Mustang update

Here is an update on what we have been doing on the ‘64.5 Mustang. A month ago we painted the hood, both doors, the trunk and a fender. Well, we finally got around to buffing those out, bringing it up to our “High Performance Finish” standards.  We also were able to get the slick sand on the body blocked out and a great start on the body work.

These pictures show Chris doing his favorite pass time. Blocking slick sand. This process ensures the body is as straight as possible. It flattens out the small little waves and ripples to provide a mirror like finish.

Here is a finished shot of the hood. All buffed up and ready to go!!

This is what the paint looks like after wet sanding in preparation for buffing.

These final pictures show what little amount of body work that has to be done.

Adam 12, Adam 12

Adam 12, Adam 12…..  Today we had a visitor to the shop,  Mike Gregson of Gregson Signs. He is the guy in seen in the first picture. He is a vinyl guru. Mike printed and cut these decals to exact specs of the Adam 12 car from the Adam 12 show in the late 60’s to the mid 70’s. Mike came in around lunch time and went straight to work. His work is impeccable. This Adam car is getting closer and closer to being back on the road. Great job today Mike! Thanks again for your help on this project.

TEST

Today we put the newly prepped paint booth to the test. We painted the Camaro bumper we started fixing yesterday. First thing we did this morning was finish blocking out the repair area on the bumper. We then primed that area with a urethane primer. After that dried, we prepped the bumper for paint. Chase painted the bumper late this afternoon. The pictures show the bumper before priming and with the base coat being applied and the bumper after the clear coat. All the hard work paid off. Chase said that the booth was much brighter and the extra light really helped him see more details while painting. Since this was the first thing painted in the newly painted booth, it shows that the hard work has paid off.

Slick as glass

Back in the saddle! Today we were able to get this left door wet sanded and buffed in between our collision work and the Adam 12 car. This Mustang is getting our High Performance Finish so we go the extra mile to make sure the gloss is as good as can be. First we block sanded the door with 1000 grit paper to flatten out all of the orange peel. This process makes the panel flat as can be so the reflection will be sharp and crisp. Next we sanded the panel with 200o grit paper. This step is to smooth out the 1000 grit scratches to speed up the buffing process. The last step is to go over the panel with 3000 grit paper on a DA sander for the only purpose of making the buffing steps quicker. Buffing starts with a heavy cutting compound to quickly remove the sanding scratches. The next step is to buff the panel with a milder compound to remove the buffing scratches in the first step. Lastly we do a super fine buffing to ensure their are no swirl marks left in the panel at all from the buffer. As you can see from the pictures it came out pretty slick.

I can see clearly now…

Friday Chris and I prepped the booth for what went down today. We scrapped, washed, scrubbed and sanded the entire booth. After all that we did a final rinse. See picture 1. Today, Chase and I suited up and painted the inside of the booth. 5 years and over a thousand cars later, the booth was in desperate need of a make over. Well, it got it. The white glossy paint will make the booth cleaner and allow for better light, making our jobs a little better and a life a little easier.

uh-oh

This new body style Camaro is, yet another parking lot bump up. It was parked when someone got a little too close for comfort. It actually took a good lick. The bumper is gouged out so badly that it tore a hole in it and ripped one of the lower tabs that holds the lower valence on. Today, Chris took this bumper off and Chase  joined in to help take it apart. Later in the day I got started on fixing it. We first stared with gluing the torn tab back on. Next we smoothed out the gouge with the red filler in picture 3. This is a specially formulated filler made for plastic bumpers. This product really bites into the plastic and stays flexible to move with the bumper. Tomorrow we will block this down nice and smooth and prime it to take care of all the finer scratches from blocking. If all goes well we should get this one painted tomorrow as well.

Finally!!

Remember this Altima? It was in  a very unfortunate accident 2 weeks ago. We finished it up last week but  I forgot to upload the images this past Friday. If you recall, the rear bumper, left tail light and left quarter panel all were damaged. As you can see now, the repair turned out great and the owner was really pleased as well.

More than meets the eye

This 350z has been in the shop for over a week. I know, I know, we normally pride ourselves on getting cars in and out in a very timely matter. Well, sometimes things are just out of your hands and there isn’t much you can do to help it. This should have been a simple bumper swap and paint but when the bumper was removed we found hidden damage. The radiator support on here was broken from the impact. When this happens, normal procedure is to notify the customer and the insurance company. After getting the OK from both we ordered parts. This all set us back about 4 days. So now that your up to date, here is where we stand. Yesterday Chris rolled on this bad boy to get the support changed out and the condenser changed. We all chipped in at quitting time yesterday to get it sanded. Today we got it set up and prepped so Chase could work his magic in the booth. Since we have a bit to reassemble, we will start that in the morning and if time allows it will go to clean up. If all goes well it will be back to the owner by Friday.

Calling all cars..

Friday was a good day on the Adam 12 car. We were able to get the hood, grill and headlights installed. This car is really starting to shape up. Today was also a prosperous day. The roof lights, siren,front bumper and turn signals were installed. We also did some wiring on the lights and siren but there wasnt much there to see. Tomorrow the rear bumper, button up the wiring and maybe a few other things as well. Picture 3 shows a little surprise we did for the owner. Yeah, it worked. He was pretty impressed!

Fire up the grill

Update time on the Adam 12 project. Yesterday we installed the door handles, door seals, trunk and trunk seal. Today Chase and I ( Chris took the day off ) installed the hood, headlights , lower and upper grill. This one is getting closer and closer to wrapping up. Next week we will have the front and back glass installed, the lights and siren will go on as well as the lettering that makes this car a Police car. We are waiting on a few parts that are on order and when they get in, we can get this one wrapped up.