1966 Valiant Signet Convertible Resto

Hey Beach Bum, I drive a '63 Dart GT convert, I'm appreciating the hard work you've put in on bring out the gorgious gloss paint job. Interested in products used to accomplish the deed (that's beside all the sweat & hard work) I saw Meguiars 105 ulta cut compound, and later in other photos Menzerna Super Intensive Polish... Meguiars I know where to get...but the Menzerna not so sure.. can you help out a Mopar gearhead and put me in touch with the company or a distributor where I can buy it ? I am assuming that you used the Meguiars to bring out the original shine with a finish coat treatment of the Menzerna product. ??? Thanks for a quick note to straighten me out. I might also help to know what paint process and steps you used to get to the beautiful finish shine.. Whatever you can spare in the way of info will guide me as I begin my project. Thanks, BILL-Cols, OH a/k/a HomSlr...on FABO

Thanks for the kind words Bill. As for the products and where to purchase I did some (more like tons) homework :read2: on a couple other websites to find the products that work best. I use www.autogeek.net as my product source for the Menzerna product line. The site also has how-to info and a forum. The Pro detailers seem to have the best techniques for buffing/polishing dialed in. Lots of good information at www.autopia.org as well. As with any forum you must be the judge of whether or not it is good info. Lots of hacks out there.

As far as technique, that is a very long process :clock:. Just think hours and hours and hours of sanding on each part to get it perfectly straight and FLAT. Flat is the key word here. I will quickly summarize by giving you the link to the website I used.

Follow these steps for painting http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/perfect paint.htm to a T and you will get the same results using Option 2. Of course this guy's clears are amazing to work with. I highly recommend SPI clears. One of the best kept secrets out there.

In option 2 of the paint job process in the above link, when flowcoating you will get the maximum amount of gloss sanding the clear with 400 grit then reclearing. This is according to Barry Kives the paint chemist and owner of SPI.

To flatten the clear you will need to start with 400-600 grit to remove the orange peel and any urethane wave on the larger flat surfaces. Be careful of course not to remove too much material and sand through the clear. The higher grits do not cut the panels flat. You can have the glossiest paint job but if you have orange peel and urethane wave it won't look like the photos I posted. Granted I have some urethane wave on the decklid because I used 800 grit to start with. Lesson learned.

AS far as bringing the paint to the desired gloss I already listed the steps I used. The basic process for buffing can be found on the above websites.

I learned most everything by reading tons of stuff on the internet and generally just doing my homework. There has been trial and error of course but that is how you learn. If possible your trial and error should be on spare hoods or doors. It also helps when you can pick the brain of others too as long as they are not idiots like the guy who tried to paint my car the first time.

Good luck with the 63 Vert

Dave




-
-