I decided to start stripping the paint off the body and get it in primer before I started on the mechanical bits. This had more to do with the weather than anything else. Fall was upon us and it was getting dark early. Soon it would be cold and I'd be turning on the garage heater. I prefer to do the bodywork outside as it keeps the dust outside. I figured I could work outside only a few more months before snow would get in the way. So one evening after din-din, even though it was dark outside I plopped the hood onto a plastic garbage can in the back yard, donned a suitably old sweatshirt, dust mask and earplugs and started at it with the Dual Action 6" air sander. As I was leaving the house for the garage I told Sue to say goodbye to the sweatshirt. She knew that once I start on the bodywork portion of a project, that sweatshirt will get thinner and holier as the days and nights progressed. Yes, it will be washed periodically, but by the time the project is done, so will the sweatshirt.
The paint came off surprisingly easy and the hood, doors and trunk lid were very straight. Whoever had done the bodywork for Rich had done a real nice job. It was just the final paint that was pretty awful. In two hours I had the paint knocked off of the big flat surfaces of the hood, trunk and doors and began the hand sanding of the corners, edges and crevices. Took about 4 hours total for the parts.
I tackled the main body on a Saturday morning. Just started at one end with the D/A and worked my way around. I would stop every hour to blow my face off with some air, blow my nose (check to see how much is getting past the mask) go get some fresh air and water. My hands would feel like they were buzzing from the sander vibrations.
After about 5 hours I walked on down to Paul's to take a break. We grabbed a cold one and chatted while watching 6 Mexicans across the alley hand-pour a garage foundation. I guess they saved a lot of money by mixing the sand, water and concrete mix by hand, rather than just having the concrete truck come in and pour what they needed. Sure looked like back breaking work to us though. They would bring in a dump truck full of sand, a dump truck full on concrete mix and between the 6 of them, they had a concrete mixing party. Way too much work for Paul and I, especially with our bad backs.
After a few "chillin out" beverages with Paul, I went back to the garage, put the mask on, put in the ear plugs and blew the garage out with the leaf blower. Always makes it look like the garage is on fire with all the dust blowing out the doors.
The next day 1 finished up the sanding, blew everything out again and then hosed the parts and the body off outside. I hosed out all the undersides of the wheel wells, the front trunk and engine bay to get all the dirt out so that after I paint, I could spray all those hidden areas with truck bed liner paint later. Total time to get the body ready for touch up Bondo and spot putty was about 16 hours.
There where a few scratches and dings, but not bad at all. Wherever I found them, I would dig them out a bit and sand them before applying a bit of Bondo. Some of the edges in the front trunk area had some air bubble pockets. Original from the factory, but I spent a little time grinding them out, applying a bit of Bondo to plug them up and smooth things out. The only fiberglass work I had to do was to plug up the antenna hole that someone had put in the rear quarter. Paul brought home a Fiberglass Field Repair kit from his shop. To plug a hole, you use a grinder with an 80-grit disc to feather the edges on both sides so that the glass tapers down. You cut out new glass to fit the hole and then a bigger one to overlap the hole for each side. Mix up the resin and catalyst; brush on the mixture onto both sides of the hole using a cheap China bristle brush. If you try to use a polyester brush, it dissolves in the resin. Place the fiberglass pieces on a piece of cardboard (beer can box is perfect). Brush a thick coat of the mixture onto the fiberglass and work it in real good so the glass is saturated. Place the small piece on the hole and the bigger pieces on either side. Coat and soak in more mixture onto the fiberglass. I had to make up a little supporting fixture to keep the glass attached while it cured. A butter dish lid supported by a garden stick worked just fine. The plastic lid pops off easily once everything is dry.
Since the car body was a bit cold, the resin didn't want to kick, so I snuck into the house and borrowed my wife's hairdryer. (Never use one of those on myself.) I hit the hole with a little heat on both sides for about 5 minutes and then let the chemical reaction take over. In an hour it was ready for sanding and a wisp of Bondo. Sue always wonders why her hair dryer smells funny whenever I do fiberglass work.
On a clear Saturday morning I cleaned out the garage and wiped down the body and parts one more time. I had the garage heater cooking so that everything was nice and warm. Paint likes warm. It's allergic to the cold. It breaks out in bubbles and doesn't spray or dry properly. The hood, trunk and doors have to sit on something to be sprayed. For the final paint I hang them from the garage ceiling with bent up coat hangers, but for primer, I just set them on something. I usually go out back and grab a couple of garbage cans to be used as horizontal surfaces. After washing them down, I usually throw a clean old carpet over them just to keep dust from flying up and hitting the painted surface as I spray away. My carpets were pretty dirty. If I use towels, the spray can blow the towel and it may flap against the fresh paint, so I looked at a couple of old t-shirts in the rag bin and scratched my head. The next step was rather depressing. I found out that my old t-shirts DO fit over the garbage cans!!! Being barrel chested is OK, being garbage can gutted is not. Well at least I had to stretch them quite a bit to fit over the cans.
So I mixed up some primer, donned my good Darth Vader mask and started to spray. I think I had the pressure a bit high because there was alot of overspray when I was done. I shot one coat on all the edges followed by two full coats on everything. Took about an hour and a half. As I was just finishing up, I could see Paul looking in through the window. He told me later that the overspray in the air was so thick he couldn't see me, but he could hear the gun spraying so he knew I was still alive in there. I came out and had a few suds with Paul while waiting for the paint to set. Primer doesn't take long to dry but we needed an excuse to sit and drink. Mind you, not much of an excuse is ever needed.
I let everything dry for an hour, opened the door and blew everything out with the leaf blower. As all the dust came flying out the doors, it again looked like the garage was on fire. I'm lucky nobody has ever called the fire department on me.
Next - Europa Euphoria, Part 8
