View single post by Art DeKneef

Posted: 05-20-2006 08:16 am

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Art DeKneef

Joined:	03-12-2005
Location:	Mesa, Arizona USA
Posts:	338
Status:	Offline

What's that saying.... It's always darkest before the light. I been in your position a few times restoring cars. Yes, paint jobs can cost that much. There is a lot of labor involved if you want a good job done. You can save a lot by doing most of the work yourself, if you can find a painter to work with. Most painters will not paint a car they haven't prepped. If something goes wrong, each blames the other. Not a position I would put someone I considered a friend.

You mention 'Paint was stripped and rust treated with POR. This is as far as I got last winter before it got too cold in the garage to work on it. So it sat.' Was paint stripped and left exposed or was paint stripped near rust areas and POR applied to all bare metal? Any bare metal left exposed probably had surface rust that needed removing. If you intended to paint over the POR, that's a bad decision in my opinion. The specs say you can paint over POR, but none of the major paint manufactures recommend you do that or will warranty the paint. You need to pick a paint line and color and follow their recommendations. POR is OK, but I like and use a product called PickleX-20. Similiar but better. See the thread 'Rust Repair' near the bottom.

Having the car in pieces makes it easy to clean and prep the panels. That is how I am doing one of the 74s right now. I'm removing four to six layers of paint. That's original primer, original color, primer, different color, some spots have more primer and color. That's too many layers to paint over. Besides, I'm modifying the car some so I have some bodywork going on also. I sanded as much off as I could with everything still together. As a piece like a fender came off, I cleaned it up, removed all the paint, and then coated with the PickleX-20. As long as it doesn't get wet, the fender is protected from rust. I can put the fender on the car and do bodywork as needed. If I feel it needs another coat where I worked leaving bare metal, spray, wipe off, and leave dry. When piece is done, if I want to I can epoxy prime it. I do all this in my garage. Painting pieces is relatively easy to do. It's trying to paint the whole car that things get real interesting. Having a good paint job is in the preparation. Having a geat paint job is doing a great job in the preparation.

Having the car in pieces is fustrating. Tell me about it. I think the same thing about buying a nice running JH and selling everything else. But I know that soon after that, I would be thinking about fixing it up some. It helps me by working on it a little every week. I'm making progress but work, family, and life get priority. Sometimes my son will come over and help. When the grandson is over sometimes he helps too. He's five years old. The standing joke is that the car might be ready when he learns to drive.

What body work needs done? Painting the car can be done with the panels fitted or in pieces. I did a VW that way some time ago. Primed everything and painted all the parts individually with a couple of coats. Let it dry a couple of days and put the parts together. Sanded the car and applied the final two coats. Then did the polishing and buffing. Depends on the paint you choose, single stage or base coat/clear coat.

Ask your acquaintance what he uses for paint and any recommendations he might have, if you haven't already. Check around and see if there is another painter that might be willing to help and guide. There's always the Maaco paint job route.

Hopefully Mitch will comment on what he did when he painted his JH.

Art