and then it stays until early May.

Wednesday is supposed to hit 15C, and tomorrow 11C and cloudy. I'll put the woodgrain on on Wednesday, after I wetsand with 2000 grit and buff with the 10" polisher, tomorrow. It's gonna get colder fast, so I've got to get the heat-sensitive stuff done PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick). Windshields, sealants behind molding fasteners, adhesives for the headliner. Gonna be busy the next few days.:banghead3:

 

8th Coat Pictures Before final wetsand and buffing

More pictures. This is one day after the 8th coat. I wetsanded with 1000-grit. I used 2 quarter sheets for the roof (block sanding), one quarter sheet for the sides of the roof (hand sand - no block) another quarter for the tailgate, etc. 3 sheets cut into quarters altogether. The paper is so fine that it can clog up pretty easy and then leave smudges/scratches. So I'd scrub it off after every stroke with a 4" plastic cleaning brush wetted in water.

It surprisingly took off any brush marks from the previous 800-grit wetsanding and this 8th coat. I'll wetsand this coat with 2000 grit, unless I find some runs and bubbles to deal with in the door panels that aren't covered by moldings or woodgrain vinyl.

Here she is:



























I'll do the sanding and buffing tomorrow afternoon and apply the woodgrain on Wednesday. I do have a few bodywork spots that I didn't see until it was too late, but they aren't that noticeable. The thing is that my car is like a new penny and free of rust for many years to come AND I can fix scratches myself, with a few warm, dry days on my side, not after seeing 3 appraisers and dropping a small mortgage to get it fixed.

 

One larger shot of the first pic in that last post. I think I'm making them too small. You have to click on it.

 

Looks great. You are a patient man! I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that we are finally seeing some pictures.

WOW!