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Factory Five Roadster Build Part 17: Paint BoothOur Factory Five Cobra Replica Meets the Paint Booth From the April, 2008 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan Photography by Courtesy Of KR Performance & Restorations
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When we last saw our Factory Five Roadster project, Bob Roeder and Aaron Kester at KR Performance & Restorations had performed several requested body modifications to it; then applied Spies Hecker's spray polyester filler. In the time between those photos and our project being completely painted, wet-sanded, and buffed out, many more steps have been accomplished. From coating the underside of the body for looks and protection to block-sanding, final body fit, and more, it took more than a simple spray of body color to say our project was painted. Many people will tell you that a good paint job is 90 percent body prep (sanding, filling, and so on) and 10 percent painting. While it's true that paint only looks as good as the prepared surface it's applied to, what's also important is picking a quality paint product, the proper mixing of the product, applying it correctly, and sealing it with enough clear to allow the final wet-sanding and buffing to achieve a show-ready shine. It's not easy work, especially on a car shaped like a Cobra, where there's hardly a straight panel to be found. Many hours of block-sanding, often with homemade sanding blocks, are the only way to make the body look perfect before applying the paint. So check out the final paint process here, and be sure to read the expanded version of this story with many more photos on our Web site at www.mustangandfords.com.  The hoodscoop is an integral...  The hoodscoop is an integral part of the FFR's hood. Depending upon the level of originality you want to achieve (most real Cobras had a riveted-on scoop), you can cut off this scoop and rivet on an optional one available from FFR. We were fine with the integral scoop design, but we wanted the natural fiberglass finish to be smooth when the hood was raised. A little bit of filler and some sanding took care of it.  Another trick we learned was...  Another trick we learned was extending the hoodscoop's underside. By using a piece of cardboard as a support, Roeder created a lip on the leading edge of the scoop opening with 3M High Strength Repair Filler (HSRF). Once the filler dried, the cardboard was removed and the rough edge of the filler trimmed as shown here. When viewed from the hoodscoop opening, this extension creates a visual trick that the hoodscoop was added to the hood and not an integral part of it. For a few minutes worth of work, it's worth it.  As you can see in this prep...  As you can see in this prep work shot in the paint booth, the scoop extension gives the appearance that the scoop was added to the hood, and it hides the engine a bit as well. In the background, our trunk lid is also being prepped. We decided to paint over the aluminum skin, so Roeder and Kester feathered the edges of the fiberglass into the aluminum for a smooth transition.  The trunk lid is now completely...  The trunk lid is now completely bodyworked and receives a few coats of primer and a shot of black guide coat, which aids in the final block-sanding by showing the location of any remaining low spots. Low spots retain the black guide coat, while the rest of the surface-area guide coat is completely removed.  One of the last modifications...  One of the last modifications we requested was to have the wheel-lip openings smoothed, as we know many people will be feeling them. This is accomplished with the same 3M HSRF used to round the cockpit edges and create the hoodscoop extension. The HSRF is applied to the wheel lip; then sanded smooth a few inches inboard.  There are several ways to...  There are several ways to attach the side louvers. Some people use silicone, others use Velcro, and some simply fiberglass them in. Due to an act of stupidity (I accidentally threw out the supplied side louvers with a box of garbage), the louvers had to be replaced with an aftermarket brand. These replacement louvers use mounting brackets, which we have decided to bond to the body. We can use double-sided tape, Velcro, or other fastening techniques between the brackets and the louvers themselves. For now, we mark where the brackets will be mounted with a permanent marker.  Just as with a fiberglass...  Just as with a fiberglass fender or wheel flare, a tire can throw a small rock against the backside and star-crack the fiberglass. To avoid this, we are applying several layers of LizardSkin Ceramic Insulation. LizardSkin is well known in the street-rod marketplace and is gaining popularity elsewhere due to its easy application by spray gun. LizardSkin can be applied just about anywhere, including steel body panels, and is even sandable and paintable with base/clear to make it undetectable. LizardSkin comes in two formulas: Ceramic Insulation and Sound Control.  To apply the LizardSkin, we...  To apply the LizardSkin, we are using the company's Super Pro spray gun, available separately. LizardSkin applies to the thickness of a credit card (0.040 inch), though we are adding a few extra coats in the wheelwell arches for crack protection. The product is Class A fire-rated, and it applies anywhere you would want a peel-and-stick product (firewall, floorpan, and so on). It cleans up easily with soap and water.  While the fiberglass body...  While the fiberglass body is quite strong, we want to protect it from road debris as well as give it a more finished look on the underside (you can see this bare fiberglass in the engine compartment and the trunk). Here, the body is resting upside down on a custom-built stand of 2x4s, and all openings, edges, and so forth are taped off.  Once the LizardSkin achieves...  Once the LizardSkin achieves the proper cure time, Roeder applies a single-stage black topcoat over it, strictly for aesthetic purposes. The body is now ready for final block-sanding.  Roeder and Kester have worked...  Roeder and Kester have worked on the FFR's body both mounted to the chassis and resting on a scratch-built body-support buck. For the final block-sanding, sealer, and stripe layout, the body is bolted back onto the chassis once more...  ...This block-sanding is accomplished...  ...This block-sanding is accomplished with 220-grit wet-sanding, followed by another layer of primer and guide coat with 400-grit wet-sanding.  Once the block-sanding is...  Once the block-sanding is completed to Roeder's and Kester's liking, the body--still mounted to the chassis--is rolled into the paint booth for a coat of sealer. The sealer coat is applied over the freshly sanded and cleaned body. Once the sealer is dry, Roeder blocks it with 600-grit; then it's time for paint.  KR Performance & Restorations...  KR Performance & Restorations swears by the Spies Hecker line of paint products for everything from the primer coat all the way to clear. For best results, stay within one manufacturer's system. For the base color and stripe color, we're using Spies Hecker's Permacron series...  ...The base color is Tungsten...  ...The base color is Tungsten Gray (Ford code T8) and the stripe color is Satin Silver (Ford code TL). A gallon of base and a half-gallon of stripe color were ordered from KR's supplier, St. PJ Supply  The application of the base...  The application of the base color, or any paint for that matter, is very much dependent upon ambient temperature, surface type, spray equipment, and so forth. Even the air pressure used to apply the paint is a variable in how the paint looks on the vehicle once sprayed. An important part of the paint process is cutting in or "jambing" the car...  ...This is the application...  ...This is the application of the main body color to all of the doorjambs, wheel openings, and body edges. This ensures an even coat of paint in these tight, hard-to-spray areas.  For the hood, doors, and trunk,...  For the hood, doors, and trunk, the inside panels are painted in the base Tungsten and then clearcoated...  ...This way, when the panels...  ...This way, when the panels are installed for the exterior painting, there's less handling required of the panels, and they won't have to rest on a work surface, possibly damaging the much-more-visible exterior paint surface.  Since our stripe color is...  Since our stripe color is lighter than the base color, it's easy to paint the stripes. Roeder and Kester lay down a wide swath of the Satin Silver over the middle of the body (notice the hood and trunk are in place and aligned for this).  With the silver stripe color...  With the silver stripe color dry enough to tape over, a laser level is used to find the car's true center, and the stripe pattern is masked off from there. Using information obtained from the Factory Five Racing build school and the www.ffcobra.com forum, the stripes are tapered appropriately, adding the popular 1/4-inch outer stripe to the main stripes.  Once the stripe is laid out...  Once the stripe is laid out and taped off, the trunk lid and hood are removed so that the Tungsten base color will cover the silver overspray around the edges of the two openings. The body is removed from the chassis yet again for painting.  As the Tungsten basecoat is...  As the Tungsten basecoat is applied over the taped-off stripes, the tape and masking paper disappear...  ...The paint must dry a bit...  ...The paint must dry a bit before the tape and paper can be removed. St. PJ Supply loaned the guys a SATA Jet 3000 HVLP digital spray gun system to shoot the paint.  After the basecoats have sufficiently...  After the basecoats have sufficiently dried to allow tape removal without issue, Roeder and Kester carefully remove the masking tape and paper covering the stripe color. As you can see, the stripes came out perfectly. Now all that's left is to bury them in several layers of clear.  After the clear dries, we...  After the clear dries, we get our first look at the almost-finished paint job. All that's left is to wet-sand the clear, buff out the surface with finishing compound, and mount the body back on the chassis.  Roeder applies the clearcoat...  Roeder applies the clearcoat over the main body section first, using several coats to sufficiently blend the tape edges from the stripes and ensuring there is enough material on the surface for wet-sanding and buffing later. The doors, hood, and trunk, are cleared separately.  With the chassis on jackstands,...  With the chassis on jackstands, the fully buffed-out body is ready to be mated with the chassis for the last time. Roeder and Kester enlisted the help of a few friends to carefully lower the body over the chassis and secure it with the FFR-supplied fasteners.  The final step is to add the...  The final step is to add the hood, trunk and door weatherstripping; then install the hood, trunk, and doors, and give them their final touch of alignment. The Roadster will be back in Florida shortly, so we can wrap up the build and start putting some miles on our project. Stay tuned.
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KR Performance & Restoration
936 S. 2nd Road
Douglas
NE
402-799-2056
www.krpandr.com
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Factory Five Racing
508-291-3443
www.factoryfive.com
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St. PJ Supply Inc.
1222 Elm St.
Seward
NC
402-643-6430
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