Getting ready to do some painting

[RicMcK]

I haven't painted a car in 30 +years, but I'm going to give it a try. I've prepared the front, door jams, doors (inside & out) and roof. I'm going to paint it in sections with the part lines on the weld seams. The roof will be painted with the pop top in place. The tape line will be below the gutter on the top weld seam. On the vertical weld seam for the left center panel, and inside the sliding door at the rubber seal.

Westco had to custom mix the paint, because mixing by the color code, and color measuring machine, there was way too much silver flake and not enough blue.

If the weather is good tomorrow or Thursday morning I will shoot the base and clear coat on the van. It needs to overcast to keep the temperature ok. Doors are still in work.

We will see how good my skills are and how "clean" my tarp garage is.

I've painted cars in the driveway before (59 bug, 70 tin top bus, 1936 Ford, they all came out ok. Nothing some sanding and buffering didn't fix. However, I am concerned about the the small space and dry overspray.

_________________
Rick McK
Seattle
89 Westfalia-2.2L WBX
2006 TDI Jetta
1936 Ford Pick up
70 tin top, 700k mi when sold in 91
58 split window bug - long gone.

[dhaavers]

Whatever you do, I’m sure it’ll look better than mine does…or ever will!

Love the prep pics, looks good from here! Keep us posted…

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[dobryan]

Looking good.

(Be sure to put some garbage bags over the tires and rims or you'll regret that.)
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[jimf909]

[Red Ryder]

Enjoy your adventure and don’t forget to wear a proper respirator!
_________________
“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)

[Abscate]

You’re not leaving the windows in are you?


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[Phishman068]

Looks great!
You've got this!!!!
_________________
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936

"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry."

[alaskadan]

Looks familiar. Is that autobody plastic masking film? If not, painting next to plastic that has overspray can cause huge flakes to fly off into your fresh wet paint. Not sure what it is but everytime I've sprayed a car outside it never fails that there's a bug hatch! Then ( my theory ) they get high on the fumes and fly into the paint. Lol. And how the hell can some little bugs backstroke a couple inches before they die! Good luck.

[kaalualu]

It makes sense spraying in sections. Tight area.
All the seams and body lines help. Have fun.
Looking forward to results.
_________________
'84 Transporter 16" CLK's/LED's/ AT's/Mansi injectors
'86 Wolfey Weekender Westfalia AT's/otherwise stock
Sold-'82 TinTop Diesel

[RicMcK]

I'm making progress. Shot the color & clear coat on Tuesday. It worked! Not perfect, but as good as the orginal finish it has a little orange peel in places (nothing a light sand and polish won't fix).

I will post some photos. I'm now on to the doors. They are ready for primer. They only needed to tiny bit of glazing putty. However the bottom of the slider took all day to get the dents out and make it look proper. Had to the old spot heating with the oxy-act touch to shrink a spot that oil canned. More photos to come.

_________________
Rick McK
Seattle
89 Westfalia-2.2L WBX
2006 TDI Jetta
1936 Ford Pick up
70 tin top, 700k mi when sold in 91
58 split window bug - long gone.

[zerotofifty]

Paint it all in one shot for best results. that plastic can shed dried paint, and thus ruin the wet paint on the body. also when removing the plastic, it can shed paint onto the yet to be
painted panels, which will then need be removed, create paint dust.

I have pumped in clean air by using a box fan with a furnace filter on it, connected to a tunnel made of plastic film all taped together to give positive pressure into my spray both. Get the fan well away from the both, as the spray can create an explosive atmosphere given all the flammable solvents, you dont want an electric motor that is not explosion proof in or near the spray booth. so have the fan and filter remote, feeding clean positive pressure air into the booth you made.
Change your respirator cartridges often. protect your eyes, a full face respirator is best. Wear a lint free bunny suit.

have fun
_________________
Sorry About That Chief.

Give Peace a Chance.

Words to live by.

[zerotofifty]

Paint it all in one shot for best results. that plastic can shed dried paint, and thus ruin the wet paint on the body. also when removing the plastic, it can shed paint onto the yet to be
painted panels, which will then need be removed, create paint dust.
Tape, even painters tape can leash adhesive residues, so you need to remove said tape residues before painting the next section, hence do it in one shot.
I have pumped in clean air by using a box fan with a furnace filter on it, connected to a tunnel made of plastic film all taped together to give positive pressure into my spray both. Get the fan well away from the both, as the spray can create an explosive atmosphere given all the flammable solvents, you dont want an electric motor that is not explosion proof in or near the spray booth. so have the fan and filter remote, feeding clean positive pressure air into the booth you made.
Change your respirator cartridges often. protect your eyes, a full face respirator is best. Wear a lint free bunny suit.

have fun
_________________
Sorry About That Chief.

Give Peace a Chance.

Words to live by.

[RicMcK]

I'm done for now.  I got the front end (to aft weld seam on the B pillar), door jams, roof (to the weld seam under the gutter), luggage rack, front and sliding doors, rocker panels and front bumper all painted. I left the windshield in as I recently had it replaced and the body frame was in perfect shape. I put a piece of 4mm cord under the seal so I could properly mask it.

It came out amazingly good. Better than I expected.  I had WestCo (local auto body paint Co.) custom mix the color to try to match as best we could. Mixing via the color code was not good, there was too much silver and not enough blue.  After several tries we got as close as we could. I used the sliding door cover panel as the test panel, to both match and do a blend to see how it looked. Once we decided it was good enough, they put it in SprayMax rattle cans.  I used rattle cans for everything (primer, base coat, and clear coat).


I removed the doors and dash, then prepped the jams, roof, and front end. I used green masking tape (rough surface) for masking the tent.  All rust was treated with either RustMort or Dupi-Color Rust Stop.

I painted everything in a 10x18Ft tarp garage with 6mil plastic as a floor, and 2 box fans. Yes it is too small, but it worked (for the most part).

Order of painting:
I started with the top and under the gutter. Then the roof I only painted up to the tent molding on 3 sides and just forward of the luggage rack rear screws, not under the luggage rack as the paint was fine there, and "you don't see it", then 3 " around the front of the luggage rack area. Then I did the door jams, and finished with the front end.  I put 2-3 coats of base on then 2-3 coats of SprayMax 2K high gloss clear.

The next painting session was the doors and luggage rack.  I did not have enough ventilation when doing the doors and the overspray drop-out causing them to orange peel. The orange peel was all my fault, as I did not look around and see how much overspray was floating around. I was able to polish them out (1500 grit, and 3 stage polishing compounds).  I then painted the sliding door.  Because the sliding door had some damage (dents) in the rocker area I cleaned it up and painted it at the same time. I used a combo of PDR and Oxy-Acet touch (fix an oil caning section), hammer and dolly to get things straightened out. I painted the lower front roller assembly blue and it looks much better. Before I painted the jam blue I cleaned up the lower track area and painted it with truck bed paint. I like this stuff as it is really tough and dries almost instantly.

The biggest PITA of the project were the front doors, and dashboard.  Dealing with the wiring, mirrors, window seals, ETC. One PITA was the left washer nozzle hose was too short and it dropped inside where it was very difficult to get to. Once I got to it, I extended the hose. The other PITA was I forgot the tape over the luggage rack bolts. This meant I had to drop the back of the headliner to remove them to clean them up.

I was able to mount both the front and sliding doors by myself using 5 & 6 Gal buckets, sawhorse, and shims.  It was easier than I thought it would be. I put the sliding door glass gasket (Peace Vans garage sale $5) in by myself by setting the bottom edge in place and holding the top with 2" blue masking tape. Again 4mm cord and soapy water it went in easily.  The new front and sliding door gaskets went in easily with 3M "super weather strip and gasket adhesive". It is basically rubber cement. It dries almost instantly so I was able to smear the gasket, put it in place and hold it. I did NOT need to coat both surfaces first. Surprisingly, the areas where I applied it to the door first, then the gasket did not stick as well as the single step method.

I was lucky in getting the doors aligned as there was still a paint mark for the screw placement. The new gaskets (Cip1) are really tight. The rear latch are set all the way out and the door is still hard to close.  NO WIND NOISE .

When reinstalling the dash I put protective tape around the A pillar area so I would not scratch it, as I had done before.

I'm not sure when I will work my way to the rest of the van, but I feel like the hard part is over.  I will say it is totally possible to make a great paint job with rattle cans.  I did it more as an experiment. I figured it would be worth $500 in paint to try. If it failed at least it would be ready for a real painter and paint booth.

_________________
Rick McK
Seattle
89 Westfalia-2.2L WBX
2006 TDI Jetta
1936 Ford Pick up
70 tin top, 700k mi when sold in 91
58 split window bug - long gone.

[Braukuche]

Looks nice!
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now
1989 Westfalia

[bobhill8]

WELL DONE - Jealous.
_________________
1986 Westy
1971 Squareback

[dhaavers]

Looks good from here…me next!



- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>