Gerahead's 71 Dart
- Thread starter gerahead
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gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
The helicoil fix worked like a champ! We got the hood installed and aligned. I am really happy with how it all fits.
Now that I finally have everything back where it belongs, I see that I have to pay the price for doing the body work on all the pieces separately. I have to do a little touch up work between the door edge and right rear wheel well. Small area where the contour doesn't match between the upper and middle body lines. I still have to black out the core support area so I am not going to install the front valence or the grill support until I have that done. It' finally starting to look like a car! L8r!
Jim
Now that I finally have everything back where it belongs, I see that I have to pay the price for doing the body work on all the pieces separately. I have to do a little touch up work between the door edge and right rear wheel well. Small area where the contour doesn't match between the upper and middle body lines. I still have to black out the core support area so I am not going to install the front valence or the grill support until I have that done. It' finally starting to look like a car! L8r!
Jim
You will get it, I think I was 10 years on mine.
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
You were on the fast track compared to mine! 
But to be honest, this project really wasn't a priority until the last 5 years or so.
But to be honest, this project really wasn't a priority until the last 5 years or so.
Mine sat without touching it for 3 years, its a hobby not work.
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
You are absolutely correct sireland67! I got the sanding for the touch up work done today. Gonna let it sit overnight and then wet sand and seal tomorrow. I got the blackout treatment done on the core support and grille support today too. I am intentionally trying to replicate how it looked originally.
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
It appears that I am destined to be doing body work forever! I took a short break to take a trip down to the Gulf coast for a little vacation. Before I left, I found that I wasn't entirely happy with the transition in the passenger quarter repair that I had done. So before the trip I, I added some filler and feathered it out. Yesterday I re-sealed that area and the ONE time that I didn't prep with a wax and grease remover came back to haunt me! 
Something got onto the surface to contaminate it so the sealer didn't lay down smoothly over it and I have some fish eyes to deal with. All the work done previously, I have never had this issue. I have the side glass areas to mask off and also from the rockers to the floor and I will be all set to paint. Now to shuffle the garage/both contents around so I can get everything into position for that. Getting closer! L8r!
Jim
Something got onto the surface to contaminate it so the sealer didn't lay down smoothly over it and I have some fish eyes to deal with. All the work done previously, I have never had this issue. I have the side glass areas to mask off and also from the rockers to the floor and I will be all set to paint. Now to shuffle the garage/both contents around so I can get everything into position for that. Getting closer! L8r!Jim
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Whoa! You're in MG? We just moved away from there last summer, but I spent more than half my life living in 55369 (NE side of Rice Lake).
Sorry to read about the stripped threads. I feel your pain, but Congrats on the Helicoil repair, as...Yeah! It's starting to get too cool around here to do anything like painting.
Good luck!
Jim
(Now somewhere east of Zimmerman....)
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Yessir, just north of Osseo. I will be putting my garage furnace to use for sure!
- Joined
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My first MG house was on 99th Place, just a couple blocks north of 610, so I know the neighborhood well! Me and Wife #1 lived there for almost 21 years.
Grandparents are buried in St. Vincent's Cemetery on 93rd/CR 30.
I sure do miss MG some days, but Wife #2 and I wanted more space for retirement, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
(But the commute to/from New Hope certainly is a *****!)
Grandparents are buried in St. Vincent's Cemetery on 93rd/CR 30.
I sure do miss MG some days, but Wife #2 and I wanted more space for retirement, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
(But the commute to/from New Hope certainly is a *****!)
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gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
That commute would make me want to hurt myself! Good luck with that!
- Joined
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- Somewhere north of Minne-a-no-place
Considering all of the construction on 169 in Elk River, and the BS with the 169/94 interchange in Rogers, yup!
But I only have a little more than a year left, and the Boss is already letting me work from home about one day a week. Have a feeling they're going to offer me F/T at home once I tell them I'm retiring, as the commute is the biggest hang-up. We'll see....
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Finally!!!!!!
Today I finally got paint on the project! It's been quite a journey! I got 4 coats applied on it and in spite of all I did to control the environment, there still ended up being more trash in the paint than I had hoped. I was planning to sand and buff it anyway, so that is not a crisis situation. I am pretty pleased with how my first whole car paint job turned out! From this point on, it's all going toward completion of the project!
Today I finally got paint on the project! It's been quite a journey! I got 4 coats applied on it and in spite of all I did to control the environment, there still ended up being more trash in the paint than I had hoped. I was planning to sand and buff it anyway, so that is not a crisis situation. I am pretty pleased with how my first whole car paint job turned out! From this point on, it's all going toward completion of the project!
abdywgn
dismantler
Looks GRRR-8! can't wait to see it all together and outside in the sunshine. Fabulous job!
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Thanks abdywgn! I am thrilled that it finally has paint on everything! It's been a long time coming. This has been a tremendous hurdle to get past. L8r!
Jim
Jim
Good job! Keep us updated.
Rick
Rick
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Thanks DartMan! Progress is likely to slow down as the weather here starts cooling off, at least for anything requiring any painting!
skep419
5.9 Magnum 4 speed afficionado
Looks awesome! 
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Thanks skep! Where in Minnesoooota are you located?
skep419
5.9 Magnum 4 speed afficionado
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
After stepping away for a couple of days, yesterday I looked over the exterior with a bright light, decided I got good coverage and pulled all the masking materials off the car. I grossly over-masked the car to make sure that I didn't end up with any "gold dust" where I didn't want it. I was largley successful. I didn't mask down to the floor so that I could move the car in the booth if needed. The top side of the K-frame ended up with a really light dusting on it. That will be an easy fix, so no real harm done. It is starting to look like a real car finally! I also thought that I'd share a few things garnered from the exercise that might be of value to those contemplating doing what I am doing, for what it's worth.
1. I wish I'd made the "booth" at least two feet longer. I did not have much room at either end of the car when I sprayed the paint. That made it difficult to really see what I was doing and to also keep up a good technique. I needed to have at least 3-4 feet of space between the car and the wall of the booth. When I measured for construction, I failed to consider the width of the car and just did the straight line length. Pass the Dufus award my way!
2. Between all the interior painting and the exterior, I used about 6 quarts of mixed product to apply three coats inside and four coats to the exterior.
3. When I painted the interior surfaces, I only used the exhaust fans to clear the overspray. It didn't work real well. When I painted the exterior, I put three more fans inside the booth to help push the overspray toward the exhaust. The two exhaust fan volume compared to the volume of the booth should have cycled about 1.3x the interior volume every minute. The extra fans helped move the air toward the exhaust end of the booth.
4. Have extra filters on hand! I did not change them out after doing the interior surfaces, they looked to be in pretty good shape. After doing the exterior, they are nearly solidly covered on the inner surfaces with pigment.
5. Have a spare respirator on hand. At the end of the exterior process, the inlet filters on my respirator became blocked to the point that I could hardly breathe at all. When combined with #4, I'm certain that the air was not being properly evacuated.
6. I did a dry run on my strategy for applying the paint. I made sure I could reach everything I needed and made sure my air hose would reach the furthest point from the compressor. This worked great until I actually started spraying the paint. I started by spraying around the rear window opening. As I came down the side from the top, I leaned over to get a better angle for the gun, lost my balance on the stool and ended up with a run down the back edge of the C-pillar. Insert face slap here!
I hope someone finds a little useful information from what I've done. L8r!
Jim
1. I wish I'd made the "booth" at least two feet longer. I did not have much room at either end of the car when I sprayed the paint. That made it difficult to really see what I was doing and to also keep up a good technique. I needed to have at least 3-4 feet of space between the car and the wall of the booth. When I measured for construction, I failed to consider the width of the car and just did the straight line length. Pass the Dufus award my way!
2. Between all the interior painting and the exterior, I used about 6 quarts of mixed product to apply three coats inside and four coats to the exterior.
3. When I painted the interior surfaces, I only used the exhaust fans to clear the overspray. It didn't work real well. When I painted the exterior, I put three more fans inside the booth to help push the overspray toward the exhaust. The two exhaust fan volume compared to the volume of the booth should have cycled about 1.3x the interior volume every minute. The extra fans helped move the air toward the exhaust end of the booth.
4. Have extra filters on hand! I did not change them out after doing the interior surfaces, they looked to be in pretty good shape. After doing the exterior, they are nearly solidly covered on the inner surfaces with pigment.
5. Have a spare respirator on hand. At the end of the exterior process, the inlet filters on my respirator became blocked to the point that I could hardly breathe at all. When combined with #4, I'm certain that the air was not being properly evacuated.
6. I did a dry run on my strategy for applying the paint. I made sure I could reach everything I needed and made sure my air hose would reach the furthest point from the compressor. This worked great until I actually started spraying the paint. I started by spraying around the rear window opening. As I came down the side from the top, I leaned over to get a better angle for the gun, lost my balance on the stool and ended up with a run down the back edge of the C-pillar. Insert face slap here!
I hope someone finds a little useful information from what I've done. L8r!
Jim
mopowers
Well-Known Member
That looks great! I appreciate all of the commentary too. Did you notice any dust kicking up from the floor? Or did you do anything special to mitigate that?
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
mopowers, thanks for stopping in! I was naturally concerned about dust and dirt. I did everything that I could possibly think of to mitigate the impact. As you are probably well aware, this project has been in the body work phase for a long time. That means that there has been a lot of dust that has accumulated in all the nooks and crannies over this time.
- I blew the body out several times over a several day period to try to remove most of what was trapped in the body.
- When I masked off the body, I tried to completely seal off the inside. I taped over all the openings from the inside to the outside in the firewall and floor. I sealed off the trunk and top of the engine compartment with masking film. I draped the masking paper to about an inch from the floor.
- When I built the booth, I layered the seams for the poly so as to minimize the places for dust to get trapped and I used tempered hardboard for the lathe stripes because it is a very smooth surface.
- I mopped the floor with a generous amount of water.
- After rolling the car into the booth and closing it in, I blew it off with air again. The exhaust system was running at this time as well.
- I wiped the entire exterior surface with window cleaner and lint free wipes. Then I wiped it down again with wax and grease remover. Then I tacked it just before starting to spray.
- I wore a tyvek bunny suit when I sprayed.
It's not dirt free by any means, but all of the nibs that I have seen so far are all very small. I applied four coats because my intention from the beginning was to wet sand and buff the final product. I don't believe that I will have any trouble getting rid of the trapped dust through the cut and buff process. I won't be doing that now until the Spring, so I guess I will have to wait and see if I'm right!
Jim
mygasser
Well-Known Member
a lifelong painter freind told me to cut and buff the day after painting with 2k. it is still hard/cured but not fully 'set', it gets harder and harder the longer it sits making the colour sanding similarly harder and harder. how many body shops wait months after applying paint before cutting and buffing? errr..... none. 
your car so of course your choice but personally i don't like making things hard for myself if i don't need to.
neil.
your car so of course your choice but personally i don't like making things hard for myself if i don't need to.
neil.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
Wow, sounds like you did everything possible! That worries me for when I do mine because I just don't want to go through that much work. haha!
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