MEGA UPDATE! (PART 1)
So its been basically two years since I updated this thread. Epic fail by me. I got stupid busy with school/work/working on the car that I never made the time to post the progress.
Alright, so going back a year, I decided to try and tackle the body work and paint. Being on a budget I decided to employ a method shown to me by a friend who had repainted his MK II Supra with impressive results. The paint to be used would be Rust-Oleum (Tremclad for us Canadians), and it would be applied with foam rollers. The guide for the process came from this Hot Rod magazine article and if you aren't familiar with the process here is the link you might want to check out:
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body ... index.html
I started by gathering all my materials which was relatively close to the list on the site, just with a few changes as recommended by my friend. Having no idea what I was up against, I decided to start by stripping down the car and looking things over. Picture time:
Back bumper and lights removed. Nothing too shocking thankfully.
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Biggest problem area. I knew the car had been in at least one fender bender before but wow did I ever not know what they had covered up with bondo down here. The next few pictures show the extent of the issue as I began to chisel away the mess:
It went quite a ways up the panel and it was clear when I removed it all that there was a crease all the way up the fender that had been covered up.
Sadly I didn't take as many pictures as I should have but places where the rust had gone all the way through were grinded out and new sheet metal was welded in place. The above area above the left rear wheel arch was the worst of it. Other welding was done on the back hatch as the spoiler was removed to reveal the famous rotting mounts, so the holes were filled in.
Fast forward a week or 2:
Sanding process well underway.
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One of the pluses to the process is since there is no spraying being done, only a limited amount of taping and covering up had to be done and any spillage or splatter on windows was easily removed with a rag while working. Again fast forward a few weeks (wish I took more pictures of the first few coats) and here is the car after I believe the first 3 coats:
Coming along nicely.
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Outside on the driveway to do some wetsanding.
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Another look after a wetsanding.
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Some pics of the paint process between and up to the final coat:
All in all, I think I did 8 coats if my memory serves me correctly. It is an extremely labour intensive process, but the money saved makes it well worth it in my opinion. It gives a relatively smooth finish for the most part (unfortunately I think it was either too hot or the paint wasn't thinned enough when I put down my second last coat and I was left with a little bit of orange peel effect/ripples, but it isn't really that noticeable and for a first effort I don't mind). I don't have an exact total but I think all said and done the body work and paint materials came in around 250 bucks (with a few things being bought in larger quantities than I needed).
I'd better stop here before this post gets too ridiculously big. If anyone wants some more information or I missed some details, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.
COMING UP - Part 2: Polishing, new speakers, seats, gauges and other goodies.
