Restoration issues (long)

J

jtfx6552

Member
Not sure where I should put this post, maybe it would have been better in the color section?

Anyway I'm attempting a concourse restoration on my 65 Mustang.

My year and plant the bottom was a shiny "batch" close enough to black with lots of body color overspray
The engine compartment a dull black, painted after the body color
and a "pinch weld" blackout applied over the body color along the bottom of the rocker with a shadow onto the floor pans.

Because of what needed to go over what, re coat windows, etc, I backed myself into a corner and have a few issues to straighten out.

Issue 1) I painted the bottom the gloss black, then added the body color overspray, wanted to paint the cowl at that time so the tape line would be correct with the engine compartment black over the body color. I didn't want to mix up to separate batches of body color so I wanted to do the body color overspray on the bottom, and the cowl at the same time. To do that I got the bright idea to add the over spray while the car was upside down on the rotisserie so I could see what I was doing with the overspray, and just paint up at the cowl while the car was upside down (I think rolling it over while I'm shooting stirs up dirt so I don't usually move it after tacking). Problem is I couldn't see the cowl well enough, despite having a light right on it and have some dry spots. So, I guess I need to scuff and reshoot that. BUT, is there anything special about scuffing single stage over cured self leveling seam sealer? How anal do I need to be about betting into every nook and cranny?



Issue 2) I couldn't do the tape line on the freshly laid cowl paint, I had to wait 8 hours, which put me outside the recoat window for the engine compartment. Now I need to scuff the engine compartment before painting that. How do I scuff, without goofing up the concourse correct seam seal drips? Or do I need scrape the drips off the firewall, buy a new tube and re apply? Seems crazy to buy seam sealer just to make drips, lol.



Issue 3) when I scuff the engine compartment, how do I do the transition to the bottom paint that has the correct overspray on it already? From the factory it would be proper for it just to cover over with a non defined edge and maybe some runs. Which would be easy if I only didn't have to scuff where the new paint was going, but not scuff the bottom "over sprayed" paint.





Issue 4) By the time I got to the end it was 6:00 in the morning and I wasn't thinking clearly. I used bending solvent to make the overspray look nice,



BUT... I hadn't done the pinch weld paint yet.

I loaded up the gun and sprayed that, which went perfect, at first, but towards the back on both sides, I got immediate pops when the paint hit. Initially I thought the gun sprayed some junk, but later decided it was some sort of popping of the paint itself. Maybe the blending solvent was still working or something? Not sure. Also not sure if you'll be able to see in this picture because the white pops through the pinch weld paint look just like the over spray, but in person it's a very rough texture. I may just have to live with it as I'm not going to repaint the bottom, and add the over spray and pinch weld black out again.



 
Are your taking it to the Ford shows? Those are the only ones that will care what your doing.

Actual Concourse judgeing is about how important the cars were when they were new. (special, one of a kind, Paris auto Show) type of stuff. Next is the quality of work is also important but judges at almost all the Concourse events are judging their "circle" of cars where it might be against a Skylark, Camaro, Mopar and they don't know everything about every make.

Make the bottom look as nice as the top and get rid of drips of any kind and you'll fit right in with the concourse theme.

Sorry, not much help just some advice from someone around that type of show and my wife is a judge at one.
 
I don't think you'd lose any points for the texture issue on the underside-what matters most there is that the overspray ended up where it needed to be and I think you nailed that. That rough area on the cowl and upper firewall--- where is the upper masking line for the black paint in the engine bay-I've worked on a few of those but can't remember? is it on the cowl seam or higher? You are going to have to let the overspray from that engine compartment black go where it needs to go down low. I would seriously consider using SPI black epoxy for that and sand and scuff up the areas you know will be coated. For the lower areas where the overspray is going just use a rag with some scuff paste or some coarser compound like super duty and carefully just give it a light rub and a good cleaning-not enough rubbing that you burn through. Sanding and scuffing around and on those seam sealed areas is not an issue-I do it all the time. That texture issue with the rocker pinchweld paint is from trapping solvent I bet-there was still blender evaporation out. It looks like the blender trick worked well for you on the other colors.
 
Bob, I was going to send this to you in a PM, but couldn't figure out how to send one. I'm back on the car, and noticed the whole bottom has a rough texture to it. Looks fine, but it seems like it will attract dirt and be hard to clean. I guess I goofed up on the blending solvent application.

I have a gallon of SPI clear that I wasn't going to use anyway, I was thinking of dulling it and putting that over the bottom. The question is, will it bite into the rough texture that's there, or should I scuff it? It seems like scuffing it will actually make it smoother, which I think would be good for the finish look, and if it in fact helps the clear bond to it, I guess that would be a win win, other than the time it takes to scuff. I have grey pads that I was going to use. I *think" that won't really change the overspray pattern or remove enough of it to change the look. I'm real happy with the look at the moment, I just think it will really be hard to keep looking that way with all the texture it has.
 
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