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Project Generation Gap 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback Front End Body Prep - Painted Pony, Part 1Project Generation Gap Readies for Final Body Prep and Paint From the March, 2011 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan
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Project Generation Gap
Paint And Body Prep
Being in the classic car hobby means you're constantly learning. Whether you bought your project in milk crates or as a completely built and running car ready for cruising, you'll eventually have to get your hands dirty. For many of us, there are segments of car repair we're strong in, and others that we need a helping hand with. If we had to guess, we'd say the majority of our readers are pretty handy with the basic tool chest full of sockets. They can tackle a brake system rebuild/upgrade, handle a five-speed swap, or even reupholster their classic Ford's seats and make the interior look like new with a few well-chosen parts and a can of spray paint. It's the bigger or more technical projects that sometimes get us sweating and looking for help-things like engine rebuilds or just about any type of wiring, replacing headliners, and other such "fun" projects. Usually, there's some trepidation, but help can often be found in a neighbor, club member, magazine, or car forum to get you through the rough patches. But there's one area in particular that most people dread, and that's paint and bodywork. There are a multitude of reasons why paint and bodywork are loathed by most enthusiasts. Most likely at the top of that list are the tools and space required, experience, and a little thing called patience. Sure, a drum-to-disc brake conversion can be manhandled in a weekend or less, but it takes weeks to get a body straight enough to spray color on it. Just take those top few reasons we mentioned as a starting point. A quality paint gun can be upwards of a thousand dollars. Yeah, I've seen the $89 paint guns at the flea market, but I don't want to paint my car with one of those any more than you do. Of course, the paint gun is just the (near) final step. There are all sorts of sanding tools, sandpaper, masking paper, tape, and so forth that go into a quality paintjob. These consumables add up fast.  The last time readers saw...  The last time readers saw our fastback project, it was wearing PPG's DP90 epoxy primer and our rough-fitted fiberglass.  The whole car was shot with...  The whole car was shot with a quick coat of PPG's K38 high-build primer to give the body an even color to display it at last year's Silver Springs Mustang show. So, to roughen up the K38 to start on our final body prep, Danny Gaydos of Classic Creations of Central Florida breaks out the long board and 36-grit paper.  Working the panel gaps between...  Working the panel gaps between the fenders and the Mustangs Plus fiberglass hood, Danny applies body filler to the seam and lets it cure. While this is a regular step with a fiberglass hood to get arrow straight gaps, even a steel hood/fender combo would benefit from these steps. Besides the tools, we also mentioned space to do the proper paintjob in. Sure, you might have had an uncle who painted his truck under the old elm tree out back, but the majority of us living in suburbia don't have a "back 40" to do the work in. I've seen a two-car garage destroyed by a neighbor trying to paint his own car (red paint dust on everything). You need a dedicated area where you can sand and prepare the body surface and a super-clean area to lay the paint, not to mention stands to hold loose items like the hood, trunk, and small body parts. Lastly there's the experience required. It doesn't take much trial and error to do a carb and intake swap, and frankly, if you mess it up, you're out a $20 set of intake gaskets and another hour or two in labor. Getting your paintjob right is a lot harder. Today's paint technology changes constantly and you have to be up on the products and how they work. You don't want to waste a gallon of paint, which can cost you hundreds of dollars, by applying it improperly. Not to mention, what the paintjob will look like in a few months as it flakes off or cracks.  Once the filler has cured,...  Once the filler has cured, the long board and 36-grit paper is utilized again to knock the filler down. Then the hood is raised and the fender and hood edges are hand sanded.  As you can see, Danny's efforts...  As you can see, Danny's efforts create a fender-to-hood gap you could roll a ball bearing down and they're straight as can be.  With the hood-to-fender gaps...  With the hood-to-fender gaps roughed in (more sanding with finer paper will happen later) the hood's overall height is set via the hood hinge adjustments and the body bumpers. Bumpers are cheap if you don't have any left over from taking your project apart, and they'll help place the hood properly during the bodywork phase. You want all panels to be where they'll be permanently with bumpers/weatherstrip, so save those old door seals, bumpers, and so on for the body shop.  With the hood bumpers in place...  With the hood bumpers in place and the hinges adjusted, Danny can work on the hood-to-fender-height relationship. Here, a very experienced set of fingers is feeling the height difference and where filler might need to be added or subtracted.  The long board and 36-grit...  The long board and 36-grit paper are employed again to remove a small amount of filler on the top of the fender to level everything out. Danny prefers the control of a long board sander over an air-powered sander. An air-powered sander in inexperienced hands can leave grooves in the surface, creating more work.  Remember what we said about...  Remember what we said about having a dedicated area to bodywork your project? Just look at this mess from a few hours of sanding body filler and high-build primer. Getting your shop cleaned up after these steps is a major chore, and if you drag any of it into the house, don't come looking to us for a "get out of jail free" card to hand the Mrs. You'll be going out for an expensive dinner that night, trust us! Now we're not saying all of this to scare you away from painting your own car-not in the least. No, we're just being upfront and honest about the cost, equipment, time, space, and ability needed to do it right. Many magazines are guilty of cover words like "paint your car for $299 in a weekend," but there's a big difference between a $299 paintjob and a $10,000 paintjob. If you want to tackle the paint and bodywork of your own project, you have our utmost respect, but know going in that you'll easily spend that $299 just in tools and sandpaper if you plan to do your car right. It can take weeks to fully prep a body before one drop of color is mixed to paint it. It's a lot of back-breaking, finger-bleeding work, but the results of your hard work (or that of your paint and body guy) are the first thing people see at a cruise night or show, so don't go cheap with the products. Use name-brand paints, primers, and sealers and you won't regret spending the extra money.  Besides the long board, Danny...  Besides the long board, Danny utilizes these round rubber sanding blocks from Dura-Block. They come in several shapes, sizes, and diameters and are a must-have for the intricate curved/rounded shapes found on classic cars. Here, Danny is using the round block to sand in a vertical motion above the fiberglass wheel flare.  You can also use them in a...  You can also use them in a horizontal sanding motion as well, and they work great for the tops of Mustang fenders (at the outer edge that curves up), the door shell top surface, and many other rounded areas on the Mustang, or other classic Ford.  While our gaps around the...  While our gaps around the hood are looking great, we do have a few issues with our door-to-fender gaps (arrow). The issue stems from a reproduction doorskin from one company (on an original door shell) next to another company's reproduction fender. We've said it before, but it bears mentioning again: Reproduction metal is not perfect, but it's a great starting point and we should be thankful we have so much available. In this case, we'll add a little filler weld to the edge of the fender to even the gap out. We'll tackle that in our next installment. We've all heard the stories about someone's project being in "paint prison" before. Often, a shop takes restoration-type paintwork in as filler between insurance panel work. While this may sound like a great solution and a way to save money, you'll most often regret it; and whatever you do, don't tell the shop to take its time! Better yet, search out a restoration facility that specializes in classic cars. It will take much less time to complete the work, it will know how to properly mask and paint a classic car, and you'll be happier in the long run. Just know that these shops do charge more than your corner spray-booth-job shop. In the case of our '68 Mustang fastback project, we ran into some delays getting our paint figured out (choosing a color is one of the hardest decisions you'll make in your project), and when we finally had our ducks in a row and our arms full of PPG materials courtesy of Auto Body Color & Supply (the same shop that provides paint materials to RTM Productions TV shows like Trucks!, Muscle Car, and Horsepower TV), we were deep into the summer months here in Florida. Unfortunately, that meant that Classic Creations of Central Florida, our local shop responsible for all of the body modifications and prep work to date, had a full roster of customer cars being worked on, restored, and painted, and we went to the bottom of the list. While unfortunate, it does happen and no shop wants to hold up other customers for one car. So we waited, patiently, until our time came and now we're back on the project in full force. Check out the beginning of our final body prep this month, and next month we'll tackle a few final modifications we're making, and then it'll be time to spray some color!  If you remember when we added...  If you remember when we added our fiberglass trunk lid and quarter end caps, we bonded the end caps in place and smoothed over the seams for a modern look...  ...We decided not to do that...  ...We decided not to do that on the front of the car, mainly for servicing and to be able to remove a fender in the future, but we did want a nearly invisible gap. Danny puts a very thin coat of filler on the seam itself and then uses a body file to trim the excess filler away.  Using a combination of long/short...  Using a combination of long/short board sanding and hand sanding, Danny roughs out the seam surface between the front fascia and the fenders...  ...This thin layer of filler...  ...This thin layer of filler will allow us to have a perfect marriage between the fascia and fenders when we're done.  Danny is now ready to separate...  Danny is now ready to separate the front fascia from the fenders, which will give him access to the parting gap, where he'll finish the seam work. A few carefully placed hits with a hammer and a block of wood crack the filler seam, allowing separation...  ...The fascia, which has had...  ...The fascia, which has had its fasteners already loosened beforehand, is then pulled forward on its mounting studs far enough to access the edges of the new seam.  To get the seam between the...  To get the seam between the fascia and the fenders right will take a little filler work. Danny begins by scuffing the separated edge with 36-grit sandpaper. This knocks down the high spots and gives the filler some "teeth" to stick to.  Once the fender and fascia...  Once the fender and fascia edges are sanded, Danny makes up a small batch of filler that is applied to both the fascia and fender leading edges. These areas will take some time to get right, as a high spot will cause paint chipping and a low spot will show a gap in the seam.  More sanding of the freshly...  More sanding of the freshly cured filler is accomplished next. It's a tedious exercise in sand, fill, sand, fill, and so forth until the surfaces match exactly-and this is just with 36-grit paper. We'll keep going higher and higher on the paper selection to get the surface closer to being "paint ready."  If you remember, the fascia's...  If you remember, the fascia's "eyebrows" over the headlight areas were extended slightly to match our hood's overall length back when we did the majority of our fiberglass work. The underside of this area was never cleaned up and Danny took his grinder to the area while we had the fascia removed and it was easy to access/see.  A little bit of filler and...  A little bit of filler and some hand sanding with 36-grit paper got the headlight surround and eyebrow area ready for its next coat of K38 high build primer.  The K38 goes on thick and...  The K38 goes on thick and can actually run on you (especially when sprayed in colder temperatures like we were doing). It's not anything to get too worried about, as you'll be sanding quite a bit of it away...  ...With the first full coat...  ...With the first full coat of K38 in place, we'll next sand with 80-grit paper, then apply another layer of K38 which will be wet sanded with 220-grit paper.  Speaking of the K38, a gallon...  Speaking of the K38, a gallon of the high-build primer was sourced from Auto Body Color & Supply in Tennessee, along with our reducers, hardeners, base colors, and clear for the project. The K38 is a high-build primer that is used to fill in sanding marks and other imperfections and helps even out the body surface. Brian Smith, owner of Auto Body Color & Supply, hooked us up with all we need to finish the fastback, including custom mixed colors for the base and stripes. Auto Body Color & Supply is a full service PPG shop and can mix and ship any of its products. You'll see more PPG product in upcoming issues as we lay out the color and stripes soon.  Notice our cowl isn't looking...  Notice our cowl isn't looking too hot right now. No worries, as we're not even keeping the cowl vents, thus the lack of concern on filler around the vent. We'll be cutting this out and hand forming a steel insert that'll match our hand-formed steel upper quarter vents. You'll see that in the next installment, along with more sanding followed by our primer sealer (DP50 in this case). Then we'll move into the home stretch of color, stripes, clearcoating, and finally wet sanding and buffing out the clear for that show-car finish.
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