What i did on my holidays - or its red again !!

kazjim · Postby **kazjim** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:00 pm

I bought my little Na6 a few years ago with pretty tired paint (well, it was pink on most panels !)

Some nasty fruitbat had deposited a lump on the bonnet and on removing it, a large hole appeared in the paint !! - seems that bad guano rots body filler, who knew ?
The front bar was cracked and nasty looking with peeling clearcoat and basically ugly.

so over xmas i decided to give it a little spruce up...

1 litre of Classic Red was mixed by my friends at Auto-Pro west gosford, and some fibreglass matting was acquired from Glenn at rebel Spares (White Monaro, very nice..)

I'll let the pics tell the rest.

First thing i did was remove the front bar and scuff the paint with 400 wet / dry and plenty of water

The front bar was re-glassed and filled (this is a middle-stage photo, sorry, forgot to take pics at each stage !)

I gave the whole body a rub down with wax and grease remover (Super-cheap auto) and layed 3 light coats of paint (1:1.5 / paint:thinner)

A few more coats and it was starting to look better

, so i took it outside to harden for a few days (2 weeks it turned out to be thanks to a failed ISCV sensor.. bleurgh)

A little bit of polishing later (try close to 12 hours !!) (large orbital polisher - first time I've ever used one, not too bad if you get your speeds right!)

I suppose the take home story is that an uneducated fool like myself can spray panels, its not perfect, but then again this is my every-day car, and I'm not a spray-painter!

I like how it came out, but ifi was to do it again, I'd use a LOT more paint (about 3 liters i think) and get someone else to polish it !!

Cheers

Old Dude · Postby **Old Dude** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:55 pm

nice job Kazjim :beer:

slug_dub · Postby **slug_dub** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:19 pm

Nice work! A great sense of satisfaction in doing it yourself, and you have more confidence to do better next time, I know I do!

ForceMajeure · Postby **ForceMajeure** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:33 pm

Nice work mate, dont think Ive seen you around the area, ill keep a look out for the striped NA.

mazdatenfive · Postby **mazdatenfive** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 11:36 am

All work is preparation, sanding, sanding and then more sanding.

Now you need to clean the wheels!!

Tedsmx5 · Postby **Tedsmx5** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:26 pm

To clean all aloy wheels I would use pre-wash spray (the cheap home brand hand pump type) apply spray let it soak in then brush and rinse off. It will kill the lawn :shock:

! So blame the dog for it :lol:

. Please try it, takes the brake dust so easy.
Ted

aviper4u · Postby **aviper4u** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:12 pm

nice result though what paint did you use IE; catalyst OR non catalyst?

kazjim · Postby **kazjim** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:54 pm

It was definitely non-catalyst - i woudnt reccommend ANYONE to spray that stuff at home - use a booth and respirator people !

Pretty sure it was a factory style acrylic, well, thats what i asked for

Thanks all, the wheels are nice and clean, and the paint is almost ready for its first major buffing ..... now all i need is a spare few hours to do it in !

J

aviper4u · Postby **aviper4u** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:18 am

good to hear on the non catalyst though what type of cutting compound will you be using? i did some repairs to my paintwork using non catalyst also though was thinking if standard catalyst type buffing compounds were too harsh if theres a difference

also how long were you told to wait to dry before final waxing etc...... i've heard anywhere from 3-6 months

kazjim · Postby **kazjim** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:13 pm

I'm using a meguiars medium cut machine compound .....using a proper orbital polisher (not the $40 super-cheap random orbit ones ...)

Wool pad, set to about 2k rpm, and about 2-3 mls of compound at a time .....

not very harsh, in fact its downright slow ! - but thats ok, the slower it is, the less i take off, right ?

I've been told the same, but its a 'daily street' car and sits in the sun most days, so I'm giving it the final polish and wax this weekend if the weather / time is appropriate.

aviper4u · Postby **aviper4u** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:41 pm

i got that mr buff one which isnt very harsh and 2k rpm etc does take a while, in fact i haven't finished mine 3 months later lol

dont forget to apply a swirl remover / polish after buffing flat and before waxing, you will not be disapointed

deviant · Postby **deviant** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:50 pm

That looks great. You should be pleased with it!

How hard is it to do the stripes? Where did you buy the kit from to do it? I have got a hankering to do the same on my BRG NA but in yellow.