The Doors

I spent the last couple months looking at the inside of the doors admiring all the work we've done which included the paint job.  When I finally turned the doors over I was shocked to see how little work had been done on the exterior.  I even spotted a crack in the bonding agent that will need to be fixed.

I grabbed the grinder and removed the crack until it was almost gone with exception to just a very thin amount on the back side of the panel.  I always try to leave a little something for the new fiberglass and resin to rest against.  It acts as a form.

Before I get too carried away with the grinding, sanding and painting I thought it best to protect all the work that's been done on the inside of the doors.  Masking tape and masking paper was just the ticket.

I spent several hours the last couple weeks getting the doors in the condition shown below.  All the fiberglass work is done, the skins were guide coated and the low spots were filled in where necessary.  The outside window openings were then masked off in preparation for paint.  Take note of how little of the green primer remains after all the body work.

Last weekend I applied 2 to 3 coats of two-part epoxy primer then I set the doors aside and allowed them to dry for 1 week.

This weekend I guide coated the doors again.  I find it best to use a contrasting primer for the guide coat, not a glossy paint, but a primer.  The reason is because the glossy paint gums up the sandpaper where the primer will not.

Now that the second guide coat is done you can see how much more of the green primer is left on the doors.  That means the doors are getting flatter.  There are still areas where fiberglass is showing so the doors will need another coat of primer.

And here they are with their third coat of primer.  I painted these this weekend so they will have to dry for about a week before I can guide coat them again.  They really look good and I suspect one more guide coat should do it.

Look who showed up!  Ty and his wife Bonnie flew into town a few days ago and Gerri and I got to spend an evening with them.  Not one too miss out on working in the garage, Ty grabbed a rag and polished the blue paint.  Yes it was mostly for the photo but it was still good to see Ty back in the garage.  

While the doors dry I'll start doing similar work to the hood.  The hood as you recall is in need of a lot of TLC.  Fortunately, we have the know how and I am prepared to spend many hours making it right.

Thanks for watching.

Portland Swap Meet - 2012

Dennis K and I attended the Portland Swap Meet last week.  It was huge as usual.  Here are 3 noteworthy tidbits worth sharing:

1.  I bought 4 signed 1963 Corvette related lithographs that I know little about.  They were previously framed so the edges are not perfect but they do have significant original signatures.  All four are signed by  Zora Duntov and Larry Shinado, two very well know names associated with the Corvette.  You can read about them here: http://corvettes.about.com/od/history/tp/All-The-Kings-Men.htm .  Some have a third signature (I think).  I suspect they have value but I really know nothing about them.  If any of you know anything about these I would welcome information.  Here are pictures of each:

2.  I win.  I spent more money than Dennis at the swap meet.  Unfortunately,  I am now a hoarder.  Between Gerri and I we now have 6 vehicles and a motorcycle.  But check out our new acquisition, a 1971 VW bug.  Yes it's Gerri's and no I don't fit behind the wheel.

3.  I spoke with Gary Hodges, one of the few people I consider very knowledgeable about early Corvette mechanical fuel injection units.   Gary shared some valuable information with me and I capture it in this video update.   Check it out here:

 http://youtu.be/N91aYSOmblc

I added a post a couple days ago about painting the door and hood jambs.  If you've not checked this web site recently you might have missed it.  Be sure to check it out.

Door skins are next!  I promise.

Painting the Hood and Door Jambs

Fresh catalyst was recently delivered, the car is fully masked, and we are ready to paint.  The black primer sealer was scuffed and wiped down with a post sanding solution about a week ago so all it needs is a quick wipe down with a tack cloth.  Let the painting begin!

The second coat of black primer sealer was applied per the HOK tech sheet.  I sprayed the door jambs, hood jamb, headlight bucket recesses, rear valance recess and the inside of the fuel filler recess.

After 1 hour of drying time, two coats of Lapis Blue were applied.  Lapis Blue has the pearl/metal flake.  It goes on in medium coats and is applied very thin.  This is not a heavy build paint.

Lapis Blue was followed by the Cobalt Blue Kandy.  The application instructions for Kandy are very specific.  "Apply 5 to 6 coats to achieve proper color.  Start with 3 medium wet coats first, with 75% spray overlap.  Finish with 2 to 3 full wet coats with 50% spray pattern overlap." If we don't do it this way we will most likely get streaking.  In this picture we just finished the first 3 coats.

Here are the last 3 coats.  With each coat it gets darker and richer.

3 medium coats of clear were then applied.  After the paint dried to the touch I removed the masking.  The paint is pretty spectacular if I do say so.  Double click the photo for a closer view.  It's very nice!

Later in the day I removed all the plastic and admired our work to date.   It's a beautiful thing.

The Portland Swap Meet was last week.  Stay tuned for an update on what we found and what we learned.

Door Edge Paint Repairs

After the doors were painted last year the rubber moldings were glued in place then the doors were hung so we could work on fitment.  The doors were aligned as best as possible then the body work started.  We fiberglassed some areas and used Bondo in others.  All of this work affected the door edges and now the edges need to be repainted.

  I used a Dremel with a flapper wheel to smooth out the big bumps. The edges were then sanded until smooth.

Some areas were worse than others.  This area had both Bondo and fiberglass.

As was done on the body, the doors were masked to prevent overspray.

A maroon scuff pad was used to remove any remaining gloss.

I used an Iwata C airbrush for all the painting.  Here I am applying the black primer sealer.

The primer sealer was followed by the Lapis Blue, Cobalt Blue Kandy and several coats of clear.

The masking was removed revealing a very nice repair.

There is a fine lip at the edge of the repair.  After this drys for a few days I'll wet sand the edges then buff it back to a bright gloss.

I am pleased.  If it had not turned out this nice I would have had to mask the rubber molding then reshoot the entire door.  This is good though.  It's very nice.

Cool Desert Nights is only a couple months away.  Hopefully we will have the exterior of the car assembled and painted by then.  It's an aggressive expectation but we'll give it a try.