Anyhoo, back to the regularly scheduled gushing over GlazedHam's fine work. He deserves it.

 

...

 

That is absolutely fantastic work! Even the garage is clean!
I'm looking forward to winter months.. That's when I'll try and get to my laundry list on the Rx-7 (although not quite as extensive as your project!).

 

NICE WORK!!! damn i'm liking the paint job...your first time? thats inspiring...i have been looking at getting a compressor myself and all the stuff needed to a diy jobbie

 

Thanks guys. It's nice to hear all the compliments after spending the last three months in seclusion in the garge.

Tom- Glad you think the garage is clean. Haha. It's pretty much trashed right now compared to how I usually keep it. It is driving me nuts 'cause I can't find anything when I need it.

Bizarro - Yeah. This is the first time. Used my craftsman air compressor, a $50 spray gun, and a gallon of white tractor paint from the farm supply store. I never dreamed it would turn out this well. Your white SE is actually what convinced me to finally paint my car white. I always thought it looked nice and simple and clean, which is what I'm after as a final product....

 

That's awesome. I only hope that when (and if) I get going on my RX-7 resto project it will be nearly as clean as yours.

 

So glazed, care to share your method of painting?

 

lmao...

But anyway, what kind of equipment did you use to do your paint job? Looks cool, something I've always wanted to try.

 

 

I'm impressed! Should've painted the inside while your at it. Where did you learn how to do the body work and paint?

 

Brave man!! Good on you for saving an RX destined for the crusher...then doing everything yourself!! I can't pretend to have done anywhere near what you have done with your car (and happily, I didn't need to - but you will enjoy it all the more because you did it yourself. Nice work!
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Very nice job!

Paint finish is very very nice!

Karis

 

WOW ! BEAUTIFUL. Well Done.

 

I don't really know what to tell you about painting the car. I didn't do anything special. The inside of the car is black because I rubber coated the whole thing to keep the noise down. I also did the whole bottom of the car. It has always been really noisy inside so I wanted to cut down on some of the creaks and rattles. As far as bodywork, I guess you could say I treated it kinda like an art project or something. Just put some bondo on, sand it, bondo, sand, bondo, sand. When you think you finally have it smoothed out to perfection then prime it and you'll see where it needs more work. When you finally can't tell that there is bondo there, then you are done.

I stripped the entire car before painting it. Anything that I couldn't get off I taped off. I removed the back window also. I taped up the doors from the inside and then climbed out the hatch and taped it up.

For painting tips I pretty much just grilled the guy at the local paint retailer. After all the bodywork is done use a tack cloth to clean up the dust. Then I used some kind of aerosol cleaner to get the grease and dust off of the car. I forget what it was called, but I would definitely recommend using it.

I ended up using an epoxy primer first. You have a base and then add a catalyst to it to make it set up. After you mix, it can only be used within the next 8 hours. That stuff had more overspray than anything I've seen in my entire life. It prevents rust from forming on bare metal, which I had lots of by the time I was done sanding everything.

After the epoxy primer I used a nice light gray filler primer with some reducer in it. It was either a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio. Can't remember. I did a couple of heavy coats with the filler primer. It will go on really rough, and you'll wonder why you ever attempted to paint your own car. After the filler primer sets up you can sand it down with some 400 grit.

Then, since you sanded everything you have to use the aerosol cleaner again to remove the dust. After you think its clean you can mix up your tractor paint. Add the hardener and let it sit for a half an hour. Then reduce it down 1:1 and spray it on. I did one REALLY heavy coat on it. I was worried that I didn't get enough paint on, but when I was done I ended up going through a whole gallon of paint. Which was supposed to be enough to do the entire car. So I'm fairly confident there's enough paint on it. If not I can always tape her off and lay down some more.

Total cost was about $200-$250. This includes tools also. Had to buy a spray gun and a respirator and some goggles. So if you've already got your tools it could be done for less than $200.

 

Tractor paint is some pretty heavy stuff. I finished a 1946 Farmall tractor a few years ago and after 2 years of my tractor getting used/abused and weathered I still have no real peel or rust popping through.

Did you use Case / David Brown white as a color?

 

2 reasons.

Makes it look nice.

And lets you see if any places need more weld.






I had never thought of using a tractor paint.

I was at a tractor show a few weeks ago and a guy had painted and made his jeep into a John Deere Edition. It matched all his other Deeres. Wonder what JD Green would look like on a car?

 

What the hec is tractor paint anyway?

 

Glazedham42 - very nice work!

What type of welder did you use on your patch panels?

 

A heavier industrial enamel, IIRC. I use it on implements and tractors. Fills in and adheres very well to old or pitted steel. I don't thin mine out too much and when I spray, I use a heavier pattern and let it sun bake.

This is what it looks like on a the Farmall. The mower deck will get a coat maybe this winter (International cream and yellow).

 

 

That is very nice work!
I can't wait to see those nifty wheels. How did you make the center caps?

 

Got the logo off of google after some intense searching. Used a photo editing program to make them the right size and color. Used some photo quality sticker paper to print them out on, and then covered them with mailing tape. Pretty ghetto, yes, but it worked. And they look about 95% as good as the original center caps, but now they fit the design of the car better.