240_'s Project Paint
 

Finally. . . Its time for me to start my build thread.

Things are going to be SLOW going with this project. The project is happening at my parents house (~50 miles away from my apt, ~35 from work) , and my work schedule is a bit crazy right now.

My goal: Finish by the end of June

A very ROUGH outline of the project:
- rustoleum the interior and trunk black. Por15 where needed
- Complete the rocker patch panels and cover all welds with POR15.
- Use frame rust converter behind the patch panels
- seam seal around all the patches and make sure its done RIGHT this time.
- strip the body down as far as 60 grit will get me
- epoxy primer the entire body before starting bodywork
- body work... high build... wetsand... etc.
- Base / Clear
- Wetsand/ Buff
- install CF headlight cover and TougeRun Front Lip
- Install new race seat and harness

The color:
Lotus Magnetic Blue. Its a very heavy metalic blue found on the elise and exige
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/atta...109-small-.jpg

The facilities:
Just like when I painted my 240sx in highschool I will be setting up a portable garage (20' x 12'). I have a large (~3' dia.) vent fan hooked to a small briggs. I will be putting a filter on the fan to keep my parents possessions from turning blue.

The Fan. . .
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_8504.jpg

The tent from when I set it up in '06 (setup will be the same this time):
Attachment 189446

More to come. I will try to actually document this build although I never seem to keep up with them.

like this all ready!!!!

4/24/2011
Didnt want to clog up the Intro... so here is todays short amount of work i got done between socializing and easter dinner :

-Put winter tires on the thing. Figure I care less about getting these covered in bondo dust.
Attachment 189442

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- Started gutting the interior but then it rained. Ill try to get down there to finish that during the week if I'm not stuck at work.

And to show how ready I am to paint this thing. . . I keyed my own car a few weeks ago. (this door has a rust hole and is getting replaced anyway)
Attachment 189445

I'll post up more pics of my goodies next time I am at my parents. Spent $150ish on supplies at home depot this weekend including lights for the tent, masking paper, tape, etc. Also have a set of brand new spray guns!

5/1 Interior and Misc.

PROGRESS!
finished gutting the interior last weekend. I am installing a new carpet after paint, along with racing seats. . . So I took this opportunity to tear everything out and paint the interior.

I used Rustoleum on the rear deck and transmission tunnel cause I didnt have enough POR15 to do everything, and I am cheap as hell.

The floor boards and trunk got POR15. Before anyone asks why I brushed it instead of spray, my main intention was to prevent rust, not make it look nice. I wasnt ---- about moving wires out of my way or removing every little thing, but I think it came out pretty nice. So here are some pics:

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After:

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(yes I know I missed stuff in the trunk)

And because I am an idiot and didnt wear gloves:
Attachment 189212

I also used eastwood Frame Coating to get behind my patch panels and in my rockers. The stuff seemed to work great. It comes in a big can with a long tube and a nozzle designed to spray in a fan pattern. I covered the insides of the rockers and behind as much shit as I could get to from the access holes inside the car.

Here are some pics of the patch panels. I still need to grind the welds, seal them up with seam sealer on the bottom, and por15 them / epoxy primmer.

Attachment 189213

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And last fall I rolled my fenders quickly. I ran into rust doing those too, so this is gunna take some massaging with a hammer to avoid mass amounts of filler:

Attachment 189217

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5/3 Rear Bumper

Actually was able to sneak out of work after only 9 hours (amazing!) so I went down to my parents house and got a bit of work done.

Due to my homemade POS test pipe, my exhaust managed to burn thru my bumper and enlarge the hole. . . So I decided I wanted to cut the bumper as a lot of guys seem to be doing lately. I think I got it pretty symmetric all things considered. I decided not to cut off the rear posts because without a welder on hand to box the frames back up I didnt want to take all that strength out in case **knock on wood** I do ever get rear ended. I also may make some tow hooks at some point instead of keeping the stock ones. For now the stockers will get sandblasted and POR15'ed...the posts will also go black.

Here are the pics (just iphone 4):

Attachment 189201

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The edge will be cleaned up and finalized more when I start body work. The bumper isnt bolted in for this pic... and the exhaust is off (obviously)

Damn dude, how are you going to flaunt that you have a working car with it in pieces?

Good to see your finally painting this thing, if you want to finish off the fender rolling I have access to the tool for doing it rite. Also the cut bumper's lookin good. Making me want to start work on mine :crx:

It still runs and moves. The seat isnt bolted in nor is the steering column, but it still moves! lol
I used a roller. But rust doesnt bend it breaks, lol.

I came to a similar conclusion when I rolled the Sentra's fenders last weekend. On another note do you still have your old turn signals? I need an extra set for another project ;)

The stock front ones? yup. I shouldnt need them.

Not much progress this weekend. Saturday I worked and then went Jet Skiing in between rain storms, sunday I worked on the car till it started raining and then moved on to other stuff.

-Got the rear bumper mostly stripped down
-Stripped the patch panels back down, finished grinding the welds down and applied seam sealer to the bottom seam
-Por-15ed the patch in the drivers wheel well. I couldnt get in there great with a welder or grinder so that patch is by no means sealed. I will be sealing it all up with seam sealer.

I also measured the tent frame so I could buy tarps cause the original one is shot. Went to home depot today and grabbed tarps. I hate that they dont actually sell tarps in true dimensions. I need a 20x30 not a F'in 19 x 29.5 you jackasses

Anyway. . . While I was at home depot I picked this sucker up:
3/8" air ratchet. Ive wanted one for so long.
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pro...2ef82e_400.jpg

BTW Martin I almost swung by your house saturday afternoon. I drove right by your house on my way home from Crystal Pond where I was jetskiing. I was still frozen tho and my GF and I figured you were hanging out with the Mrs. and the baby. Maybe next time.

Saturday I was trying to figure out why my Nissan sucks at life all day. You shoulda stopped man! If you want any seam sealer I have 9/10ths of a tube from when I did my bay that I most likely will never utilize.

This looks like a fun project, sort of.

Body work always seems like a good idea. . . Until you start

OK its been a few weeks. . . Work has been NUTS, but i have gotten to work on the car a little bit.

2 weeks ago I continued to strip down the car. Removed the fenders, bumper, and all the inner liners. I also rough cut the NACA duct for the headlight. Right now my plan is to place it over the top and use adhesive to mount it. I have some massaging to work, but as of right now it fits pretty flat on the headlight cover.

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As expected there was some surface rust behind the fenders. . .

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6/4/11

Friday I bought the paint. I bought a lot more than I think I will need, but I figure i want extra of the original batch to color match stuff later on

1 Gallon of Epoxy Primmer & reducer (3:1 I think?) - I will use this as an epoxy primer and as a sealer before color

1 Gallon of High build primmer (4:1)

3 Qt. Lotus Magnetic Blue (1:1)

1 Gallon Clear (4:1)

Total cost with some other random supplies = about $1100
Pricey, but I didnt cheap out on the stuff.

Attachment 188413

I also set up the tent. It is 20 x 12. I dont have the original tarp so i had to buy my own and improvise.
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Also started stripping panels. My plan is to do all the panels off the car, epoxy primer them, then mask the body and start sanding & epoxy primering that stuff. THEN i can lay down bondo.

Attachment 188419
. . . Dented hood

And thats all till next weekend.

Good progress man, you have enough paint to do your car twice. But you won't have to worry about people not being able to color match the paint perfect if you end up needing to spray another panel. Also are you still doing the mini scoop?

Pics inside the blue tarps have a sureal quality to them.

No mini Cooper scoop. Gunna sell it. I have enough to fix a panel or two but not a lot.

Oh and a lot of the pics are quick iPhone ones. Sorry for the quality

I really envy you for taking on a project like this. I wish I could paint, my car needs it really really bad. Every time I try it turns out like shit. I just dont have the patience for it.

Cant wait to see how this turns out. Maybe it'll motivate me to give it a try again.

+1

good luck man

6/16 - 6/19:

I left the Canon XSi at my apartment, so Iphone pics only :(
Took Thursday and Friday off from work to get some stuff done on the car.

Wednesday night:
Wire brushed all the surface rust that was behind the fender and ended up POR15ing the entire front frame behind the fenders. (Didnt take pics , sorry). I did find that some of the "surface" rust on the Passenger fender actually went thru. I am not going to attempt to weld this pathetically thin metal, so instead I will adhere metal to the back of it with seam sealer (por15ed of course) and then use some kittyhair bondoglass. Not ideal, but it should never rust if I do it right.
Attachment 188090

Thursday:
Spent the majority of the day sanding the remaining parts and cleaning up for primer. I took apart my spare door that I will be using, converted it to manual windows, and then sanded everything. I organized everything a bit and got a game plan together for spraying epoxy primer. I decided to hang the doors, fenders, hood, and trunk lid. I layed out the headlight covers, mirrors, and finish panel on a table. There wasnt enough room for the bumpers so they will get sprayed when I do the body.

Here is what I ended up with:
Attachment 188091

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I also mounted the motor to the fan and installed intake and discharge filters:
Attachment 188093
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Intake filter isnt big enough. Look at the vacuum!!
Attachment 188095

Friday: It was raining on and off all day, so I sat on my ass and did nothing. I did go buy a new air hose and filter though. I also picked up more random supplies.

Saturday: SPRAY TIME. I originally bought 1 gallon of Dupont Epoxy Primer/ sealer. It is a 2:1 mix, and I expected it to be enough to do 2 good coats of all components (front and back) and then 1 coat on top of all the body work right before base/clear. Its looking like I need more. I went thru almost a half gallon spraying all this stuff alone.

Attachment 188096

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Overall It came out really nice. I layed a lot of paint on, and went over EVERY inch i could. My gun manners need work, It has been a while since I sprayed. By the second coat I was doing much better. I did get one drip in the trunk lid that I have to sand out, and I didnt clean my table well enough so I got some dust particles in the finish panel. Good thing there is A LOT of sanding ahead anyway.

BUGS IN PAINT: almost zero. I guess i got lucky this time around!

Sunday: masking

By far my least favorite part about painting. In the past I have always had my friend help me out with this task, but he is in NY for college, so its all me. My plan was to mask off the trunk and interior, and cover the front clip with plastic as well. I will do all the body work with this stuff, and then clean or repace it before I spray. I will also be adding skirting on the bottom of the car to mask for overspray. . . But for just keeping body work dust down, this will do.

The good news is my car is SO COMPLETELY GUTTED that I really dont care too much about dust or masking lines. I just want to keep most of the overspray out of the car and off of my rollbar.

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Next I will be sanding down the body with 80 grit, POR15ing the patch panels I have on the quarter to attempt to protect the welds from rusting on me, then i will be spraying epoxy primer. After all that I will FINALLY be laying down bondo.

Are you going to be using bondo to be patching the rust spots on your fenders? Or are those completely new fenders? I ask because I have the same exact problem with mine and just looking for options.

Great build thread though. Look forward to seeing more updates!

I only have that 1 spot where the rust went thru. I already POR15ed over the surface before I used epoxy primer. I am going to fit a small piece of sheet metal to cover the hole, POR15 it, and then adhere it to the back with some seam sealer. Ill then use the "kittyhair" fiberglass bondo (a stronger bondo made for things like this) to cover over the patch.

Not kittyhair! That stuff sucks! I like to use the metal filler when taking care of dings in metal, I think this is the stuff I used:

http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CGMQ8wIwAQ

I hate Kittyhair too. I will gladly give that stuff a shot.

I prefer the metal stuff on metal panels. In my mind it bonds better and as far as I know it doesn't crack, when it sets up it is metal...kinda like jbweld.

On another note that booth looks great, are you going to rent it out once your done?

Following this intently. The pics with the parts hanging looks like something from a horror film, kinda.

In case anyone else was wondering what POR15 is:

http://www.por15.com/whatispor15.asp

Yeah i am kinda nervous that I left the doors hanging like that above the car. They are pretty secure, but I will be putting them down on the ground if a storm is coming any time soon. For now I just pulled them higher and they are nice and out of the way.

Looks good dude!

keep it up.

Quick Update:
6/20/11

Went down to my parents house after work today. Sanded down one rear quarter, and then sanded all the patch panels and the fender lips where I rolled and hit a bit of rust. I got all of that in POR15 and called it a night.

Attachment 188051

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Have you ever done something like this before? Seems like you know what you are doing. Wish I could do this kind of work.

Here and there. I did my car senior year in High school and that was a huge learning experience, then from there I did a '69 Grand Prix, helped out on a Chevy dually, and a few other things here and there.

Body work has always been something that I enjoyed doing for some strange and painful reason.

You are weird. Body work is just plain tedious.

Yeah IK lol.

Ordered my body filler last night. Decided to take Martin's advice and got the Evercoat Metal to Metal to use on the patches. Also got Evercoat RAGE Gold for the lightweight filler. Its $$$$ but I have heard really good things, and hell I have gone this far, might as well do it right.
http://www.eastwood.com/media/catalo...e95/p24678.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

6/21/2011

Finished stripping the car today.
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Why do I put myself thru the torture of sanding my rocker so detailed? I DONT KNOW
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unfortunately that Nice job I did masking. . . Well its getting all re done before I spray primmer. I need to use better tape, plus i want dust free paper when I go to spray.

Too bad its gunna rain the rest of the week... :(

Glad to see your going with the metal 2 metal, I love the stuff. What did you mask it off with? I used the super cheap plastic drop cloth[plastic] from home depot, the tape seemed to hold onto it better. Also when I masked off my car I got one of each roll of tape they had at the body shop and tested each one...pretty positive I didn't use the blue tape.

Prep work is coming along well man, and that's the key to a good paint job. Totally lookin forward to seeing this thing back together!

6-26-11
Updates:
shitty weather late in the week so I didnt come down till mid-saturday.

I re-masked the entire car. Used green tape this time (MUCH BETTER)

Then sprayed epoxy primer on the body and bumpers. I ran into a few problems
1) apparently there was quite a bit of dust around the windshield that I missed. it blew all over the roof line and got in the paint :( good thing this wasnt base/clear. Itll sand out
2) a few bugs here and there, one drip cause Im an idiot. No big deal. both will sand out
3) The big issue. The rear bumper is the first thing I stripped. When i did , I went nuts and ended up sanding too aggressively. The bumper started to melt and caused it to be really rough and almost hairy. I sprayed primmer on it anyway, big surprise it looks like shit. I am going to try to see if it'll sand flat. If not the bumper is getting a skim coat of body filler. Live and learn.

This week I will be going down after work to do body filler. Wednesday I am going over Martin's (astroboy) to start up his engine with him.

Pics:
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Lookin good except for the dust, but that should sand out. I did the same thing to my rear bumper that you did, and it got dropped by my drunk friend after we cleared it. Doesn't look bad from 5' though I don't know how.

BODY FILLER TIME!
6/27/2011

So today I was trying out quite a few new products. I have always used bondo brand crap bondo, now I have this new evercoat stuff I listed earlier. I also have eastwoods 7 pc block set for sanding blocks, and guide coat(both black and tan). I have always used cheap spraypaint for guide coat.

What a difference using the right stuff makes!!! I started on the passenger door and the quarter panels today. It went really well. I sprayed on the guide coat, sanded the panels with 120, and found where I needed the filler. The filler went on great, no pin holes at all, good work time, and sands AMAZING. My blocks were really nice too. The paper stuck really well to them, and with 7 to choose from its always easy.

I more or less finished up the door. There was one spot I wasnt happy with so I put on one more skim coat of body filler. The quarter panels have the filler on them and are ready to be sanded.

Guide coat:
Attachment 187908

almost complete door:
Attachment 187909

Quarter panels:
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I am going to continue body work most of the rest of the week after work, but I might not post up more pics till this weekend. Its all repetitive from here until I spray high build

Finally back from Georgia. Hopefully I don't have to go back for a few weeks.

Sunday I finished the trunk lid, finish panel, headlights, bumpers, etc. The rear bumper actually did sand out.

Still to do before Highbuild:

-Fenders
-Hood
-Rockers
-Apillers

Depending on the weather (hot as hell this week) I will get most of the bodywork done and maybe start masking this weekend.

Pics later this week.

How did your machine perform?

We had our issues, but all in all both of our machines went well. The new/prototype machine actually ran better than our machine we have had on our product line for over 10 years, so that's good news i guess.

Ill probably be back there in a few weeks to install some upgraded goodies on them.

UPDATES:
7/20 thru 7/24

Got back from Georgia and started working on the car again this week. I had to finish the hood, fenders, bumpers, rockers, etc etc. It went slow. Mainly because of this:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1311559201

SO anyway here are some random pics of the body work. Nothing major to talk about here. it all went pretty smooth. I used EVERCOAT Metal 2 Metal on the rocker patches. I LOVE THE STUFF. hell it sands better than the fancy evercoat filler I bought.

I did not pull out a DA sander or Line sander ONCE for the body work :)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1311559201

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1311559201

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1311559201

This weekend I finished the bodywork and cleaned the tent. I prepped for primer but the weather looked like shit. I ended up getting the car in the tent and mostly masked, then gave up for the weekend. I hope that the humidity doesnt make the tape fall off.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1311559201

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1311559201

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1311559201

I will be back in Georgia for work all week, Flying back to CT for the weekend. Lime Rock Ferrari Challenge on saturday. Hopefully sunday I will get this thing in high build.... Then flying back go Georgia again on monday :(

Nice kill room.

Someone LOVES BODY WORK.

Sweet stuff dude!

I will be repainting mine next spring... i think im going black from BRG? not sure

SLLLLOOOOOW PROGRESS

7/31 thru 8/8

I have only been home on the weekends, and last weekend I did jack shit. I did get it in high build primmer on the 31st tho. Here are the results:

1 coat of sealer:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1312855603

3-4 coats of high build:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1312855603

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1312855603

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1312855603

And back in guidecoat:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1312855603

Overall I am happy. Some of my body lines are not crisp at all and I will need to be carefull blocking to get them back to the way they need to be. there are also a few tiny spots i will need to fill here and there with a razor blade and bondo. Just like any project, I will know every flaw, but hopefully you wont.

I will be wetsanding this week depending on weather. Hopefully this weekend I can spray the back of the hood, trunk lid, and a few jams, then do final mask and clean and get the thing in color some time next week or that weekend.

Side note: the briggs on my fan crapped out. Seems like the oil is more milky water than oil. SOMEONE didnt cover it (last person who used it). I will have to change the oil to keep it from overheating again.

Your going to have a TON of paint on this thing when your done with clear lol.

Going beyond what you need for sure. It will look good, but its a ton of work ahah

Not as much paint as you would think.
-Most of the OEM stuff is gone.
-a lot of the sealer that I layed on before bodywork was sanded thru during the process
- While I layed down 3-4 coats of high build, most of that will be sanded down
- I decided not to re-seal before base coat unless something is down to bare metal.

over kill. . . But my goal is to make the thing look great (but not show quality) while protecting against rust.

8-10-11

MMMMmmmm Wetsanding :)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1313028861

Only worked on it for a few hours. got the trunk lid and most of the right quarter in 220 grit. I plan on doing the whole thing in 220 then finishing it in 400 grit.

Nice man, that shit is lookin mighty fine.

Thanks. Sorry I missed your call. I think u are on the right track but remember you are going to have to tune your whole map.

/ offtopic

No problem. We putting this thing together next weekend or what?

his car runs?!

Sorry, off topic.

Almost got a few parts in color last weekend, but then my parents ran out of gas in the boat and I had to go save their ass in our little 12 ft aluminum.

SCREW THIS HURRICANE BS though. I am flying back to CT tomorrow and will be spending all day saturday pulling the tent down and making sure my car is water tight before the storm hits. Hopefully I will get the tent back up monday or tuesday.

8/30/11

Irene can go screw herself. I took 2 days off from work to paint this bitch but. . . Still no power at my parents house. My apartment just got it back late last night. I did some yardwork to help out the rents, set back up the tent, and even managed to paint some of the trim on the miata (some of the black window trim). Other than that the MINI received some much needed love with a wash/wax & oil change.

While their generator is pretty Boss, it wont handle our compressor unless i shut the power off to the rest of the house, so no spraying anything until power is back. There are still down lines on the next street over, so who knows. I work the rest of the week and then I am off to California from saturday to late the following sunday. Maybe my car will have color before it snows :( lol.

Definitely doing a very good job. Motivational. I'm about to do another motorcycle paint job and AM NOT looking forward to it. Wish I had your patience, thorough-ness, and touch.

Damn storm! I am lookin forward to lending a hand with this thing when your done painting it if you'll let me touch the sexy freshly painted wares :D

9/14/11
After a much needed vacation in california, I AM BACK.

Today I sprayed the first color! I painted base/clear on:

Back of trunk
back of hood
headlight covers
gas cap
mirrors

It was a decent day to paint, I didnt have many bugs in the tent at all, dust was low, but I did manage to get serious drips in the clear on every part. Its been a while since I sprayed clear, and spraying these little parts vertical its pretty easy to go overboard. Ill have to wetsand and buff them later.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1316047140

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1316047140

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1316047140

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1316047140

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1316047140
I also used way too much paint. About 2/3's of a quart (reduced down to 4/3rds at 1:1). I am going to the shop tomorrow to buy another quart just in case. Ill mix all of the base coat together in the same container so that the exterior will all be the same shade.



I also quickly learned that this color just does not photograph well. It looks GREAT in the sun, but dark tent with florescent lights...Blurple.

Coming along nicely (and slowly, HURRY UP!). I can't wait to paint mine. It is ridiculous how bad my paint looks. Absolutely zero shine left, the red is now flat pink all over, much worse on the plastic parts. I get comments all the time about how I need to wax it or buff it. I always have to explain it's well beyond that point.

Look forward to seeing the final product. Curious about that color.