33_coupe_paint15

I'm starting to put the front group on now that I have them back from Bart's place. I hope everything still lines up like it did before paint was applied. It's hard to believe that paint could cause a problem but it sure can. When you add the thickness of paint of two surfaces together, it can throw you off a small amount. How do I know that? Because things don't fit right anymore. Then again when you have primer (two coats), base (three coats) and clear (three coats) your talking about 1/32" to 3/64" thickness to each surface. That means I'm going to have to be patient.

It's kinda hard to see here but I'm using all stainless steel hardware to hold almost everything together on my car. When I use a button head cap screw (like you see below), it gets a trip to the buffing wheel and believe me, there have been MANY trips so far. All the body panels will be held on with them and that means over a hundred polished screws. I really don't have to do this but I figure....why not!!

Here you can see Bart sanding on my dash. He's using some 1200 grit paper to remove the orange peel and then he'll be ready to start buffing. "Orange Peel" is what the paint job looks like before any sanding or buffing has been done. The surface of an orange resembles the surface of today's paint job right after it's been applied and has to be worked to get it nice and smooth. Using water and sandpaper, you sand a small area at a time and then dry it off to check your progress. Now when your sanding, your sanding the "clear" coat, not the "color" which is one of the reasons you use clear. You only want to sand a minimum amount off the surface so you don't end up sanding through the clear into the color. After a little practice, you know about how much time an area needs once you start sanding.

Out comes the buffer to make things nice and smooth. After using two different buffing compounds, the paint really comes alive. Bart said he will have to go over it one more time with a smaller buffing wheel to get into all the corners. Once that's done, I can install the gages, tunes and the rest of the dash. The sheet under the dash is covering all my wiring so it doesn't receive any water or buffing compound. Liquid and electrical stuff just don't seem to mix!!

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