Jim's Build Thread

[e36m3]

Color looks great on the car.

[33fromSD]

Cutting and buffing going well, but I ran into a set back, I foolishly forgot to scuff the clear coat inside my defroster vent openings in the cowl / upper dash area and about 1/4" around the vent holes which gave no "grip" for the new paint / clear to grab onto, so after I started cutting / buffing the cowl/top of the dash the clear bubbled around the vents and is lifting away.

Two ways to fix it:
1) Sand it back until I hit solid material, respray color (color blend) & reapply clear; pros = quicker, least invasive; cons = color will never match all the way (thickness, texture, metalic, etc.) and I'd never re-match the material height of the old paint / clear so you would always see a indentation if you looked hard enough.

2) Strip the entire top & sides (down to the running boards) of the cowl, reapply primer, paint & clear. Pros = It's the right way to do it, guaranteed to not have any issues and will match the best; con = it's a longer more invasive fix.

I'm going with #2, what's more time right?.....while I'd like to be done with body work, if I went with #1, I don't want to regret my decision every time I look at the cowl / top of the dash and be reminded of it.

I'm also going to complete all the cutting / buffing on the rest of the car in case I would happen to run into other issues (burn through on cut & buff, other areas clear did not grip; shouldn't be since I was pretty detail everywhere else but one never knows).

No biggie, just the joys of working on cars

Jim

[narly1]

What a heartbreaker. Maybe time for a 2-tone colour scheme?

[33fromSD]

What a heartbreaker. Maybe time for a 2-tone colour scheme?

It is what it is...... nothing that cannot be fixed..... in my younger days I admit I would have been irate over something like this, but now in my 50s, stuff like this is just part of taking on big projects. Can't sweat the small stuff.

Jim

[HotrodMike]

I certainly hope to be able to approach my project with that cool no stress attitude, I applaud you for your patience.

[FF33rod]

Hang in there Jim, they're never really finished anyway

Steve

[e36m3]

Sorry to hear about the set back. At least you know why the clear lifted and how to fix it.

[33fromSD]

Hang in there Jim, they're never really finished anyway

Steve

That's half the fun isn't it Steve?

Heck, I just had to move our 65 mustang (first time since last fall) to get my trailer out for something and found a nice puddle of antifreeze under it...the water pump gasket decided to let go during winter. Oh well.....

Jim

[33fromSD]

Cutting & Buffing continues, no other issues so far. I have now finished the driver's door, driver's running board, driver's rear quarter and drivers fender.... Taking about an hour per panel.

It's not "perfect" to the car show purists, but pretty damn good...still a little orange peel left, but minimal and it's actually better than our brand new Lincoln Navigator which was factory painted, but this is going to be a driver, not a garage queen so I'm not looking for perfection.

My expectations for the paint finish when starting the project was ....a unique vehical not many or possibly anyone has in town (check), a really nice gloss on the finish (check), and looks nice up close but not perfect but really only noticed by the purists (check).

If someone has issues with it, I'll hand then the 1K, 2K, 3K, 5K grit sanding discs with the DA & polishing compound and tell them to have at it and I'll pick it up when it's done.

Jim

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[33fromSD]

Minus the thin body section between the door and the side engine cover (that is part of the strip / repaint area I need to do) the driver's side is now done with cut & buff. Pictures actually don't due the color a lot of justice but they came out pretty good. Same as above, not perfect, but looks pretty good. These big fenders are kind of a pain to cut & buff.

Jim

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[narly1]

I've never noticed the "dip" in the fender towards the cowl side before. Such a beautiful detail...they don't design 'em like they used to.

[33fromSD]

I've never noticed the "dip" in the fender towards the cowl side before. Such a beautiful detail...they don't design 'em like they used to.

No they do not.

[rtbellah]

Getting the beer and popcorn to watch this properly
If you need something to do, answer this question: what colour is it going to be? If I had a buck for every time that question was asked... LOL

Steve

Steve...you gave me an idea....I'm going to hang a sign in the garage that says "if you ask what color this car will be there will be a fine of $1.00. When my kit arrives and I start the build I know I will get lots of lookie-loos and I'll just point to the sign...might get enough to buy the beer during the build!

[FF33rod]

Man you're doing an amazing job!

[33fromSD]

Steve...you gave me an idea....I'm going to hang a sign in the garage that says "if you ask what color this car will be there will be a fine of $1.00. When my kit arrives and I start the build I know I will get lots of lookie-loos and I'll just point to the sign...might get enough to buy the beer during the build!

Fine should be $10.00....if its anything like the guys that hang around with me before I picked the color if I had charged that between them and family members asking what color I probably could have paid for the paint.

Jim

[33fromSD]

Man you're doing an amazing job!

Thanks Steve

[33fromSD]

Took yesterday off to get some stuff done on the car since today and this weekend I won't work on it at all due to a wedding in Wisconsin.

After I got some long over due chores done, I spent a few hours on the 33. I got the engine side cover, front fender and door on the passenger side cut & buffed. The body cowl (between the door & engine cover is not done, that will be repainted / cleared to blend with the cowl that needs to be repainted). This side turned out really well. Now that I'm getting more comfortable with the cut / buff process I may go back on a few other panels on the driver's side that still look good but could be even better.

Jim

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[Michael101]

That looks awesome!

[Straversi]

She’s a beauty.
-Steve

[33fromSD]

Except for the little section between the door and engine side cover (part of the cowl I'm going to repaint), the passenger side is now all cut & buffed. Pics aren't the best since I'm only 3 feet from the wall but you get the idea.

Next up I'll cut & buff the trunk and areas around it, then move to the hood, and then hopefully prep (sand / prime) & repaint / clear the cowl area.

Getting closer

Jim

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[33fromSD]

Trunk and surrounding areas done.....pics aren't the best and don't do it justice, not a perfect job but turned out nice. I'll include full car pics when I get this thing into the sun. Hood next

Jim

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[Michael101]

Looks fantastic Jim

[33fromSD]

Hood is done, now on to correcting (sand / prime / paint / clear) the cowl.

We help each other on this forum and we learn from each other, so on the hood, in the last pic you'll see some streaks.....

Why is that many will ask?....this actually is not in the base coat of the paint, the is in the first layer of clear when I did the light tack coat.

Why do you do a light tack coat?...... You do a light tack coat, so the clear adheres to the base coat but is light enough to prevent runs (once a run starts, each layer thickens the run) and then your follow-on heavier coat stick to the tack coat and will not run.

Unfortunately I didn't realize it at the time that volume on the gun was too low and I did not catch it in time because the tack coat being very light flashes very quickly....it flashes in about 1-2 minutes verses the normal 7-10 minutes for a heavy coats of clear to flash. Once it flashed it skined over and it did not blend properly with the first of the 3 heavy follow-on coats of clear and it permanently (until it's fixed) trapped those streak in the layers.

Layers of clear coat act like a magnifying glass, the more layers of clear, the more focused any defects become. Before I cut & buffed the hood, the orange peel that was on the hood actually made these spots not even noticeable (which is why I missed it originally) but once the orange peel is removed and you buff the panel it exposes the defect through the clear.

Is it fixable or do I need to strip & repaint the hood? For now it is what it is, it's very fixable, but I'm to the point where I want to get this thing on the road for the summer and drive it. Any one who has a problem with it that sees it in person can voice their opinion and then I will probably voice my opinion about asking to see the cars they painted. In winter when I have all the time in the world, I will strip the clear down to the base coat and respray it, but for now, unless you're directly over it, as you can see from the other 3 pics the gloss hides it a lot.

The issue is with 3 heavy layers of clear, there is quite a bit of material to carefully get through without going through the base coat, if I do that, then I will have to strip / repaint the whole hood and at this point there is no reason to do that. It's kind of like peeling an onion, you need to carefully go layer by layer.

A lot of non-car people will probably not even notice it, but I do, but I'm not here to hide anything from any of you because then we don't learn from each other.

Jim

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[narly1]

I "liked" your last post not because of the outcome with your hood but rather your willingness to share why it happened.

[33fromSD]

I "liked" your last post not because of the outcome with your hood but rather your willingness to share why it happened.

Thanks narly1, the only way we learn is to understand why / how things happen.

Jim

[HotrodMike]

That looks fantastic, great job on the paint, cut and buff!!! I hope mine turns out half as good...

[RoadRacer]

Yes, Time to have some well deserved fun with it!

[e36m3]

Jim,
The car looks great to me, I can only hope that my car turns out nearly as well.
Thanks for sharing the difficulties you've had and your analysis of what went wrong.
While I'm building my car, I've read a couple books on car painting and none of them mentioned not to let the tack coat skin over.
Great info, thanks!

Andy

[33fromSD]

Well, the cowl repair work is progressing along. Got the area sanded downed and primed over the weekend and I just final sanded it and got things prepped for final color / clear. Some will argue I wouldn't have needed primer, but I'm not taking any chances this time around. This way it allowed me to use 120 grit when sanding which created a really good surface for the primer to bite too.

Those wondering why I did part of the rockers, the simple answer is I could not find a good transition point on the rocker in the front of the door area (would be too obvious) so I removed the doors and prepped it all the way by the back go the door. This way you'll have to look hard to see the paint seam.

Jim

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[33fromSD]

I got the cowl / rockers painted / cleared last night, very late night, I waited 3 hours after the final coat of clear to remove the masking. I just need to let it sit a few days and then I'll do the final cut / buff in those areas and then I check body work / final finish off the to-do list.

On the overall timeframe, it's not too bad...... I'm 7 months & 8 days in from when the kit arrived (kit arrived 9/25/2020).

Once the cut & buff is done then I'll reassemble the all lights, install engine side cover port holes & running board stop plates, exterior and exterior door handles, windshield and then start on the interior.

Jim

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[33fromSD]

So the registration process begins......

SoDak actually changed how they do kit cars 6 months ago, so now I needed to fill in an application for Title & Registration as well as filled in a parts affidavit for a rebuild (they now consider Manufactured Kits as rebuilds) and had to send in my MSO paperwork from FFR and all receipts into the state. I feel little nervous handing all my receipts and MSO in without anything in return.

Then In 2-4 weeks they will contact me for a location to take the car for an inspection which will be interesting since they didn't give me a temp plate so I guess I'll trailer it there.

Once the inspection is done the state sends the paperwork through for a title and I can get my title & license. Thinking they make that sound way too smooth.

Interestingly enough though, one of the questions on the affidavit was engine serial number and proof of invoice (with S/N) listed if it wasn't pulled from another vehicle. Glad I had what I had from BP, they document it very well.

Guess I better get this car finished up in case the inspection place calls.

Jim

[33fromSD]

Busy Saturday.....I'll break this into two posts since I took a lot of pics

Was planning an outside yard work / honey-do day but it turned out to be a very wet gloomy day so I made a garage day out of it.

Polished the aluminum windshield frame, installed the defrost vents (they look crooked but they follow the angle of the windshield frame, the angle of the photo makes it look crooked) and installed the windshield
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Installed the ports in the engine side covers as well as the running board step plates
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Installed the head lights (I still need to polish the aluminum on the grill)
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Installed the rear lights, the license plate bracket and the exhaust ports
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Moved on to the dash panel (next post)

Jim

[33fromSD]

Moved on to the dash next

Prepped the Dash with 220 grit sand paper and wiped down with wax/grease remover
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Best vinyl adhesive IMHO...been using it for years. Never had any issues.
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The only negative is after the adhesive dries on both surfaces and you lay the vinyl over the surface you better have it where to want it because once pressure is applied the two surface it's locked and not moving. If you worked the vinyl wrong and there is wrinkle or your material is crooked, you're screwed. Any mistakes at that point are basically fixed by you ripping off the vinyl, reprepping the surface, and getting a new piece of vinyl.

Laid Vinyl ( I laid it in 4 sections but only took a pic of the first so those not familiar with vinyl installation get an idea of how it's done)
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Trimmed all holes on the dash
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Installed any gauges I could prior to installing the dash panel in the car
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Installed panel in car and installed all the switches and the stereo
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Jim

[sethmark]

You’ve built a beautiful car.

[33fromSD]

You’ve built a beautiful car.

Thank You

Jim

[Mitchelle]

It looks so nice, I really like your choice of color.

[j33ptj]

What made you decide to use that marine radio?

Robert

[33fromSD]

What made you decide to use that marine radio?

Robert

Many things.....Small foot print, something unique, chrome bezel matches closely to the gauge cluster and clock, liked the looked

Jim

[cob427sc]

I have used the same and similar adhesives over the years and the trick I have used is to place a piece of wax paper on top of one surface, lay the fabricate on top and get it aligned, the slide the paper out as you press the fabric down onto the dash or similar hard surface. The flatter the surface the better this works but at least it helps eliminate the possibility of wrinkles, etc and having to start over. Learned this technique from a kitchen counter top builder who glued formica sheets to the underlayment.

[33fromSD]

I have used the same and similar adhesives over the years and the trick I have used is to place a piece of wax paper on top of one surface, lay the fabricate on top and get it aligned, the slide the paper out as you press the fabric down onto the dash or similar hard surface. The flatter the surface the better this works but at least it helps eliminate the possibility of wrinkles, etc and having to start over. Learned this technique from a kitchen counter top builder who glued formica sheets to the underlayment.

Yup....agree, I use the wax paper trick when I'm doing vinyl tops on cars....on small items like the dash panel or the waterfall on the 33 I just do it in smaller sections so I can work the area without wax paper. Great trick for those new to it though.

Jim