after 15 years, we finally have paint!

[73-charger-383]

got done spraying my car tonight.  The single stage metallic wasn't nearly as bad as i thought....i have to get it out into the sunlight to really see, but so far it's looking pretty good.

[stripedelete]

Looks good from here. 

[73-charger-383]

It's 1970 B-3 Blue..the camera is messing with the color

[HeavyFuel]

15 years.....

You must be sporting some pretty serious woo.......um....I bet you're excited!   

[73-charger-383]

lol...for sure.  I've had this car through every stage of my life.....I installed the engine on a gravel driveway at 90 degrees...been with me through two moves, a wife and two kids.  I'm beyond excited to finally see some color on it!

[Mopar Nut]

Looks good!

[tan top]

 looks good from the pictures 

[timmycharger]

Great job! was it sprayed where it sits? congrats man, Im about a year away from that! 

[73-charger-383]

yeah it was sprayed where it sits....my garage most definitely isn't ideal, and i probably should have spent a little more time in prep - but in the end i'm really happy with the way it turned out.

[twodko]

That's a job well done my man! Huge accomplishment and great color.......eager to see it on the road.

[ralley72]

I think its looking good and I like think its great that another 3rd gen getting restored. 15 years is a long time but it will be worth it. I'm going on 11 years on my 73 RR and still a long ways to go. Just keep pluggin along.

Mike

[jaak]

Congrats! I know the feeling also... I bought a project, got married, had 2 kids, bought a house, then had another kid. It wasn't quite 15 years for me but from the time I bought it until I sprayed paint was about 11 years. Looks great... now the fun stuff begins...ASSEMBLY!

Jason

[1973rallye]

Great job. Now some serious fun begins as you start to reassemble. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

[Lord Warlock]

Congratulations, I know from experience what it feels like to get paint on one.  It took me a little longer than 15 years to get around to it, but I did eventually.  It will likely motivate you to move forward, as each piece, like a puzzle, fits into place, and you get feedback just by looking at it.  The hard part is trying to keep stuff off the car, now that there is paint there. 
Plan on color sanding and buffing or leaving as is? The garage I painted mine in you couldn't control dust in so kind of had to in order to meet my expectations.  I can get it shiny with the buffer but it never seems to look as good as another top clearcoat.

[Indygenerallee]

looks great!! Congrats! 

[nvrbdn]

nice job.

[73-charger-383]

not really sure on the buffing....it's a metallic and from what i can gather it's difficult if not impossible to sand it without messing up the finish.  - I had/have a little peel in some areas and tried wet sanding with 2000 grit on the trunk (thinking if it ruins it i'll just reshoot).  - it really didn't change a whole heck of a lot, but did help to even things out.  - I don't have a buffer yet, so i'm not sure if that's primarily where the flake would get screwed up. 

Does anyone have an experience with sanding/buffing single stage metallic?

[Lord Warlock]

The buffer shouldn't bother the flake in single stage metallics, the sanding is where you'll do the most damage.  Wetsanding with 2000 or higher will take most of the orange peel off and shouldn't bite deep enough to bother the flake/metallic.  Buffing is an acquired skill though.  avoid edges, tape them if necessary.  get a good buffer, its worth investing in a good one as they'll see lots of use over the years.   I have and use a makita variable speed 500-3500rpm, foam bonnets don't usually cut fast either, if you make a mistake buffing it will likely be when using a wool bonnet, I've cut thru the top layer of paint a time or two and had to respray (live and learn) a random orbital buffer won't cut much at all, its good for the final stages of polish and wax though.  I have a 6 inch and a 3 inch random orbital from Griots. 
If orange peel is minimal, I'd just buff it off rather than sanding.  3M or Mothers makes a high cut polish that works pretty good for a buffer, then move up to finer polishes and waxes.  It'll look great.

[73-charger-383]

thanks much for the advice.  I did a little bit this afternoon just handsanding and then using a foam pad with #3 on it.  It made a difference where it's to the point i think i'll just live with the little peel that is left.  You can't see it until you pretty much lay your head on the paint.  - I have a little left to do before it's complete, but it's looking great to me.  Once I got it outside it looked even better than it did in the garage.....I don't think i'll be able to sleep tonight...

[71_Charger_R/T]

Looks great! Good to see another blue third gen in Minnesota!  Now get out there and drive that thing!   Where abouts in N. W. MN are you?

[CDN72SE]

Very nice, keep up the good work.

[73-charger-383]

In Thief River Falls....about an hour from Canada, hour from North Dakota.......

[green69rt]

Those Keystone Classic Mags??

[EccentricMagpies]

  Nice job on the paint
I like that color choice!

[73-charger-383]

Yup on the Keystones...they are a little beat up, but i think i'll shine them up and run with them for a while....Thanks everyone on the compliments!  I'm pretty proud of it....it's a great feeling to finally have it at this point.