I built a booth in plastic and had a buddy come over to shoot for me. I did all of the prep. I must say I am happy with the outcome. Now I can finally start putting this thing back together! I ended up laying single stage UTech...nice paint. Total cost for paint and supplies...$250.00. I had all of the tools, etc.

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Finally did it huh?

Looks good!

Awesome. have you allready color sanded, or are you not going to bother?

What about the undersides of all those panels?

Zach

I am going to color sand later tonight or tomorrow...any tips? My plan was to use some 1500 wet and then buff to a shine using 3M rubbing compound and my random orbital.
The undersides (and front trunk) still have factory paint and look great. I decided to leave them be.

That does look nice, good color too! The only colors I would go with would be Yellow or Orange, just something about them.

My local shop told me that they always just use 800 wet and go to polish after that. I tried it, and realized that I needed to do more filling, the shine from the paint was showing all the imperfections.

So I did filling, and put on more paint without first knocking off the shine fromthe last coat. As I was color sanding the second coat, the shine from the first coat started to come thorough. I got pissed off, and started wet sanding with 400 and then 800 going all the way back to primer in some areas (grumble). I needs to reshot, and then color sand again much lighter. But the one panel that I did this too already looks awesome.

Of course, the moment light reflects back you can see all the stupid little dips that you thought you had taken care of, and you are forced to ask yourself "Self, do i want to add more putty?" You say "No!" but still find yourself with a little bit of mixed body putty an hour later anyway.

if i was getting paid for my resto, I'd freak'n go out of business, I work too damn slow. ;-)

Zach

That looks fantastic. Love the color, too. I was thinking about doing the same thing just yesterday for painting parts of various vehicles I have. What materials did you use to build the booth?

Yeah, I am sucker for orange

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Thanks! I used plastic sheeting, staples, an old box fan and a bunch of paint sticks. I broke the paint sticks up and stapled them and the plastic to the ceiling. They kept the plastic from pulling. I just put 2x4s around the base and the box fan under the garage door with some cardboard. Duct tape was helpful in plugging the small holes. I also cut a few intake holes and taped air filters in them. The room was tight and I only got paint on the wet floor. Well, the fan did suck paint out and colored the driveway a bit. I will be pressure washing that and the garage floor later today

Where you start wet sanding depends on how much trash and peel you have in the paint. Where you stop wet sanding depends on how slick you want it and how much paint you have to werk with. Best bet is to go to at LEAST 1500 grit before buffing. 3m Perfect it 3000 (06060) buffing compound is great for general werk and will please most people with the results. You can then step up the the 6064 swirl mark remover for an even slicker finish. ALWAYS be carefull on edges and keep the buffer moving so you do not pull the paint or even werse burn through. One of these days I might write up a tech article on painting/wet sanding and buffing

Looks great, love the color...........What part of Charleston do you live in? Plan to come there in the middle of sept. to see another 914 owner. Hope to drive my new LS1 914. We sould get together.


Bob

Looks great! Single stage should give you more of that OEM factory look than 2-stage. Orange...should be ready in time for Halloween?

Thanks man. I enjoyed following the progress on your thread. I spent yesterday mopping paint stripper all over the floor to get the orange off. Worked like a charm

Looks good!

On the colorsand, you won't be able to buff it out with a random orbital. It doesn't generate enough speed to get out sanding marks, even from 2000 grit paper.

I have the Porter Cable 7424 polisher...dual action...should be good? I may not have been thinking when I said random orbital...

Looks great.

That Porter Cable is excellent for applying waxes and light polishing of minor swirls, I have the same one.

But it won't work for polishing after a colorsand. You need a more aggressive cutting compound to get out colorsanding scratches (even from a 2000 grit colorsand).

Whatever brand of compound/polish you use (Meguires, 3M, etc.) for your initial polish after the colorsand, it is going to be designed to be used with a high speed buffer, not something like a PC 7424, which generates little to no speed or heat. The more aggressive compounds designed to be used as a first cut after a colorsand are designed to be used with a certain speed and heat generation, and are pretty much useless when used with a random orbital like a PC 7424.

Of course, since you already have the PC 7424, there is no harm in trying it out. I did, but quickly found it didn't work.

I have another one I bought from Auto Zone a few years back...piece of junk. I will give them both a try. Thanks for the input!

3000 rpm minimum....my experience

Hey Bob, I live in James Island. Shoot me an email before you come this way...we'll grab a drink or something.