Since it is too cold to swap the engine I decided to start buffing my new find, "black beauty". In total, wet sanding, 2 stages of compounding, glazing and waxing and detailing will take almost 30 hours to complete.

Before picture

 

Test buffing on the hood shows good promise so I will go ahead

 

Completed the wet sanding on the hood, my plan is to mask half of it off and show a before and after.

You may ask what the tape is for, it is there to keep polishing compound and water from wet sanding from getting where you don't want it. Makes clean up a lit easier.

Oh and yeah, the feeling you get after the water dries when you wet sand is truly, "wtf did i do"

But I have been there before!




More updates to follow...............

 

What grit are you using!

You should be using 1000 then 2000 grit and CONSTANT supply of water.

That looks way over sanded. No offense intended. I learned the hard way.

Just on a side note, I think you could used compound and a clay bar and fixed the oxidation. I don't think the sanding was needed.

 

Only the hood needed sanding, entire car got clay barred to start. I used 2000 grit only. Here are my results after the first stage of compound.

 

And after second stage plus sealer

 

The camera flash and garage lighting doesn't show anywhere near as well as it does in person or in the sun.

 

We have a heavy snowfall warning in effect now so it won't be rolled out into the sunlight for new pics for a while yet. We have heavy winds and snow falling "sideways" along with fresh cold "cold" temperatures now.

Buffing to continue next weekend when things warm up a bit, the little infrared heater in the garage won't keep up with the new temps outside.

 

nice progress. Black looks so sexy when really clean.

 

single stage? those old single stage paints polish really easily without wetsanding.
Problem is keeping them out of the sun and waxed because they oxidize back quickly

good thing is that unlike basecoat/clearcoat where once the clear is compromised the paint goes to **** single stage will shine right down to the primer

 

2 stage paint

 

I guess it was just the lighting then. Looks good after the compound, now break out the polish!

 

how much of the car have you sanded and polished so far?

 

nice

 

shouldn't take 30 hours unless you're buffing it all by hand.

 

ohh wow that looks exactly like my old black car... man do i miss it! even had same wheels ahh your in canada, mine was a canadian spec car too origionally.

 

Half of the hood (only the hood needed sanding). I did first compund buffing on the roof and passenger side.

 

Nothing but time to waste to get it looking it's best. Sit if front of the tv on the weekend with my wife , take my wife shopping, think of other things to do with my wife (I could do that, it doesn't take long ), or spend some time in the garage with my new girl. After 22 years of marriage it's a natural choice!

We just got another 15cm of snow dumped on us so black beauty won't leave the garage for a long time yet.

And it needs an engine swap before it hits the road.

 

What products are you using? Tools?

 

variety of comopunds, farecla, mguires etc.

I have a princess auto (harbour freight) rotary buffer and a porter cable 7424 (udm)

Learned everything off the internet and bought a video after watching them do it on trucks one saturday morning.

 

i know if you use 3M compounds it by itself leaves a very shiny finish, you could cut your steps down to 2, 3 if you count some hand glazing or waxing
we had a job going to a large show and one of my guys brought his bag of meguirs in none of it could out perform our usual 3M stuff. I have tried just about every product I can get my hands on, 3M is professional grade tools.

3M Perfect It 3000 extra cut, swirl mark remover, then hand glaze or wax

 

Okay, that'll be my next purchase when I run out!

 

On my old red S10, I used 3M compound to get the orange peel out and the same stuff you describe. It was the factory red enamel single stage. Took the oxidation right off! Carnuba and done!

Just FYI to the OP, don't use carnuba in the winter or you'll be sorry :p

 

Explain???

 

It gets really hard to apply, unless you have a heated garage.