KenyonSounds like you need a little lay down. Maybe things will be better in the morning.
Chris Wardle 58 Imp Crown Coupe----- Original Message ----- From: "Kenyon Wills" <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "IML" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 12:31 PM Subject: IML: Rough day in the garage
Alrighty. I decided against paying someone else to paint my 72. I'm presently low on discretionary funds, and there were plenty of raw materials in the garage anyway, so what the hell? Go for it I says. I spent the morning using the DA to sand down the crummy respray that is on the hood and valence below the front bumper, taping everything off, and then grabbed the catalysed primer that was on the shelf. My wife has a 1960 Pontiac Catalina that she got hammered, and it's not improving in her ownership now that she's distracted with other hobbies like washing oiled sea-birds, but that's not my problem and it gets her out of the house on Saturdays for no-distraction work in the garage (hooray). This primer was for her rust-bucket, and I'd planned to sand blast it and then use this stuff, since the spray-paint paint job didn't seal the body and it has a nice coat of surface rust blooming. I'd forgotten that I'd specified that route when the gallon of catalyzed primer was purchased. Most primer I've used gets mixed with thinner and sprayed. Using one that needs a catalyst actually seals the car body to prevent rust, where just primer does not seal. I merrily mixed it up and started spraying. Problem was that it came out in lumps and was far too solid to atomize and lay down properly. I figured I'd knock it down with sandpaper later and sprayed the whole hood and valence. Well, wouldn't you know it, but that crap is about as hard as a diamond when it cures? Now I have a surface that looks like skateboard grip-tape or man's stubble on the car, and it just doesn't want to sand down. I rapidly formed an opinion about that and tried to extract myself from the quicksand, but the day wasn't over yet. Lazy-ass that I am, I went to the hardware store on a lark and bought sandable primer and tried to lay a coat down on top as an experiment to maybe fill in the low and knock THAT down so that things would be flat and smooth. Can't go wrong for $8. I am a fool at times, and that went pretty much..... wrong. Did I mention that I'm trying to shade-tree my way to doing this project on the cheap? Yeah, well that didn't work either. When I put sandpaper on it, it immediately went straight down to the little mountain peaks of the first coat and the surface got even worse. I think it was actually angry at me for thinking too much. The good news was that I had a can of Jasco Paint stripper that I'd been kicking out of the way on the garage floor for the last two years, so I poured that on, figuring I'd just do a scorched-earth policy and start over. That worked OK - pulled the two primer coats up and softened the crappo secondary paint job that was still there in patches. Amazingly, the factory paint resisted it, and that jasco was a dream. So I just got done sanding the snot out of the flat part of the hood for the last 4 hours. I'm thrilled to think of all of the hand sanding in front of me on the valleys on the side of the hood where the seams are. I'm sure that there are areas on other cars more resistant to mechanical sanders, but I don't know of many. Good news is that I have more time than money, and that's what this project is calling for about now. Next step is to knock down the remaining residue, get it smooth, retape, and purchase some non-catalized high-build primer. I've had stuff that just turned to powder with 600 grit paper, and boy I sure did miss it when I was going after that sealer stuff with the 80grit DA and getting nowhere fast. Once it's all prepped, AGAIN, I'll flow some gloss black onto the hood and valence, to make the car look sinister in the rear veiw mirror of my fellow road users - Hardtop Imperials really do look best in black or very dark colors in my opinion... (Don't tell my white convertible - verts seem to like lighter colors...). After that I get to use the 3 foot sanding board and a lot of body filler to straighten the sides out for painting the rest of the car an aluminum. There are some ripples and dings, but nothing major and no rust, so it should not be as much drama as the 196o was (see my 196o Epic on the 1960 page). If I can pull this car off, I'll probably rotate back to getting the 196o into color and sealed next, since once again, I have more time than money just now, and the other stuff on the GT will require some silly money to move forward in the stereo and sway-bar dept. Oh, and one other thing: It looks like it's a good idea if you're a deep thinker like me, but don't go putting a 1962 power steering pump onto a 1970 engine in your 1972. The larger pulley turns the impeller slower, meaning that if you're below 2000 rpm, the power steering goes away and you look like an ape grapling with your steering wheel in parking lots. I normally like my power steering the most under 2000 rpm, so I guess that I should have grabbed the other PS pump instead. It's only time to swap that out, so while it's not "good" news, at least it's not all bad. Kenyon Wills ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, andknow-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com ----------------- This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the Administrators should be sent to iml.webmonster@xxxxxxxxx To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
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