Preparation recommendations

[dipren443]

Ok. For starters, I must explain I am a complete rookie when it comes to bodywork. I am no stranger to turning a wrench, but my bodywork skills have never been honed as I have never had a reason to.

I am at the stage where it is time to put my little girl back together. The chassis mods are complete. Firewall is smoothed to my liking (have to grind a few welds, but that is minor). I want to paint the cowl, firewall, frame, etc. in the same style as the vintage T/A cars. What I want to know from the professionals on here is what is the proper order of operations and what steps do I need to take to do this right. I will lay down an epoxy primer prior to putting it in color, but I really want to make sure I have a good base. To further complicate things, my DSE SFC's are already in. I am not breaking those welds, so I must deal with doing the sub mounted to the car.

How she looks now:



How I want her to look:



Thanks in advance for any help you guys can throw my way.

Nick

[elitecustombody]

sand/ mediablast ,if you have no access to blaster,use wirewheel,strip all old gunk,rust,paint,e.t.c.,roughen up the metal with 80 grit to get rid of polished/glazed spots and make everything uniform to give a primer to bite . Once everything is cleaned,apply few coats of epoxy primer,do your bodywork over primer,then once the smoothing is done,use 2k primer or polyester primer

[dipren443]

Stefan, how do I properly mask (Materials, etc...) so as not to get media ALL over the place and protect the rest of the car? I will just be doing the firewall and subframe.

[justasquid]

how do I properly mask (Materials, etc...)

The large areas can be masked with tape and paper. As long as you don't get a direct blast to the tape, it will hold up fine. Also, for the holes, buy some dense foam from a fabric store. Cut it large, and wedge it into any holes you can find. All of the holes in the firewall should be able to plugged with it. Leave enough hanging out so you can still grab onto it to remove it after blasting though. You could try to tape off behind the firewall, but making foam inserts is cheap, quick and easy.

Also, since your only doing the sub and firewall. I would tape off the car, but also buy some sheet plastic, tape that to the car as well, but once its taped on, ( along the lower windshield channel and door jams) pull it towards the front of the car at a slight angle and attach it to your garage ceiling or a homemade frame. You can create sort of a hood so the blast material doesn't go everywhere. It makes cleaning up a much easier task as well. You can actually buy 2x4's to build a frame to hold the plastic sheet for under 10 bucks, so it can be done pretty cheap. Just build 2 upside down T's, then nail a board across the two to create the top. Then attach the sheet to it.

A word of caution though. Your going to want to have some sort of ventilation no matter what you do, but with the hood, it will concentrate the cloud right there. So at the very least, wear a mask. But venting it with a fan wouldn't be a bad idea either.

In the end, some material will still get into places you don't want it. But, you should be able to minimize the amount with the above ways.

Or as mentioned with a wire wheel. You could get the majority of it, then just use a small spot sand blaster for the areas you can't reach.

[elitecustombody]

There you have it,

Just a tip, when blasting, try to keep the nozzle at 45 degrees and always keep moving to minimize warping sheetmetal, the subframe on the other hand will be fine, no matter how you blast it

[dipren443]

There you have it,

Just a tip, when blasting, try to keep the nozzle at 45 degrees and always keep moving to minimize warping sheetmetal, the subframe on the other hand will be fine, no matter how you blast it

I have access to some plastic media which I will use for the firewall. Some material that was ordered by mistake here at work. ;)

Thank you for all of the tips guys. I am very anxious to get this work complete. I have tackled a lot on the car the last year and am extremely excited to drive her come spring time.

[ROBS6T8]

Wow Nick, I should challenge you to see who can get her done by spring!! lol I've been saying I wanted to get my car done by spring the last two years! It seems something always comes up. I've missed Hot August Nights the last two years. I'm running out of excuses. Now it's fricken cold out here... not as cold as over there. There are some cold towns out here in Cali, even if you do live close to the coast! See here I am typing and I should be out in the garage! Sheesh.
Good Luck Nick.

[dipren443]

Wow Nick, I should challenge you to see who can get her done by spring!! lol I've been saying I wanted to get my car done by spring the last two years! It seems something always comes up. I've missed Hot August Nights the last two years. I'm running out of excuses. Now it's fricken cold out here... not as cold as over there. There are some cold towns out here in Cali, even if you do live close to the coast! See here I am typing and I should be out in the garage! Sheesh.
Good Luck Nick.

Lol. That may not be a fair bet. It looks worse than it is. All of the prep work is done as far as the chassis. The new trans is already bolted up to the engine. The shock mounts, lower control arms, etc. are all modified. Once I get paint on the frame, the reassembly is going to move pretty smoothly. The front sheetmetal is all painted. It will just need to be rehung. The car will easily be drivable in the spring. Motor state challenge, here I come!

And I already have an insane space heater in the garage. I think I should be wearing sunblock when I run it.