You can mix standard plastic body filler 1:1 with fiberglass resin and apply to the glass mat. Gives a sandable, structurally stiff surface that adheres to everything.
I had plans to re-paint today, but the car had other ideas apparently…
I spent almost 6hrs working on it and it’s still not ready. by making sure ALL of the old paint was off, I sanded through the gelcoat in some spots and exposed small pinholes in the fiberglass flares…and everytime I fill the ones I find, and go to sand the filler down, I expose more. So I’m continuously chasing these pinholes before I can paint. I’ve got the driver side I THINK ready. I sprayed it with SEM rattle-can filler primer instead of buying a whole quart…and the passenger side MAY be currently in it’s last skim-coat of filler I HOPE.
Looks like the next chance I have at proper weather is wednesday. It’s probably best I didnt paint today, as it ended up being way too humid anyhow.
but, I snapped some pics anyways:
Here’s how the hatch/boot came out (realized I didn’t take many pics of it)
(I still have to finish shaving the emblem from the trim piece)
and the car after 21hrs of sanding, first all in 320 until the mistake-paint was gone, then again in 600 wet for prep.
I did also re-mask off the rear quarter window openings and the windows on the doors…but no pics of that. Still have to mask the roof, finish repairs on the rear flairs, and THEN maybe I can paint wednesday. If this doesn’t come out good, I’m seriously setting the car on fire and claiming the insurance and getting out of the focus game.
Does the SEM aerosol primer say it can be topcoated with a catalyzed paint? I’ve never seen a single component paint that doesn’t wrinkle under a catalyzed finish.
GOD DAMMIT. guess I’m sanding it all off again. I do plan to seal the entire car again before paint…
SEM is the brand sold at Al Wil specifically for autobody-grade aerosols for when you don’t have the need to use a full quart
I would call and ask them before you start sanding!!
Dude just stop being a cheap chooch and pay someone to do it. I’m sure if you prep the car you can have someone do the rest at a cheaper rate. Would save you the aggravation and time.
Yeah seriously, my time/stress is worth the money for a good paint job.
I know you want it all done by yourself but just have someone paint it!
guys, it’s not even remotely about being cheap. I’m not going to spend the money because there’s no reason I can’t do it myself. Plus I can’t afford it.
The issues I’m currently facing have nothing to do with the actual task of spraying the paint.
it would take more work to get it to someone else to have it painted than I have left to do to finish it myself. I’d have to clear out everything I have in the car, get a trailor or have it towed somewhere, then wait until it could fit in for the work, then trailer/have it towed back home for reassembly. The point here is I cannot afford the space to have this thing stuck in my garage when the snow flies. Also, the front fenders are not to be painted, so this would all be for a pair of doors and quarterpanels. Not worth it IMO.
This was never about the car being 100% showroom perfect. It was and will continue to be a showcase of how I like(I think I like) to challenge myself and see what I’m capable of doing.
If I truly didnt give a shit it would be painted already but would then really only look good from 10+ft away, and I’m not going to stop short or hand it off to someone else out of laziness.
I do not have a history of bailing on projects when the going gets tough like most other people, I do not intend to start such a trend.
I will sand off as much of the filler primer as I can while still retaining a smooth surface and then wednesday is the new paint-day. I’ll dust a light coating of sealer on and see how it responds…if it goes OK I’ll continue the paintjob.
Oof thats why I wont mess with body work nor electrical (you know how I feel about this lol). On a side note if all else fails, screw it, plastidip it? :gotme:
:tup: to putting in hard work and getting the job done as originally intended.
haha, this is the biggest project I’ve ever taken on…and it’s proving to be quite the learning experience. If I could rewind and re-do a couple things I would…if I hadn’t tried rushing the first paintjob with inadequate hardware the car would’ve been painted and I would’ve made the letchworth meet.
if all else fails, I don’t know…honestly, I DO plan to experiment with plasti-dip colors once the car is done…but I wanted a solid paintjob as a base and then I could have fun “changing the color” every year using plastidip. The real issue is I don’t want to have to glue the rear windows back in only to have to hack them back out and re-glue again at some point. Hence why I’m really trying to get the paint on the shell done before winter.
in the spring I can re-mold and re-make the front fenders, finish the rub strips, finish the trim work, and touch up the front bumper where I was a little thin on the base coat. I just want the shell done so I can throw it together and drive it a bit before the snow flies and be able to park it outside for the winter
It looked really good when you rolled it out a few pages back, nice job ! Sorry to hear about the drawbacks
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will sealer not prevent the two from contact/wrinkle?
prior to the last go at the paintjob, I had used the SEM etching primer and sandable primer during the process of feathering the flares into the quartepanel as a way to see how much work still needed to be done…so there was still some of that on there when I laid 2k high-build primer on there followed by sealer/base/clear with no apparent issue (until I sanded through and then tried to re-base causing the wrinkles from re-wetting)
UGH…this car is totally fighting me every step of the way. Basically, everything I work on for myself comes out like shit while work I do for other people always goes smoothly.
So, I have the whole car prepped…I go to start spraying…I get to the third coat of color after two light coats, and start to get the SAME GOD DAMNED LIFTING SHIT happening again. I don’t know WHAT THE FUCK is going on, but it’s god damned annoying. It was nowhere near as bad as the last time, so I just waited a little extra time between coats and did 3 more coats to kind of try to level it out and hide it since last time this happened wetsanding with 600 seemed to make the issue WORSE. Anyways, to sum things up…I said fuck it and continued with the paintjob.
Here’s the shit I’m talking about:
so I figured since it’s not metallic it could possibly hide in the clear…so I banged on a crap-ton of clear in three coats (two real heavy) and got it done.
I did however put a couple runs in it…so I’ll have to let it harden up for a few weeks (might just wait until spring) to go ahead with wetsanding them out and buffing it.
probably going to leave the car sit for a week before attempting to put the glass back in and get into re-assembly.
Will it look good for 5-10 feet?
If so…
FUCK IT!
Good job dude, I know this things been a pain in your ass but it could be worse, you could have AIDS.
it’ll look fucking awesome from 5-10ft away. I personally know where all the imperfections in and could point them out most likely in the correct light or shadows, but to a normal joe-shmoe it probably will never be noticed. the runs I did put in it (3 of them) are pretty fucking huge, but I’ll sand 'em out LOL
I’m going to come over and find the mistakes and laugh at them. Just to make you feel bad.
Lol <3
Seriously it’ll be fine. I’m just glad it’s done so this spring (if I’m not in Artesia, NM) we can go to meets and shit.
if I get it back together (besides making/painting new front fenders) I’ll prbably bring it to Tea Leaf if it’s still going on in like two weeks
The Miata will have her/it’s exhaust and intake done by then. I’m going with the top down. Fuck it.