Re: Painting

[Paul Bayly <thebaylys@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As Paul says, it can bbe real difficult to see small dents, even with primer
applied.  One method is to do all the prep as he stated, then spray a shadow
coat of cheap black paint (cans if you don't have spray paint tools) and
then block sand again.  The black spots left behind will show you all the
depressions and where to fix/fill.

Alternatively, you can get the shop to return the car once they have applied
the relatively thick filler spray (can't remember the correct term) then you
go over the whole car again, removing almost all of those coats with wet
block sanding.  Once back at the shop the team will re-apply primer to the
bare metal areas (or all over), give it a finish rub and apply the chosen
colour.

Beatle
Oz

-------Original Message-------

From: Paul Irvine
Date: Saturday, 12 April 2003 04:01:41 AM
To: Alfa Digest
Subject: Re: Painting

This was something that was a real sticking point in my project. I had
originally planned to do it myself but the logistics were just too
daunting - building a containment booth, keeping the dust down and keeping
myself from breathing any of those toxic fumes, to mention a few. So what I
did was this: I did all of the preparation work myself. That included all of
the bodywork and removal of all the trim. I also had the doors, hood and
trunk lid off and the windshield was removed as I was going to install a new
one. I then completely masked the car - and I mean completely, even
underneath. I used that sticky clear plastic carpet protector stuff and
wrapped it around the suspension components and inside the wheel wells. I
completely masked off the underside of the car and the nose as well. I had a
flap cutout of the paper over the engine bay so it could get air when I
started it to drive it onto the trailer. I mean this thing was totally
hermetically sealed!

After that I thoroughly cleaned the whole thing with that special paint prep
stuff that removes all of the grease, silicone, fingerprints and such. I
spent about 4 days doing all of this and then I took it over to Maaco. I had
them spray the car with a primer/sealer followed by a base/clear coat.
That's all they did, no finessing or finish work and that cost $1100. I
brought the car home, stripped all of the masking off (it worked), assembled
the doors, hood and trunk lid and began the tedious job of color sanding,
buffing and general finishing of the paint job. With clear coat you can wet
block sand with 2000 grit paper and squeegee the water off until all of the
dust specks and orange peel are gone. Then you buff it with special 3M
compounds (that are about $40 a qt) and do a final glaze buff with a special
foam pad. It's actually kind of fun to do because of the stunning results
but it is a bit of work - even on a small car like the Spider. I'm still not
completely finished.

As for bodywork; it's an art and a science. I spent hours upon hours going
over every little spot on that Spider and in primer it looked absolutely
perfect. But after the finish paint was applied I could see little dents,
depressions, ripples here and there and I couldn't believe it. Overall it
looks great and I may be the only one who will ever notice these little
"defects" but it has fostered a respect in me for people who can do really
good bodywork. It's not a simple task.

So that was my experience. If you want someone else to do to your car what I
did to mine I would expect that you'd have to pay several thousand, maybe up
to five because there was a lot of labor involved and it's hard to find
someone that will be as meticulous and discerning as yourself with your own
car. Mine was a learning experience as much as anything else but Project
Alfa always was just as much about being out in the garage on a Saturday
afternoon working on it as it was about the final result. In fact, now that
it's nearly complete, I might begin to worry about what I'm going to do with
myself - if it wasn't for that old GTV6 in the backyard with the weeds
growing up around the tires. hee-hee!


Paul Irvine - Antioch CA
Project Alfa
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