Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[stovens]

Jim thanks for the info. I'm planning on painting the truck myself and this info helps

[J. Robinson]

Let me know when the time comes and I can walk you through it step-by-step. I've been doing body work since I was 15, painted my first car at 17, and worked in the auto body field off and on ever since. I still do paint work for a local body shop when they get too busy for their regular painter to keep up...

[stovens]

Wow thanks Jim I will!

[J. Robinson]

OK, boys and girls, as promised here are some details of the transformation from primered to painted. TUESDAY - The first step was to put the car up on jackstands and remove everything that was in the way; wheels, bumpers, side nerfs, taillights, windshield & stanchions, hood, hood sides, nose, interior panels, and seats. I didn't remove the dash cluster completely, but I took it loose and spaced it back with blocks so I could paint behind it. I wiped the whole body down with wax & grease remover and examined the body looking for pinholes, sand scratches and other flaws that might require some kind of filler, marking the flaws with a pencil. WEDNESDAY - I used old-fashioned lacquer-based glazing putty to fill the flaws. Then I sanded the whole car by hand. Yes, I have a D/A and a "jitterbug" sander, but I chose to do this final sanding by hand so I could further examine for flaws. When I was satisfied I sprayed the inside of the hood and hood sides white. THURSDAY - I masked everything that wasn't supposed to get painted. Since I was painting the body on the car, I had to wrap the undercarraige; it was a time-consuming ordeal. Finally, I wiped everything down with wax & grease remover again and sprayed on a coat of primer-sealer. I followed 30 minutes later with the white basecoat and then the pearl.

[J. Robinson]

FRIDAY - This was the big day. With the base and pearl dried overnight, I started off by laying out the scallops. The pattern is loosely based on A.J. Foyt's1964 Indy 500 winning car (mentioned in an earlier post); it's a big red scallop and a smaller blue one around it with a white pinstripe between them. I put the hood and hood sides back in place so I could lay out and paint the scallops. Once the layout and masking was done, I shot the blue first. I forgot to take a picture at that point, but after the blue was dry (about an hour) I covered it with masking tape and shot the red (see pic). When the red was dry to the touch, I removed the masking from the scallops. At this point I had to correct a couple of small boo-boos where the masking lifted and paint blew under it. With corrections made, I laid on the clear. I used Extreme brand high-solids clear acrylic urethane; three heavy wet coats.

The bottom pic is the two harbor Freight "purple guns" I used for this job. Both are excellent sprayers. My only complaint on these guns is they need bigger paint cups. Otherwise, they can't be beat for the price.

[J. Robinson]

SATURDAY & SUNDAY - Time to put it all back together. All the masking removed, everything gets cleaned before it's put back together. It takes far more time to put it all back together than it took to take it apart... Here it is. I'm vacillating about whether to put the numbers on it and uncertain about any lettering, but I like how it turned out. Compared to when it was in primer, it looks lower and smaller. It seems to have a different personality...

[J. Robinson]

I don't know why that pic didn't load. here it is again...

[Henry Rifle]

It did load, Jim . . . but I enjoyed looking at it twice. Beautiful job, and something really unique on the street. That will turn heads.

[34_40]

Times 2! That came out beautiful! You should re-load that pic again.....

[August Mariner]

Very cool! May I ask, before you shot the clear coat, what preparations were made (Cleaning fluid, tac rag, Light sanding)?

[stovens]

Ditto to the paint questions, and also to how nice it came out! I think old time race numbers would be cool if you decide to go that route like the watson indy car with gold and shadowed red or blue.

[rspears]

Very nice job, Jim!

[J. Robinson]

Thank you all for the compliments. After I sprayed the blue I started wondering if I had made a mistake; the original plan and my original drawing called for just the red with no blue. After I pulled the masking and saw the almost-final product I decided I had made the right choice. I haven't decided whether I will put numbers on it. Originally I planned to, but my wife and son have told me I should leave it as is. I have the engine-turned gold material if I decide to put them on; only time will tell...

August and Steve - After I pulled the masking off the scallops I had a couple of small boo-boos to fix. Then I wiped the car down one last time with wax & grease remover to take away any contamination from my hands during masking. Followed that with a tack-rag and then 3 coats of high solids clear.

[lurker mick]

Looks great!

Mick

[August Mariner]

Thank you all for the compliments. After I sprayed the blue I started wondering if I had made a mistake; the original plan and my original drawing called for just the red with no blue. After I pulled the masking and saw the almost-final product I decided I had made the right choice. I haven't decided whether I will put numbers on it. Originally I planned to, but my wife and son have told me I should leave it as is. I have the engine-turned gold material if I decide to put them on; only time will tell...

August and Steve - After I pulled the masking off the scallops I had a couple of small boo-boos to fix. Then I wiped the car down one last time with wax & grease remover to take away any contamination from my hands during masking. Followed that with a tack-rag and then 3 coats of high solids clear.

Thanks! I had been wondering about tape residue and how the new paint would react to the cleaning before the clear coat and if it needed time if you were going to do that which I would have though meant fine sanding then clear.