BUILD THREAD The Mullet Maurader, The Epic of the LS swapped Buick

[Tony1968]

I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm in same boat. My car will not see bad weather as long as I'm the owner
So eventually we have to stop going down the hole and be satisfied with what is done

 

[Northernregal]

I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm in same boat. My car will not see bad weather as long as I'm the owner
So eventually we have to stop going down the hole and be satisfied with what is done

I'll end up with a 10 year project if I didnt draw a line somewhere.

 

[Northernregal]

Had a busy weekend but still managed to get some work done on the car, Despite mother nature trying really hard to mess with my inner peace.

I got a load of stuff that I ordered from Amazon and Rockauto expecting to have a busy couple days of success in the garage.

First off If you arent going to pay attention to the details dont order from Amazon. I'm sure I'll find a use for white dry guide coat, but not likely any time soon.... oops...

From that I got finishing up my metal work on the inner wheelhouse. It finished pretty well, but in my defense the -32C air was forcing it's way in the garage and my butt was freezing on the concrete. I actually had to prop a 2x4 against the garage door because the air pressure was pushing on it enough to get it off of the door seal and cause a really good draft.

Shortly after I got this done I had to go boost my diesel, which is pretty much brand new still, because it was dead at the girlfriend's house. Then to add insult to injury on that my tankless hot water heater froze off the exhaust pipe enough that it wouldnt run without cleaning the frost out after a shower.

Luckily it has since warmed up.

Fast forward to yesterday.

 

[Northernregal]

So Monday I got to the Body Shop supply store and got real black dry guide coat, some 220 sand paper and some more polyester glazing putty and my regular place is out.

I dont recognize this brand, it's a different color and I found the work time to be shorter than I'm used to. I'll stick with USC from now on....

Anyway, seeing as I have done my C pillars wrong twice already Donovan said start over.

So I did.

Used the DA sander and took it most of the way to metal, except for the kitty hair in the seam. Hit with 40 grit and started round 2.

First coat of filler, put on correctly and blocked out. I had taped off the roof line as it was blocked to 180 and the edges to make it easier to hold the edges on the body line.

Blocked out rough with 80 grit and apply the smooth stuff.

I'm finding this to be a pretty easy way to get the filler depth right, since I dont have any real experience I dont always know if I have enough down for what I'm doing. But fill, block to 80, and you have a pretty idea where your lows are so you can apply correction before it's too late and you've over sanded.

Put that fancy new guide coat to work at the 120 and 180 stage. Makes leveling up with the block much easier.

I did the B pillars at the same time so when I'm done I can fit the quarter windows and see how that's all gonna play together. This time I blocked it out to 220 it isn't even comparable to the hack job I did last time. Had a couple small details to touch up on the drivers side with putty but I'm really happy with the end product. it's super straight and smooth.

I took the opportunity when I was using the glazing putty to touch up the couple spots on the roof that needed some attention, then I finished it out to 220 also.

I'm pretty happy with the results. Considering how un-fun the roof was, I feel pretty good about the easier panels with what I've learned from this. The roof builds a lot of character, it sucked a lot. Haha.

 

[Texas82GP]

I didn't think you could sand epoxy???

It can be sanded. It can be blocked. It just isn't fun to work with. If you top coat it within the prescribed window, you don't have to sand it. If you let it fully cure, you have to sand it before the next product is applied. Watch Mr. Riddler. He sprays epoxy, and he always sprays something else on top of it within the top coat window, i.e, a urethane or polyester based product. For example, he sprayed his door with epoxy, and then while still in the top coat window, he sprayed high build primer over it. That way, he's blocking High Build primer instead of the epoxy. This is really how epoxy is intended to be used. However, here in Houston we have to seal bare metal from the humidity, or it will flash rust. Oftentimes, we have body work to do and we aren't ready to spray High build. We're just trying to seal the metal. We have to scuff or block the epoxy before we can move on.

 

[Texas82GP]

Duke, you're becoming Mr. Riddler Jr.

 

[Northernregal]

Duke, you're becoming Mr. Riddler Jr.

Haha. Not quite. Passed from paduan to apprentice maybe, I'm still learning a lot the hard way to be anywhere near that level. We shall see when paint dries, if I have actually learned enough to be respectable.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Duke, you’re coming along amazingly brother. You’ve learned an awful lot in an incredibly short time. You’d make an excellent apprentice, show once or twice, and you pick up on it very quickly. I wish I had guys like you under me when I was doing it for a living.

The car is coming along great, from the wheel well repairs, to your bodywork. You should be very pleased with your progress. Keep up the great work!

(BTW, I know how much you like sanding, but 220 is really overkill for prep before high build. You could easily stop at 180, I’ve even painted over an epoxied 120 grit finish with no noticeable sand scratches. High build is a different story as that’s what you’re going to be painting directly over, it’s gotta be ultra smooth. But for prep before high build, 180 is sufficient. That is of course, that you love block sanding so much that you don’t mind the extra work....)
😅

 

[melloelky]

I didn't think you could sand epoxy???

Texas GP's rite.i work with a guy that used to wet sand the dp epoxy with wax and grease remover,boss was climbing the walls over it.can't blame him.finally got him to just seam seal over it without scuffing it.

 

[Northernregal]

Duke, you’re coming along amazingly brother. You’ve learned an awful lot in an incredibly short time. You’d make an excellent apprentice, show once or twice, and you pick up on it very quickly. I wish I had guys like you under me when I was doing it for a living.

The car is coming along great, from the wheel well repairs, to your bodywork. You should be very pleased with your progress. Keep up the great work!

(BTW, I know how much you like sanding, but 220 is really overkill for prep before high build. You could easily stop at 180, I’ve even painted over an epoxied 120 grit finish with no noticeable sand scratches. High build is a different story as that’s what you’re going to be painting directly over, it’s gotta be ultra smooth. But for prep before high build, 180 is sufficient. That is of course, that you love block sanding so much that you don’t mind the extra work....)
😅

Thanks Donovan. Not blocking out to 220 on filler would save time.... I'll get the feel for it sometime before the car is completely done. Lol