Blackout panel on a '69 Mach 1

W

wmfmontrose

Hi all,can't thanks everyone on this forum enough for all the advise on painting my car. It turned out better than I expected considering it was painted in a shop with only a good spray mask. Relatively bug free in last April here in Colorado. I ended up with 4 coats of Deltron Acapulco Blue and then 4 and 4 coats of SPI 4000. I've since sanded and polished maybe half of that off and it looks great.

So now a year+ later I need to paint the semi-gloss black panel on the hood and cowl. I finally found the PPG paint code for the semi-gloss. DDL9423 according to the NPD catalog. I have zero experience painting semi-gloss so I'm asking for pointers on this. My idea is to lightly sand the hood and spray two Coats of 4000 clear and then in a day apply the stencils for the blackout area. Spray a couple of coats of the semi-Gloss, they say spray it dry, then pull the stencils.

Great! I just found out DDL has been discontinued. The PPG guy said i could add flattening agent to a black to get the right sheen but that sounds kind of hit or miss for one hood. I think I read that it takes a couple of days for the amount of gloss to show? Is there a Semi-gloss black in a can? Not a gallon can, a quart would do a dozen hoods. If the gloss turns out really off I can always spray clear over it but that's not what I really want.
Thanks again for all the help.
 

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You can vary the amount of gloss by adjusting the mix ratio. Do some test pieces with various ratios to determine what works best. Off the top of my head that panel you are talking about would probably be around 5:1 or 6:1. It's a far more durable product than acrylic lacquer as well.
 
Thanks Dub and Chris. The main sticking point about the SPI black is that SPI only sells it by the gallon. I'll never use a gallon. If I have to I will but.....
I remember when these cars were new if you ever got wax or grease on the semigloss paint it was real hard to get it off and a lot of guys had clear sprayed over the semigloss. Different but not bad.
I have another hood i can play with to get the right look. Thanks for the starting point Chris.
 
Spi only offers the matte clear and matte black in gallons.
For the hood, if I was doing the matte, black is perfect at a 6:1 mix ratio.

If you are planning on flattening the color or clear yourself, your asking for a bunch of problems.
Sem has a matte black in quarts.
 
Avoiding problems is what I'm all about, that's why I keep coming back here for advise.
Thanks for the tips. I'll check out Sem.
 
Hi all,
Is my idea about a couple of coats of clear before the blackout semi gloss for adhesion on the original 4000 clear a good plan? I think I'm going with the Sem Hot Rod black. How should I prep the surface? It's "cured" indoors for three years now and I need to get this done, the wife is getting inpatient to put it in the local car show this spring.
 
I would not be comfortable doing it the way you are thinking about. May work, but just too risky with possible adhesion, lifting, or tape tracking problems. I would just clean with 700, apply the stencil, sand carefully with 400 dry, scotchbrite the edges, re-clean, then shoot it.
 
It sounds like you are saying spraying new clear over the old clear and under the black is a bad idea without scuffing with 400. I’m leaning towards Plan B, clear over black. Would this be a good procedure? Clean with 700, sand the entire hood with 400 dry, scotchbrite around the edges of the hood, clean with 710, apply the stencil, clean with 710 then shoot it with one or two solid coats of black SS or base coat, pull the stencils, wait, sand tape edges, then a couple of coats of 4000 clear.
Seems like sanding the tape edges would be needed If I use a SS but wouldn't work and might not be needed if i use base coat black?

Plan B sounds like the easiest and least stressful method and the black under clear is much easier to maintain. If it’s Plan B, is 4000 clear the best for this or should I buy some other SPI product? I’ll probably pick up a quart of PPG single stage or base coat black at the local paint supply store unless I hear otherwise.

Which one would give the thinnest coat, base or SS, or is there a difference?

It’s the details I get stuck on. The second one is easy.

Thanks
Neil
 
If you really want a satin finish, just use the satin single stage over your existing clear. Clean it, apply your stencil, sand it, clean it, apply the black and pull the stencil off. If you decide to go shiny, sand the whole hood with 400-600, apply stencil, spray black (base will be thinner), pull stencil and clear. There will be an edge no matter what black you spray, but don't sand the base. Just apply enough clear to bury the edge if you clear it (2 won't be enough, 4 is usually safe). With satin black, you have to live with an edge. Can't beat 4000 as a clear.
 
thank you for that, at least now I have an idea of how to do it either way.
 
thank you for that, at least now I have an idea of how to do it either way.
If I were you, and I really wanted the satin, I would try it first. If it doesn't come out like you want it, the next day or after, just lightly sand it and the rest of the hood with 800-1000 and clear it.
 
texasking,
I had a '69 SCJ Mach 1 in 1970 and i remember how much of a pain the satin hood was. The spray wax at the two bit car washes at the time turned the whole thing gray. The satin looked really cool but.... I've been thinking of doing just like you suggested, satin first. Besides, I have way too much clear on the hood now so it wouldn't hurt to sand some off anyway. I have a paint thickness meter coming tomorrow and I'm dying to see how thick it is before I add more. I know the four coats of blue are pretty consistent but the clear was harder to judge, especially on a horizontal surface. Besides, after going through all the forums again I'm ready to paint something.. :)
Thanks for the tips, they help a lot.
 
Perfect, the satin will be the easiest anyway. I have the old hood to practice on.
thanks
 
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