About ready to block sand my car.Any tips for doing a good job on this part of the prep? How have you guys/gals done this? Better ways to do it? How can i tell when i'm done?Thanks

David

David,

Take your time - this can make or break your paint job. Use as long a board sander as you can. Use a guide coat so you can see your low spots - 3M makes a dry powder which is easier to apply. Make a cross hatch pattern with your board - not all up or down or right or left.

You can go to Norton's website and they will send you a Norton products demonstration CD.

Lots and lots of hard work. May have to block, prime, block several times to get it really smooth and straight. You will know you are done when the guide coat comes off immediately when you start sanding. That means all the low spots are gone.

Good luck.

Tom

David,

I've done it a couple of times over the years, but I know I've never done it right. Always in too much of a hurry, thats why my latest 1968 April Gold FGF will remain just that for a few years! I'm not going to screw with a good paint job, even though its 37 years old now.

Tom tells it like it is, slow, long job, avoid going back and forth too much.

How much pressure do i need to use when doing this? Any tricks for the rounded sections of the car and tight spots where a long block will not reach? Thanks guys for the replies.

David

David,
Your paint supply store should have every size and shape block imaginable. You buy a roll of 220 and 320 grit "stick on" paper that works with the blocks. They have a 1" or 1.5" round block that works great on tight curved places. I don't use shorter than a 10" block to avoid digging holes. Like my mentor always told me,"You can't ever sand enough". I have been painting a black car and there has been many "do overs". Remember, paint hides NOTHING! It just shows your mistakes.
Jim

David,

Norton sells the long boards with inserts that can be removed so you can block out rounded/curved shapes.

Check your phone book for a Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes paint store and they will be able to order everything you need.

As Jim says, buy "stick it" paper on a roll and cut to fit.

Tom

Thanks guys. I have two rubber blocks(one long and one short,the kind with nails in them to hold the sandpaper) and one long older block(not for stick back paper) the guy i bought my house off left behind in the garage. Question, are there any build primers available in cans? Any polyester primers in cans?

David

Rmember you're paint will only be as good as your primer.
The better the prep the better the finish !

David,

It you are asking about rattle spray cans, yes there is, but it will be lacquer based. Stay away from this type of primer. You do not want to put good quality paint over lacquer primer.

Invest in an inexpensive HVLP spray gun and spray your metal etch and primer. If you are going to do the top coat yourself, then you can invest in a better spray gun down the road.

You need to decide which brand of paint you are going to refinish the car with and then use their system. In my case, I recommend Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes since that is who I work for.

Decide which paint, chose your supplier and work with them to provide products - metal etch, primer and top coat as a matched system.

Every good paint/body/equipment store can provide the product data sheets that will tell you exactly how to mix the product and spray it.

Check out our website for general information.

http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/

PM me if you need more detailed information.

Thanks and good luck.

Tom

Thanks Tom for the link, it provided me with good insight.How big of a compressor does one need to use an HVLP gun to spray primer? Can you paint the car with good results(with good prep work of course) using the same gun and compressor? How well does the hide factor work in primers?

David

I've got a 2 hp compressor with about a 40 gallon tank which keeps up to my gun, spraying at about 45 lbs, which I use for both paint and primer. Make sure you put 1 or 2 moisture traps in your air line to catch the water in the air. Wear surgeons type gloves when ever you go near the car and also invest in a good respirator with replaceable cartridges as well. Fumes from this stuff are brutal.
Use wax and grease remover on all surfaces before you paint. High build primer is like liquid bondo which flows quite nicely into scratches and low spots but make sure you use an epoxy primer on bare metal first.


Gerry

You want a long board: I think they are about 18 to 20 inches long. Mine's at my mothers, so I cannot measure it. You ask about the amount of pressure. You want consistant uniform pressure. I guess that you could hoss it, but it seems more logical to use average pressure because it isn't going to be something you do in 90 minutes.

It doesn't hurt to be redundant. Professionals seem to knock it out farily quickly, but I've seen a lot of professional block jobs that major suck.

Don't be stingy with paper. The paper is dead in a few strokes-less than 5 minutes. You're killing youself to use dead paper, and you don't get as true of a cut with dead paper.

Longboard paper is expensive: To help cut paper costs, alternate from a peic of longboard paper and a home made peice of longboard paper: To make your own longboard paper butt 2 sheets of production togther and on the back of the paper, use a strip of goose tape (it's also known as duct tape) along the lenght.

A long board is mandatory: (You could probally get away with rubber blocks, but the best choice would be to save the rubber sanding blocks for other projects.) For other blocks, you can find all kinds of stuff around the house to use as blocks. Belive it or not, paint rollers are one of the professional's choice for blocking crowns. Broom sticks and wooden dowels of various diamaters work well in areas that would be sutible for such shape blocks.

i always mess up and have to redo -IF- i try too big of an area at one time. stick to one place at a time, ie; fender then door then quarters ect.
also, you can get a spray filler (like spray bondo)that works really well. just spray it on even and then block and it will show all the low spots.

hope this helps