Nice bottom

This morning, bright and early, I arrived at the Murphy Rod & Custom shop to determine what needed to be done to get the bottom of the El Camino finished up. On Thursday we sanded the heck out of it, and today I wanted to try to get it undercoated.

The first photo shows the El Camino in the background. Kelly had pushed the car to the loading door for better light and ventilation while we finished preparing the bottom of the car. But mostly, I just used this shot as an excuse to take a picture of my truck.

The second photo caught Kelly and I discussing the best way to accomplish all the things that needed to be done today. I’m the one standing on the right in the gray t-shirt.

The next three photos, numbers 3, 4 & 5, show me cleaning and preparing the bottom of the car for the application of the epoxy primer. In picture number three I am blowing all the sanding dust off the car with compressed air. This is the best way I know to get all the loose dust and debris off the car.

The fourth photo has me digging in the corners with a screwdriver, digging out old sealer and gunk that wouldn’t sand off. It is important to get the car as clean as possible prior to priming so the primer will stick.

The fifth photo has me wiping everything down with a strong cleaning agent to make sure all the dust and oils have been removed. The metal might look clean, but I turned several wiping cloths black before I was satisfied that the surface was truly clean.

The sixth photo shows the bottom of the car after the application of the epoxy primer. The epoxy primer is, more or less, a sprayable glue that dries to a super-hard surface that seals and protects the metal from the elements. It is the epoxy primer that binds to the metal and forms the foundation upon which all the other layers are built.

After the primer had dried, I went over all the welds and seams with a seam sealer that prevents water from working its way into the seams and starting rust. Rust never sleeps and anything that we can do on these types of builds to prevent the rust from getting a toe-hold, we do. You can see some of the seams protected thus in the eighth photograph.

The last two photos, numbers 9 & 10, show the car after the Raptor Liner has been applied. The Raptor Liner is a light duty bed liner that works great as an undercoating, provideing another layer of protection to the bottom of the car. It works as yet another sealer against the elements and provides a super tough barrier to rock chips and other damage. And it looks fantastic at the same time.

Now that the bottom of the car has been protected as much as possible, Murphy Rod & Custom will put the chassis and body back together and begin to fit the rest of the sheet metal on the car.

Then I can start work on making the top as nice as the bottom.

Mr. Sandman

Today Jordan and I payed a visit to Murphy Rod & Custom to do a little work on Terry’s 1969 El Camino. Before Kelly joins the chassis and body together I wanted to get the bottom undercoated. Today was all about the preparation for that task.

The first two photos show yours truly sanding away on the bottom of the car with a power sander. This roughs up the metal and the anti-rust coating applied at the factory so the epoxy primer, which we will spray on in a couple of days, will have something to get its teeth into for good adhesion. This was the easy part.

The third and fourth photo shows Jordan and I working on the not so easy part. Where the power sander is great for the big open spaces, it doesn’t work at all in the little nooks and crannies, which also have to be sanded. The only way to sand all those spaces the sander won’t go is to sand it by hand. Because of the all the bracing on bed floor, this car … or truck … whatever … had a lot of those types of places. We spent the first 30 to 45 minutes buzzing down 90% of the bottom, then spent the next two hours sanding the last 10%.

The last photo, number five, shows the bottom of the car sanded and ready to be cleaned and painted. I want to put a shout out to Kelly Murphy over at Murphy Rod & Custom for letting us work in his shop. Kelly is going to let us use his rotisserie to do the bottom of the car … and that has made the job sooooo much easier.

I get a lot of enjoyment my job. I take a lot of satisfaction from taking an ugly duckling of a car and turning it into a beautiful swan. But I have to be honest, sanding the bottom of this car … I didn’t enjoy that part very much.

Working on the chain gang

Painting cars is often and exercise in repetition. You spray on the base coat, and let it dry … then you spray on another coat of base and let it dry … and you keep doing that until the base coat is finished. Then you repeat the process with the clear coat. Then you repeat the whole process again the next day with additional parts from the car. And you continue repeating the process that until the entire car is painted.

Such as it is with Hugh’s Chevelle. The first day was fenders and doors. The second day was the underside of the hood and inner fenders, then later in the day, the doors again and the underside of the trunk lid. The third day was the top side of the hood and trunk. And today … today I painted various bits and pieces of the car that still needed to be painted. And I still haven’t painted the body.

This series of pictures show the items going through the paint process. There were so many parts that they had to be painted in two sets. One thing that was done differently this time is the use of the chain. One problem I have always had is finding enough places to hang stuff when I wanted to paint small parts. The chain idea  effectively solved the problem by allowing me to hang piece across its entire length. I don’t know why it too me so long to think of it.

Now that all these parts are painted the only thing left to paint on the Chevelle is the car proper. We still have a little work to do on it to make sure the body can stand up to the High Performance Finish, but once that is done, the car goes into the booth for paint, then it will be wet sanded and polished.

Just like all the other parts before it.

Sand man

Today Mike and Jordan gave the hood and trunk lid the High Performance Finish treatment, completing all the parts of the Chevelle painted thus far.

The first photo shows Mike (left) and Jordan wet sanding the hood. Wet sanding is a technique to remove the tiny, invisible, imperfections in the paint. No matter how good the painter, the paint will only go down so smooth. It is the nature of painting. A good painter can lay down the paint at least as smooth as, if not smoother, than the factory applied paint. Paint applied at this level looks very good, certainly good enough for the average daily driver. But on a car like this Chevelle very good is not good enough.

Wet sanding is a technique of using very fine grit sandpaper, first 1000 grit then 2000 grit, to carefully smooth the paint to perfection. Sandpaper this fine feels smooth to the touch, but there is enough abrasiveness that the sandpaper evens and smooths the surface of the paint. The water acts as a lubricant on the surface and prevents the sandpaper from removing too much paint because sanding through the clear coat would be … unfortunate.

As you would expect, no matter how fine the sandpaper, sanding the paint is going to dull the shine. So the next step, polishing, restores it. The second photo shows Mike using the high-speed polisher to polish out the fine scratches left by the sandpaper.

Polishing works just like the sandpaper. The polishing compounds smooth and level the paint, removing the imperfection, the sanding marks in this case, until the paint gleams. The effect of all this smoothing of the paint are razor sharp reflections in the paint.

The last two photos show some of the results of Mike’s work. The hood, fenders and trunk lid are all polished and ready to install on the car as soon as it is painted. The doors, not shown in these pictures, are also ready but are stored in the office.

Taking paint to the next level, the High Performance Finish level, is a dirty, tiring and time consuming job. But when a High Performance Finish is placed next to a regular paint job, even my own, it is easy to see that the High Performance Finish is a step above the everyday. The extra deep gloss and razor sharp reflections of the High Performance Finish … they speak far louder than words that this paint is something special.

A shining example

Now that the paint on the doors has dried, it is time to put some High Performance Finish magic on them. The first photo show one of the doors, painted yesterday, after Mike finished wet sanding it. Not a good look is it?

The second and third photo shows Mike working away at the door with the polisher. The polisher works like wet sanding, smoothing the paint and removing the fine scratches left by the wet sanding process. Starting with a polishing compound that is somewhat aggressive and ending with one that is very mild, the true beauty of the paint is slowly revealed.

The end result of all this sanding and polishing is shown in the fourth photo. Look carefully at the reflections of the building. Notice how crisp and sharp the edges are? That razor sharp crispness is the result of the wet sand and polish process.

While Mike labored away on the doors, I painted the tops of the hood and trunk. You can see the results of my handy-work in the last three photos. This completes the painting of the Chevelle parts, the fenders, doors, trunk lid and hood, leaving only the body to be painted.

Like the fenders and doors before them, the hood and trunk, then later the body of the car, will get the same wet sand and polish treatment to reveal the true beauty that is hidden in the paint. The beauty that is the High Performance Finish. 

Meanwhile …

Today … today was all about Hughes 1965 Chevelle with an all hands on deck flurry of activity.

The first photo shows the hood upside down on the paint stand. In the ’60′s GM painted the underside of their hoods black, regardless the color of the car. This hood will be done the same. This is a replacement hood, already rust proofed from the factory. All we have to do is paint it black.

The second and third photos show the hood and inner fenders after the application of the sealer. The sealer seals the primers below it, yes, even the factory primers, so the paint has a nice smooth base. Each paint color specifies one of seven available shade of gray. The grays range from very light, an almost white, to a near black. The sealer specified for use on the hood and fenders is a little to the lighter side of the middle.

The sealer not only seals the primers below it, it also provides a consistent color base so the paint doesn’t look mottled after being sprayed over various types of primer. The sealer also provides a smooth surface with good adhesion so the paint looks its best and lasts a long time without peeling.

The fourth and fifth photos show the hood and fenders after being painted black. The paint looks a little glossy in these photos but as it dries it will flatten out some to match what has been sprayed on the bulkhead of the car.

Meanwhile …

Picture number six shows Mike wet sanding the fenders that were painted yesterday. Sanding painted bodywork?!? Is he crazy?!? Maybe, but not for the reason you might think.

After a panel is painted the clear coat is not perfectly smooth. It may look perfectly smooth but it isn’t … it has microscopic ridges in the paint that muddle the reflections. If you look carefully at the last pictures in yesterdays post, paying careful attention to the edges of the reflection, you will notice the edges are ill defined and a bit blurry. Those blurred reflections are the result of the invisible flaws in the paint. Sure it shines, but just wait.

Wet sanding, like all the previous sanding steps, is about smoothing the surface and removing imperfections. By carefully sanding the surface of the paint with an ultra-fine grit sandpaper, we can sand out those invisible imperfections, making the surface of the paint perfectly smooth. It is the smoothness of the paint the defines the sharpness of the reflections.

The process of wet sanding is performed with the surface wet. Funny how the name just happened to work out like that. Anyway, the water acts as a lubricant so the sandpaper doesn’t dig in and remove too much paint. The sandpaper is so fine that it feels smooth to the touch but there is enough abrasiveness there that the sandpaper will remove the imperfections and leave the clear coat, the part of the paint that give the paint its depth and luster, ultra smooth. The water also washes away the sanding dust so the person doing the sanding can see if all the imperfections have been removed or if more sanding is required.

As you might imagine, no matter how fine the paper and no matter how lubricated the surface, if you are going to starting rubbing sandpaper over the surface of the paint you are going to mar the paint and dull the refection. And you know what? You would be right. That is where the next step comes in.

Picture seven shows Mike buffing the freshly sanded paint to bring up the gloss. Buffing performs the same function as wet sanding, but it works at a much finer level. Using polishing compounds and the buffer/polisher, Mike gradually works out the sanding marks left by the wet sanding process. Mike will go through several progressively finer compounds until he finally reaches the liquid like gloss that is the High Performance Finish. 

Pictures eight and nine show the same fenders, the same paint, as you saw in the booth yesterday, but look at the difference in the reflections. This is the difference in our regular workaday finish and the High Performance Finish. Sure, our everyday finish has a brilliant shine … a shine that looks pretty good … until you compare it to our High Performance Finish. Then the difference is clear. Only the High Performance Finish has those razor sharp reflections, and that can only be achieved by wet sanding.

Meanwhile …

While Mike worked away wet sanding the fenders and I was busy painting the hood and fender wells, Jordan was busy sanding on the trunk lid. You can see him working away, sanding with both hands in picture ten. We needed to get the underside of the trunk sanded before it could go into the booth for paint.

Unlike the underside of the hood, the underside of the trunk lid will be painted the same color as the body of the car. After the paint on the hood and fender wells had a chance to dry enough so we could move them out of the booth, the truck lid and doors would be moved into the booth for paint.

Meanwhile …

As Mike continued wet sanding and polishing the fenders, and the hood and fender wells finished drying outside the booth, the trunk lid and doors were place in the booth. The inside of the doors were painted yesterday so those areas were carefully masked to protect the painted areas from over-spray. Picture eleven shows the doors all taped up and ready for paint.

Picture twelve shows the base coat, the red in this case, going onto one of the doors. The base cost is sprayed on in several thin layers so the panel achieves full coverage, but without runs.

The Chevelle is being painted using a two stage paint system. That means the base coat, the color layer if you will, is sprayed on first. This layer has almost zero gloss. Its sole purpose is to provide the color for the finish. Where a single stage paint will dry to a glossy finish, pictures thirteen and fourteen shows how the base coat dries nearly flat.

It is picture fifteen, the application of the clear coat, where the magic happens in a two stage paint system. The clear coat not only provide a tough protective barrier for the base coat underneath, it is also the clear coat that provides the zip, zing and pow to the finish.

Look at the last two photos, numbers sixteen and seventeen and compare them to pictures thirteen and fourteen, the same panel before the clear coat has been applied. The difference is obvious. The panels have more depth, more luster, more …  pizzazz … after the clear coat.

If these panels were going on someone’s daily driver they would be ready to go after the clear coat had dried. And they would look good too, at least as good if not a little better than the factory paint. But these panels are not going on a daily driver, but rather they are going on someone’s pride and joy. As such, just like the fenders before them, they will be kicked up a notch, bumped up from merely looking great to looking fantastic.

A car like this, after all, deserves nothing less.

Red hot

At long last the Hugh’s 1965 Chevelle is a color other than primer gray. In fact, it is about as far from primer gray as you can get.

The first two photos show the hood fitted to the body. Unlike the trunk lid, it fit perfectly and required no … drastic … adjustments.

The third photo shows the fenders and doors after the sealer has been applied. The sealer does just as its name implies, it seals the primer layers below it and provides a smooth and consistent color base for the paint that follows. The sealer is available in seven shades of gray, from nearly white to almost black and each color specifies one of these seven shades of gray. Using a sealer other than in the recommended shade will noticeably change the color, either lightening it up or darkening it down, depending if you shift to a lighter or darker shade.

This is one of the lighter shades of gray and just happens to be almost the same color as the primer that was on the car before it. But if the sealer is lighter or darker shade than the primer is it covering, the sealer provides good coverage to even the color so the paint that is going over the top finishes smooth and even with a minimum number of coats.

But enough about primers and sealers already … let’s talk about paint! Photos 4-9 shows the lovely red paint going onto the fenders and doors. This isn’t your run of the mill red, oh no, this is a red’s red, a retina searing, jump off the car red. Hugh wanted a red car … well, he’s going to get one.

Like all two stage paints, the base coat, the red in this case, dries to a nearly flat finish. Picture eight shows the flat finish very clearly.

Picture nine shows the clear coat going on. The clear provides not only protection to the base coat underneath, but it also provides the depth and luster to the paint.

The last five pictures, numbers 11 through 15, show the fenders and doors after the application of the clear coat. As you will notice, the paint has a much more depth and gloss than before the clear was applied.

These parts will dry overnight, then they will be set aside to make room so other parts can take their place in the booth. Painting a car is kind of like eating an elephant … you take it one piece at a time.

Some final adjustments

Today we worked on the Chevelle, trying to get it ready for paint next week. It is so close to being finished I can taste it.

The first couple of pictures show us sanding the primer used to cover the blocking marks created during the smoothing of the body. We are sanding with a 320 git paper, which is quite fine, on this final sand before the car goes into the booth for paint.

During our test fitting of the fenders, door, hood and trunk we uncovered a little problem. While all the fitting and adjusting had already been performed in the Murphy Rod & Custom shop, the car was on a buck. A buck is a shorthand term for the custom frame Kelly constructed so the body could easily be moved around his shop while the chassis was at the owners house having the drive train installed.

On March 3o^th we mated the body to the chassis, and it was a real struggle. So much so, apparently, that once everything was attached and tightened down, it tweaked the car just enough to caused the trunk lid to kiss the right side quarter panel. Now I like kissing as much as the next guy, but not on my cars, so I called Kelly Murphy of Murphy Rod & Custom to see what we needed to do.

In the third picture you can see Kelly looking over the gaps. He determined, as I had, there was no way to adjust the trunk lid to fit. Moving the lid left, to open the gap on the right, would simply move the problem to the left side of the car. Time to bring out the big guns.

The fourth photo is of Kelly grinding away on the edge of the trunk lid, removing the metal a tiny fraction of an inch at a time. He would run the grinder over the edge of the lid a time or two, close the lid to check the fit, and then do it all over again. Once he was satisfied with the fit, the edge was welded to preserve the integrity of the edge.

You can see the final result in the last photo … a nice straight even gap down the entire edge without a touch in sight. Obviously this wrecked the primer that has so carefully been applied and sanded in this area. That is why this step is done before all the priming starts, so these kinds of heavy duty “adjustments” don’t cause rework. But that chassis to body wrestling match caused unexpected problems that had to be addressed after the fact. Oh well, it is only a minor setback, easily rectified.

Next week we will prime and sand this area again, before we put the car in the booth, and the post primer “adjustment” will be completely undetectable. In fact, I have already forgotten it even happened.

The other hood

Work continues on Hughes’s Chevelle. Now that the car proper is nearly ready for paint, we are beginning to work on the other stuff. Like this hood. Here Jordan is spraying on a coat of primer so we can, you guessed it, sand most of it back off.

It isn’t much fun, spraying stuff on then sanding it back off … spraying stuff on then sanding it back off … but it is the only way to get the High Performance Finish.

And now, to your right …

A couple of weeks ago we fitted the left side door and fender, test fitting them to check the gaps and to make sure the body lines align. Yesterday, we did the right side. Both sides aligned well without a lot of work.

With the exception of the hood and trunk lid … and the interior, grille, chrome, wiring, fuel tank, steering column … and paint … this baby is just about done.