Painting my 450

[pete]

*IF* this continues, at least the weather will be cooperative:

MONMostly Sunny. Mild.8 km/h NW-57% 15 - 27
TUEMostly Sunny. Mild.12 km/h W-70% 14 - 27
WEDMostly Sunny. Mild.23 km/h E-68% 15 - 25

[pete]

And I got the stripe templates for the tank sorted so I can lay the masking tape down fairly easily:



I need to do something similar for the tail piece but that will have to wait until after it's been sanded again first.

So tomorrow is the real start...

[pete]

Ok so I got my final supplies today including the lightweight body filler, wax and grease remover, filler applicators, some more drop sheets, and some wipes for the wax and grease remover as all my rags are a little dusty at present...



First thing tonight was a wipe over of the tail piece to get any dust and crap off and then mix the first lot of body filler:



Apparently that's more than a pea of hardener, or perhaps less than a golf ball of filler, as it hardened too early again.

This is the piece after two lots:



I actually found the lightweight filler a little more difficult to apply than the fibreglass reinforced filler, it seemed to be a bit more gluggy or something...

Anyway, as much as I wanted to sand it tonight that would create more dust floating around the garage after getting the "booth" done and I really didn't want any floating into the "booth", so I'll get into that first thing in the morning.

The house mate gave me a hand putting the ceiling in the "booth" up along with some brackets to hang the guards and seat trim from, and I finished it up tonight so it's ready to roll:



There's four of these brackets to hang stuff from:



I worked out this morning that I had nowhere to hang or sit any pieces that need to be protected from other colours or primer etc. for example when I'm priming the tank and tail piece I don't want that to get on the guards and seat trim as they'll be primed with the plastic primer.

So two of those extra drop sheets I got are to crate a clean(ish) area beside the "booth" where i can safely put pieces so they don't get overspray or anything on them:



It's not perfectly sealed but it should do the job.

And I hung the gun stand up.



Yep, it's taped there. That tape is stupidly strong. I was leaning quite heavily on that stand and it didn't budge. I don't want to put it there permanently so that was the easiest way...

[pete]

Tomorrow is the.....................10th

Indeed it is Stan, indeed it is!

Tomorrow is the.....................10th

[pete]

Wow Larry that's... wow... such a shame, but with such a good outcome!

I do understand the sentimental value though, and that's actually why I'm doing my 450 up. There was a point when it was pretty much all I had and she never let me down then, so time for her to get a facelift and get back on the road...

You did well to keep your patience and keep at it for 3 years, and I'm sure now you see it was worthwhile and completely worth the pain

About next February will be 10 years since I've ridden my 450, so I'm keen to get her finished this year if I can. I was hoping this month for her 30th birthday but I don't think I'll quite make that...

With filler I always remember.... Golf ball & a Pea. That's the correct ratio - try it & see

Will be doing that this time Dan! Johnny Drummond mentioned that one earlier and I wish I had've known sooner, but at least I'll have a chance to try it soon!

Oh, and I'm not doing anything at all this evening and I'll be hitting the hay very soon. Beer and sparkling red wine = no bike work, which is actually a good thing otherwise who knows what I might end up with!

[salty_monk]

With filler I always remember.... Golf ball & a Pea. That's the correct ratio - try it & see

[nvr2old]

Larry thats the saddest picture of a vette i have ever seen...short of one on fire.

I know, it has almost a "sad face" look to it in the 2nd pic, that's why I took it at that angle..eyeball hangin' down.. Poor baby.. The good news was that it was structurally sound. No frame or suspension damage at all. The fiberglass folded like an accordion, though. The headlight assemblies cost $1,000 alone..ouch. 27K total in the restoration. I could've just bought another real nice one for that and saved the time and effort, but it has sentimental value to me. We've been through a lot together.

[chuck hahn]

Larry thats the saddest picture of a vette i have ever seen...short of one on fire.

[nvr2old]

I'm glad you feel that way, Pete. I didn't want to be intrusive or bossy. As far as the rain situation, as long as the humidity is less than about 75% you could take a chance and spray, but if it's 100%, then no. Humidity kills paint..badly. It never quite hardens. Better safe than sorry, even if you have to wait, unfortunately.

Thanks for the compliment on the Corvette. Talk about being sick of sanding. I worked 5 days a week for 3 years to take that car from this....






A kid pulled out right in front of me back in '06 and I T-boned him at about 40mph..I just about came unglued. He had great insurance, though, and I got a pile of money to fix it, so I was able to re-do the whole car bumper-bumper. There were times I just wanted to give up, too..it was a totally exhausting restore, but I've had the car for 36 years so it was hard to let it go. Ironically, I never could've taken it to that level, if, I hadn't wrecked it.

[pete]

Good man. You'll be amazed at the difference. The lower edge will look better too if you take your block and do a final sand on it just to clean it up evenly. Sorry if I'm sounding like a task-master, but I just know it'll look sooo much better with those little touches. The extra effort really pays off in the long run and it'll be something to be really proud of.

One of the best compliments I ever got was when I had my '68 Corvette in a show and a really knowledgeable custom bodyman/painter told me it looked like the (fiberglass) car was made out of steel it was so straight. That's always stuck with me, even when I get so SICK of block sanding I want to kill myself..ha!

Larry, feel free to task-master away

I look at it this way... how am I going to feel if in just over a week's time (when I should be sanding and polishing the clear coat after curing for three or four days) if I look at that tail piece and think... man I wish I had've done one more layer of body filler... I don't want that to happen!

I appreciate you pointing this stuff out to me and passing on your advice, otherwise if I did it purely off my own bat I'd probably regret it and have to start the tail piece all over again...

And that 'vette... that's all fibreglass? Man you must have some serious patience! That thing is smoooooooth... not surprised you got such a good compliment!

And slightly off topic... if we end up having some light sporadic showers this week (as opposed to rain) when I should be painting, is that a gun down and stop situation or is that tolerable? I've brushed the POR 15 Blackcote once in that situation as I was getting close to the 24 hour re-coat time limit and that was ok, but this is a whole world of difference with the 2K stuff.

The reason I ask is due to that weather forecast I posted earlier...

I'm hoping it's a non-event but best check...

[nvr2old]

Good man. You'll be amazed at the difference. The lower edge will look better too if you take your block and do a final sand on it just to clean it up evenly. Sorry if I'm sounding like a task-master, but I just know it'll look sooo much better with those little touches. The extra effort really pays off in the long run and it'll be something to be really proud of.

One of the best compliments I ever got was when I had my '68 Corvette in a show and a really knowledgeable custom bodyman/painter told me it looked like the (fiberglass) car was made out of steel it was so straight. That's always stuck with me, even when I get so SICK of block sanding I want to kill myself..ha!

[pete]

I can guarantee you'll be happy you did, Pete. Those small pin holes and low spots will come back to haunt you if you don't. Nothing worse than getting to the color stage and see those spots show through..in fact they'll scream at you they'll be so obvious. You want that filler to be smooth as you can get it before you prime it.

That makes sense... I thought the filler would be enough for those but considering I've never used it before I'm best off being safe and doing another layer

[nvr2old]

I can guarantee you'll be happy you did, Pete. Those small pin holes and low spots will come back to haunt you if you don't. Nothing worse than getting to the color stage and see those spots show through..in fact they'll scream at you they'll be so obvious. You want that filler to be smooth as you can get it before you prime it.

[pete]

Your tail section looks waaayy better, Pete, but, as much as I know you don't wanna put any more body filler on it, it might save you time in the long run to put on one more thin skim coat over the remaining low spots, especially on the left side. Those low spots will be difficult to fill even with high-fill primer, or, it will take a LOT, and that's expensive stuff. A thin coat to finish it would save you the time and $$. Just sayin'...

Thanks Larry, and I reeeeeeally don't want to say this... but you're right again dammit!

Just went and had another peak now that I have some good lighting in the garage, and yes it definitely should get another thin coat, and this time I will hand sand only with the 120 grit as well.

I also just noticed a tiny hole on the right side in the bottom rear corner where some of the fibreglass has been exposed. You can just barely make it out in this photo:



Just realised I completely neglected to get myself some wax and grease remover so I'll have to get back up to the auto shop and get that and some more filler. I wasted too much of it when doing the first couple of coats. I think this time I'll use their lightweight filler though as it apparently gives a smoother finish.