Attack plan

K

Karmin

I'm listing what I plan to or have done so far. Please if you have time, let me know what you think.

The car is a 94 Porsche 968 convertible in Guards Red (single stage solid red made by glasurit). The body is decent from an amateurs eye with a handful of shopping cart dings. I plan on painting most panels off the car. My understanding is that it's ok to paint solid colors with the panels separate.

- sand OE finish with 180 grit
- filled some dings with glazing putty over oe finish after hammering them out (less than 1/16 deep)
- sanded rust areas with 80 grit to bare metal...just a few spots
- spray unreduced SPI epoxy on bare metal spots. wait 1 day
- spray 2 coats PPG K36 as primer surfacer - have a gallon of this before discovering SPI
- block with 180, spray 1 coat of K36, finish sand with 320 grit---is 320 smooth enough? I don't mind sanding with a higher grit if it produces a better finish
- choice here for sealer, I can spray K36 mixed as a sealer or SPI epoxy as a sealer. I bought 1 quart of epoxy not including activator (not sure this is enough). Any suggestions? I've heard good about both products.
- spray base until covered and wait 2 hours
- spray 3 coats UV with 30 minutes between coats. wet sand and spray another 2 coats with 30 mins between coats.

BTW, when you guys talk about time between coats and flash (flashed is dry to touch?) times, does flash time mean when clock starts ticking when you start to spray? Between coats I assume is when all the paint has flashed?

Thanks,
Karmin
 
What stage are you in? Your proceedure will work fine, 320 before sealer will work for a solid color-if you do get any shrinkage the scratches will rarely show with a solid color.
K36 reduced as a sealer works fine or epoxy the choice is yours-just makes sure to use a slow reducer so you can get it on thin and smooth. Flash time starts when you put the gun down. 30 minutes between coats of clear is ok but there's a simple test you can do to guage the minimum time: touch the clear on some masking areas to see how wet it is-if the clear strings up when you pull your finger off give it more time, if it doesn't string when you pull your finger off and just leaves a finger print this is the minimum amount of time before the next coat of clear gets applied. Allow a little more time and you'll have less chance of runs-that tacked up coat of clear gives the next coat something to grab on to. Solid colors are easier to paint disassembled but try to apply the color the same wetness for all, some solid colors will have a heavy pigment that can settle when sprayed overly wet and this can change the final color. Do some smaller parts first to get the hang of it.
 
@bob - I'm actually ready to spray the epoxy on the bare metal. Just spent today cleaning up the garage. Supposed to snow in NYC so I'll probably put it off till Friday and hopefully spray the K36 Saturday. I've read that you may see sand scratches at 320 grit (actually I think it was one of your previous posts). If I sanded again at 500 dry, would that be enough for the sealer to grab onto?
 
Yup, 500dry would be better if you're worried. I won't spray a metalic over anything coarser than 600wet even if sealer is used, 400wet works fine for solid colors if sealed, 320dry is about equal to 400 wet. Get it sanded with 320 then apply some guidecoat, then sand off the guidecoat with your 500dry. Something else that will help you is take two-three grey scotchbrites and stack them together for good cushion and give the whole car a good rub down when your done with the 500-this will melllow out any mistakes made with your sanding block-it does make a difference. You can do it wet or dry.
 
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