Green69rt's paint work

[green69rt]

So after spending the week end painting everything that I could think might need it, I started hanging parts back on the car.  Having it strung all over the garage left no room for our daily drivers.

First pic is all the parts for the trunk lid.  
Second pic is the hinges installed.
Third pick is the trunk lid installed.  Needs a little tweeking to get it exactly right.  I installed the trunk lock so I could shut it and it would stay.
Forth pic, also got the doors back on.

I started on the fenders but need to wait for the hole punch so I can make the hole for the antenna.

[cdr]

 

[green69rt]

Wait....where's that and why didn't I know about it!!??

[cdr]

Wait....where's that and why didn't I know about it!!??

it was at 2nd baptist katy, on Saturday

[green69rt]

Wait....where's that and why didn't I know about it!!??

it was at 2nd baptist katy, on Saturday

I would have really liked to see you car out on the street!

[green69rt]

I finally got the hood safety latch spring replaced.  I had to make my own.  I got a piece of round steel stock and welded a piece of flt stock to it so my vice would grip it securely.  Got some spring wire (sometimes called piano wire) from Grainger supply.   Just mount the steel in the vise and wind the wire around it.  took a couple of tries but ended up with a piece that suited me.

I had to buy 30 feet of the wire (10 three foot pieces) so got plenty of extra if I need another.

Pic #1 shows the little tool I made and the notch to hold the end of the spring.
Pic #2 shows turning the wire around it, this wire was light enough to do by hand.
Pic #3 shows the broken spring and the home made spring installed.
Pic #4 shows the latch assembled ready to attach to the hood (Handle is upside down in the picture but I've fixed it since then.)

[keepat]

 Very clever!!!

[fy469rtse]

looking very good Mitch ,
loving the paint on it 
you just gave me an idea , missing the return springs on seat latches , they just weren't there
the bottom latch to fold seat forward
, cant find them anywhere and its annoying , so going to make my own 

[green69rt]

Haven't posted in a while, been spending my time on spring chores and fitting up the body panels.  Anyway, progress to date consists of assembly of the hood hinges and mounting them up (pics 1 and 2), then putting the hood on.  Pic 3.  Then spent weeks tweaking the panels.  A little here a little there.  Take them off, put them back on, blah, blah, blah.  Anyway got it done except for a tiny bit of work to get the body lines between the driver side door and fender to line up.  I think it's only take a little filler or primer surfacer to make that correction.  We'll see.


This is the way  it sets right now.

[mopar4don]

Nice Mitch,
I know what you mean about body panel fitment. It takes FOREVER!

[hemi-hampton]

That color seems to have a odd Pastel look to it

[green69rt]

That color seems to have a odd Pastel look to it

Seems that no matter how I use the camera, the color or reflection in the paint does weird things.  I've tried flash, no flash, garage lights on, garage lights off, daylight or night, just get all sorts of different shading.  Just looking through the pictures of the hood hinges, some seem to have blue in them and some almost a F8 green vs the F5 on the paint can. 

[green69rt]

By the way, I don't know if you just didn't comment or I slipped one past you folks, but on a previous post I show the front of the car with the lower radiator support painted body color then about 3 posts ago it shows up as black.  Didn't realize how prominent it would be before I started mocking up the front valance so it got blacked out.

[green69rt]

Well, I'm at the point where I need to start thinking about primer/surfacer.  Right now I am sanding all of the exterior of the car down.  It has got multiple coats pf primer here and there.  I'm sanding every thing till I start to see the metal show thru the primer or at least very thin.  So far using a lot of 120 grit paper.  The car will have  a combination of filler, primer and bare metal. So I am looking at Evercoat FeatherFill and Slick Sand.  From the description it looks like FeatherFill is designed to be used over etch primer or other coating but no bare metal.  Slick sand is over anything plus it does seem less toxic.

Right now my thought is to use the Slick Sand even though it does cost a little more.  I already have a 2.2  gun. It says "only one coat" (good advice or not?)  Then start off with some 220 grit for the bulk sanding and finish up with 320 or should I just go right to 320 like the directions say.

Am I heading in the right direction?

[cdr]

I used clausen rust defender it is awesome stuff Oreilly's sells it.

[Dino]

Honestly I would remove all the primer you have on there now, or at least as much as is possible, and give the entire car a few coats of epoxy,. Forget about etch primer. Then do your filler work over the epoxy which I would scuff first. When the filler work is done re-epoxy the whole car followed by spray filler if/where needed and a high build primer.

You want epoxy on all the bare metal and re-epoxy when you reach metal again when sanding. You can spot spray this but you need it on there as it's the only water barrier you'll get on the car.

When you have done your final blocking and you have a few bare metal edges here and there then you can simply use thinned epoxy as a sealer right before topcoat but if you're having big patches of metal after blocking then you want to use epoxy and more filler so you can block it without having to sand through your primer. It's a lot of work but well worth it.   

[green69rt]

Honestly I would remove all the primer you have on there now, or at least as much as is possible, and give the entire car a few coats of epoxy,. Forget about etch primer. Then do your filler work over the epoxy which I would scuff first. When the filler work is done re-epoxy the whole car followed by spray filler if/where needed and a high build primer.

This is about where I am now.  I had a lot of epoxy primer on the car as I did different filler jobs and repairs (like replacing the quarters.)  So it has been epoxy, filler, epoxy, filler etc till I got to the point that all the body work was done.  Then a final coat of epoxy.  I just didn't want to leave a whole bunch of layers of epoxy/filler on the car.  So that's why I was spending so much time sanding.

You want epoxy on all the bare metal and re-epoxy when you reach metal again when sanding. You can spot spray this but you need it on there as it's the only water barrier you'll get on the car.

When you have done your final blocking and you have a few bare metal edges here and there then you can simply use thinned epoxy as a sealer right before topcoat but if you're having big patches of metal after blocking then you want to use epoxy and more filler so you can block it without having to sand through your primer. It's a lot of work but well worth it.  

So I was going to use the surfacer/primer then all the blocking (mostly to establish the body lines that did not come well defined from AMD) then a final coat of epoxy.  I anticipate that any painter that I take the car to will want to do a final sanding/primer before they get to the color coats.

[charge69]

green69rt:  You are right about the painter actually wanting to do the final sanding/primer before painting it.  I must have missed it somewhere but it looks like you are going base coat/clear coat for the paint work.  I have no experience with BC/CC as my painter used single stage paint on my Charger and both his other MOPARS. I haven't talked to him in a while due to extenuating circumstances but his paint jobs are top notch! Actually, I don't think he is doing it anymore but, his single stage paint work is beautiful !

The better you get the Charger prepped, the easier it wil be for the paint is sprayed on. I cannot wait to see it in color!

[green69rt]

I kind of cringe about bring this up again but I'm actually reconsidering the BC/CC route.  As I've painted the car and seeing how good a job I can do (nothing compared to a pro) and how nice the color is (when I do a better job) the SS route doesn't seem that bad.  I remember my old car and it was SS, I don't know if BC/CC was even available back then.  Anyway, it will be an item of discussion when I talk to the painter.

[charge69]

What shade of green are you going with?   If it is F8 Dark Green, single-stage would be awesome and much easier to repair a ding or scratch.  Done right, SS can be almost as shiny as BC/CC and will last.
Just look at the shine on my SS!

[hemi-hampton]

If your going with a metallic paint I would not advise Single Stage. Just my opinion, others may vary?   LEON.

[charge69]

I tend to agree and do not know if his shade of green has metallic in it or not but, my painter painted his '69 Roadrunner orange in SS and it had metallic flakes in it  he said it was tough to wet sand and not mess up the metallic but, he did it!

[Cncguy]

I still think you should give it a try on your own.

[green69rt]

If your going with a metallic paint I would not advise Single Stage. Just my opinion, others may vary?  LEON.

I know Leon.  That's why I hated to bring it up.   The final say will probably be the guy who paints it.  

[green69rt]

I had a little visit from CDR a few days ago.  We discussed some things and he gave me a few suggestions.  First he said I should quit using 120 grit for this job and just get some 80 grit.  I didn't want to wait for a week to continue but he said just go to O'Reilly's Auto.  They carry it.   SO at 2:00pm that afternoon I had a roll and was really making some progress.

Then he says, why am I killing myself crawling around on the floor sanding the rockers, bottoms of the fenders, etc.  I have the perfect tool to make it much easier.  So two days later the car is back on the rotisserie.  (pic #1).  Thanks Charlie.  Since doing those things the sanding job has gone a lot faster.  I can only spend a couple of hours per day on the car because of the heat but pic #2 shows the driver quarter mostly done and pic #3 shows the pass quarter.  I still looks like a lot of primer left but it's getting real thin and I'm starting to see the shiny metal through the primer.  Stilll more work but it is moving pretty quick.