X2 on the sonic-crafter. Bought one a couple of years ago and keep finding more and more things that it works great for.

Good work on the project Blackbird, keep the pics coming.

Thanx...and aint that the truth...after my 1st post about the Sonic crafter, I started on the trunk & rear light panel area...still had to do a little hand sanding, but it not nearly as much if I had to to all by hand...cool tool :-)

Got fenders covered, it was a good day...about the time I'm ready for paint, the weather should be perfect...

Finally got some real color on...tired of wheeling the doors in & out of the shop, so I decided to paint/clear the door jambs and inside areas of doors so I can reattach the doors and get them outta my way. I used the HF Pro touch up gun from the "Pro gun kit" cannot be more pleased with results. If the bigger gun preforms as well as this touch up I will be GTG...

Fun watching the progress. Lookin' good.

Thanks Jim...I decided to document this project 1. for my reference 2. hopefully it would help/inspire others in their journey working on their car. I have learned sooooooo much just diving into this like I did, any help I can pass along makes it that much worth while.

Great work. Man those cancer shots bring back memories (nightmares). What paint system are you using? Will you have to tape the insides of the jams when you spray the outside? Also I saw something about Pro gun kit. Where did you get that?

Great work. Thanx... Man those cancer shots bring back memories (nightmares). What paint system are you using? Sherwin Williams Dimension Will you have to tape the insides of the jams when you spray the outside?Yes, that is the plan...but the plan has been very fluid Also I saw something about Pro gun kit. Where did you get that? HF paint gun kit ..I used the smaller gun for the doors/jambs. I think the bigger gun will be even easier to use.

Looks kick [censored]

Ok, all the lacquer primer sanded off, yes, I had a some laying around before I bought the "good stuff", so I shot some parts to keep the bare metal from rusting....no good that did, lesson learned, lacquer primer is too old school, not good for this application, so it all came off...anyway...

...body work done on doors, hood, trunk deck, cowl, lower baffle, shot with epoxy primer, 2 coats of 2K primer, sanded down, just shot 1 more coat of 2K, came out really nice. I'll hit it lightly with some 800 be ready for paint.

That's a lot of work you've done there, very nice. I have a question about your 4-post lift. What brand is it, what size is it and what feedback do you have on it? I'm looking for one myself and am really all over the place with which one to buy. Any advice is appreciated.

Had this one for about 4 years, had to replace pressure relief valve last year, only issue have had. It has been a life saver...can't tell you how much it has helped. Things to consider..the 4 post does limit some jobs because of the ramps, where the 2 post lift would have been easier to work with, but always worked around the few times that happened. I even rigged up some 4 x 4's so I could drive my riding mower on the sharpen/change the blades. Looking back, wish I had got the extended version, my F150 is just a tad long for this one, but I didn't buy it for that. I can still change oil on it easy enough. Shop around, there are many similar to this one, but as stated, I really dig mine.

4 Post lift

Body work is done, ready to apply epoxy primer. One thing I didn't account for was getting my short legs/arms high enough to spray the roof. Going to try this "scaffold"...should not be an issue at least with the primer coats..I may need to have 2 when I shoot the base/clear...open for suggestions here...


Restoration Progress

I've looked at quite a few of them. I think that a lot of the more inexpensive ones are the same, just re-branded to the company selling it. Not that it's a bad thing. I also have a 2 post, but I want the 4 post for certain things, including being able to store something underneath it. Thanks for the feedback.

Wow. How do you keep overpay off your stuff and dust off your wet paint in there?

Right before I sprayed, I put up some 4 mil plastic over stuff that needed covered.

Some work done today...car is covered with epoxy, got some color/clear on trunk/hood/cowl/lower baffle. Man, this has been a bit more involved than anticipated....the new T5 lights helped out with making things easier to see, but has drawn in the bugs and they fall right where they shouldn't. Also, trying to paint around the posts on the lift is troublesome. Not such an issue with the primers, but when it comes to the paint, I may have to rethink this. All in all, have so say I am pleased with work so far. Thye $15 HF paint gun I used for the primer has been flawless, as matter of fact, had a coupon for same gun for $9.99...so I got it just because. Getting better with laying down the color/clear. Again, using the $55 Pro gun kit from HF. I figure I will be a\ble to wet sand/buff the clear to where look as good as any shop would have done....

Yup, that'll piss you off when you just finish laying down a nice panel and when you look back there's a bug doing the back stroke across the middle of it. While it's still wet take a pin and stick him and pull him out. If the material is still in the flow state sometimes it will level out a bit.

LOL, talking from experience there..? Things that make you go --S**t!

All kidding aside- looks good so far! Keep it up!

That's one good thing about it being minus 40 for the 50th day this winter. The insects will be delayed at least a few more weeks this summer...

Summer???

I seem to remember that........barely

Oops....better get more wood for the fire.

-12 here again this morning and no temps above freezing forcasted for the next 2 weeks.

I dont see the missus painting?? lol
looking good Kel....looks like it will be running and in new paint when we get there!

That is the plan...it's been quite the learning venture. Honestly, I have enjoyed it most of the time, there have been a few moments recently that it has seemed more like work than fun, but will be well worth it when finished to be able to say I did this.,,,wish I would have kept track of the hours I have in it, I would guess I have NOT worked on it in some form or fashion 10-12 days since last May.

LOTS of work!

Sweet! Loved it when I did the jambs, felt like your almost there!!

Really enjoying the thread Kell. Good work!

Thanx Danny....

Just finished putting 2nd coat of 2K primer on. Another cold front coming thru tonite...supposed to rain all day tomorrow/Monday so I wanted to get this far so I can at least do some wet sanding while it rains. Cut and buffed the trunk lid came out real nice.

Ok, I think I've figured out how to get the car into a manageable painting position. With the car on the lift, I had 2 issues, 1. The posts interfered with the painting motion, the car is too long and they got in the way.
2. With the car on the lift, it was just a tad too high for my short legs/arms to get the top painted without rigging up a make shift scaffold, which had to be taken down after doing each 1/2 of the top.

The lift is designed to mobile. Since I didn't think I would ever need to move it, I bolted it down. I went ahead, cut the bolts and now have more flexibility for this and any other project. I actually used the lift for a short time before bolting it down, so I know it isn't an issue...my wife cringes when I tell her that ..

Some wet sanding to be done, then will be ready for color....actually getting a little nervous at this point...shooting primer was no biggie, the paint will be less forgiving...getting close now

I had trouble getting the paint gun in position to paint the underside of the "lips" on the inside of the front fenders. Bought a HF air brush kit $19....works better than expected. Can get into those hard to reach nook & crannies, puts out paint nice and even. I can see many uses for this in the future..

for those smaller jobs, my local napa-like store, will custom mix me paint in an aerosol can for almost this purpose, they do have the Firebird red in thier mix system

Nice option to have...;-)

I am really digging this air brush kit. Best $20 I've spent in some time....maybe other than the $16 paint gun I bought, have done all the primer work with it. Made easy work of the trunk hinges...

looking better and better Kel!

Air brush idea = Nice!

The airbrush is a handy thing to "freshen" up your engine paint on show day too.

I usually use a "touch-up" gun for those smaller areas. Quicker than the airbrush, so you won't get any dry lines.

Ok fellas...update...decided to go ahead and rig up a temp paint booth to TRY to reduce chances of dirt/bugs ect getting into paint. Still going back and forth on whether to do a positive or negative air pressure, leaning towards positive. I have 3 furnace fans to use, will experiment and see what works best, stay tuned for more updates on this project ;-O....

think positive pressure....

The paint booth is coming together. We got the sides mocked up, tomorrow, will get some pipe/fittings and tie in the top.

With a little help from Virgil we got the "roof" tied in today. It looks like it is going to work out pretty good, we'll see when we start wrapping it. Using the bolts from the top of the shop to help support the top really helped out. As you can see, we had to modify the entry side...we forgot to allow for the garage door to open, hence the dip in the booth frame, no biggie. Going to start working on ventilation...

Really like the PVC pipe paint booth. Great idea! What/how are you covering it?

You might want to go for a large filtered opening for AIR into booth and a smaller AIR outlet filtered.
That way you get a suction effect and not breezy coming in.

I spray the floor with water to keep it wet. Keeps dust from kicking up and the paint dust drops on the water and does not stick to floor.

I wonder if you could stiffen the PVC pipe by filling it with spray foam or some other material..

I built a temporary booth when I painted my car out of 2x4's. I elected to go positive with air. My thoughts were if I suck air in dirt is going to come in from under the booth. Water on the floor is a must. I sprayed the floor down between coats. For air I put the furnace blower up high on one end and filtered the incoming air through a furnace filter. Then low on the other end I put 6 more filters to catch the paint particles. They were thoroughly plugged by the time the painting was done. Also get a fresh air mask! The fumes from 2 part paints are very toxic and can cause permanent lung damage.

Buy the heavyiest gauge plastic you can find/afford.