Camaro SS Bandit Conversion

[1JEWLDSSRS]

Lookin great sir!!!

[hesster]

It warmed up today enough to get more painting in.
This round was Priming the Fenders, sanded and added another few coats to the Extractors, and the Hood underside and Shaker Scoop outer. It is amazing how the Primer shoots shiny with a ton of OP, but drys almost dead flat ready to sand. Nice Stuff.

Completed the order for the Forgeline Snowflake Wheels today. 20" x 9.5" fronts, 20 x 11" rears. Blew any budget with these in the wheels, but they are awesome. Thanks again Forum guy's for picking the nosebleed expensive one's. You can buy a decent starter car for the price of these.
Then customized them to include adding in the correct 1977 Red Bird Insert into the machined TA3 Center Cap. Now need to decide on Tires - 275's front, prob 305s or 315's rear. Brand TBD.

Assessed the EOS ZL1 Phastek Rockers fit to the OEM Rockers, after sitting in the Box for awhile. They are, hmmmmm, really cheezy, and returning them. Can't imagine how in hell to make them fit well and adhere to the OEM Rockers, the Web Videos are comical. Moving on with this one, no chance using someting like this. I will stay with the repainted OEM rockers or get the correct Zl1 replacements that snap in and replace the OEM's.

Plan is to Prime the remaining big parts, have a wet sanding party, and shoot BC/CC, or more Primer and sanding until perfect if necessary to ensure the Top Coats don't require excessive work. So may take a few Prime and Sand iterations to get the parts ready for BC/CC. Will not compromise this.

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by hesster

It warmed up today enough to get more painting in.
This round was Priming the Fenders, sanded and added another few coats to the Extractors, and the Hood underside and Shaker Scoop outer. It is amazing how the Primer shoots shiny with a ton of OP, but drys almost dead flat ready to sand. Nice Stuff.

Completed the order for the Forgeline Snowflake Wheels today. 20" x 9.5" fronts, 20 x 11" rears. Blew any budget with these in the wheels, but they are awesome. Thanks again Forum guy's for picking the nosebleed expensive one's. You can buy a decent starter car for the price of these.
Then customized them to include adding in the correct 1977 Red Bird Insert into the machined TA3 Center Cap. Now need to decide on Tires - 275's front, prob 305s or 315's rear. Brand TBD.

Assessed the EOS ZL1 Phastek Rockers fit to the OEM Rockers, after sitting in the Box for awhile. They are, hmmmmm, really cheezy, and returning them. Can't imagine how in hell to make them fit well and adhere to the OEM Rockers, the Web Videos are comical. Moving on with this one, no chance using someting like this. I will stay with the repainted OEM rockers or get the correct Zl1 replacements that snap in and replace the OEM's.

Plan is to Prime the remaining big parts, have a wet sanding party, and shoot BC/CC, or more Primer and sanding until perfect if necessary to ensure the Top Coats don't require excessive work. So may take a few Prime and Sand iterations to get the parts ready for BC/CC. Will not compromise this.

Those Forgelines are gonna be the bomb....Might be able to start a small country for that budget...

[hesster]

More Primer - Hood, Rockers, Deck Lid, Dove Tail Spoiler.
Wet sand sessions next. More Primer after initial sanding to be assessed.

[hesster]

Fascias primered.
It barely warmed up enough late in the day to get them done. Shot them at 7:00 PM, with a few beers. They took alot of Paint, already went through a Gallon, may need to get another quart for touch ups after wet sanding everything.

The Black Primer really shows all of the imperfections in the RIM Fascias, some are easily fixed with spot putty, some of the minor form distortion areas I will probably not try to fix. Sometimes Bondo or Fiberglass filler creates more issues on a flexible part, so I will have to make a call on this. Note the small shallow "divot" in the Rear Fascia in the 3rd pic. Never saw this until it got Primered, so may fix it, maybe not depending on how much it bothers me.

Although the lighting is really good in the Barn, it is hard to see the Paint Coverage when shooting Black, so the occasional run in the Primer happens. You have to spray it just until it looks wet, and stop, as any more will sag or run. The good part is these are easily wet sanded out without a trace of them ever happening. Not so with the Top Coats.

Also reshot the Spoiler Winglets and the Engine cover after wet sanding them. Everything needs to be sanded dead flat with 800 grit so there is no orange peel before BC/CC. A PIA, as it is so easy to sand right through the Primer. A little sand through is OK, but always risks delamination of the top coats, in other words, bubbles, blisters, flaking, and the like.

This is especially true of parts already painted like the Dove Tail Spoiler. If you see any of that nice Red Jewel color from a sand through, well, it will need more primer cause Top Coats will eat into old paint and sometimes wrinkle.

Although the (5) box Fans set on crank evacuates the overspray cloud quickly, there is still lots of it on the floor and, well, everywhere. So will blow it all out,then mop and wipe stuff down.

Then a ton of wet sanding, touch ups, and on with the Top Coats. Weather permitting, as today is 55 degrees and rainy. I am not going to rush the process, as you always have to make time to redo any issues.

[Ashen 6.2]

Looking good sir! Wish I had your patience and willingness to do the body work!

[SlowLS1]

Quality work sir, I am amazed at the speed you are completing this project. Don't forget to enjoy the journey! (J/K)

[hesster]

Nice 82 degree day yesterday, and got some Panels wet sanded.
And today? 53 and drizzling.

As for sanding Sealer or Primer, some may just scuff it up and get any nibs off, but the best way is to sand it flat 400/600/800, and look for OP until there is not any left. This is a fine dance from leaving some or risking a occasional sand through to the base material. The Tamco Primer is nice stuff, sands easier than some of the rock hard Epoxy Primers I have used before.

So it's sand, let it dry, look for OP or issues, and repeat. Then when you got got it right, go over the part and apply Spot Putty for the tiny imperfections that the Primer can not fill. Laydown a sheen of water and it should be like glass, or for a Black Part, a mirror until the water dry's off.

In the first couple Pics - the Rocker Panels - all of this is detailed sanding may not necessary, as geezz they are Rocker Panels, but why not, as I may have the best looking Rockers until after the first drive. Maybe applying some of the X-Pel Film or whatever it is will keep them shiny.

So note the iterations of getting all of the OP out, then the Spot Putty (use as little a possible and sand it all off), and then hitting it with a bath of water. The first few Pics show remaining OP - this you need to gently "finger" sand out, no sanding Blocks, and get it all off if possible. That's because generally, you do not sand a BC, and underlying imperfections may "read" right through to the Paint.

Final Rocker and esp the Fender Pics look like Glass, it gives you a idea of what the Painted part should look like.

I still have the Hood and both Fascias to sand, but may throw some topcoats on some sanded parts first and see how things turn out. I got a feeling the Fascias will be a challenge, as they are large flexible parts with lots of openings and countours.

[hesster]

Forgot about the finish sanding on the small parts, and the Hood underside. They are ready.

And the front Fascia Grills will get Gold on the perrmiter, so sanded that back. It will need to be taped off and reprimed, sanded, and Gold Paint shot on the non cross hatched Grille part. Those have to look good, so a great finish is necessary.

The Hood underside will get BC/CC, and then the top side will be taped off. Then sanded and BC/CC. Dont want overpray on it.

Seems the prep work never ends, but it is mandatory for a great result.

[hesster]

Endless prep. Resprayed the front Fascia Grills, Winglets, and engine Cover after wet sand. These parts needed another coat of Primer to be ready. This is time consuming and do you you dont want to spend the extra work, and want to bypass - but no, as it has to be as good as possible.

The Fascia Grills, were not easy to tape off, but use the best painters tape available. It's purple and stretches.

Dove Tail and Winglets got extra primer, they need to be top notch, as they have a history No Jewel Red must show through. Sorry Guys, it is a nice Paint Color, or maybe the best. But now gone...

Bombed the Engine Cover again. More sanding required.

Will start with BC/CC on the Rockers to assess spray settings and adjustments to get results.

[hesster]

Threw BC/CC Paint - finally. Started concervative, so figured the Rockers were the best test bed for initial results and learnings.

Layed on (3) Base Coats, prob could went with (2), but adjusted the Gun to get a wetter coat. The first (2) Pics are the FIRST Basecoat, it is obvious why you need two or 3 coats to hide sand marks and minor imperfections. Basecoats will not be highly glossy by nature, the clear does that job. Was assessing after two coats how heavy to lay it on to get some gloss and no runs, 3rd wet coat did it.

Then (2) coats of Clear, a third coat not necessary. For now. There will be some "dieback" to the gloss after it drys, and no wet sanding until (4) days of drying. So at that point will sand it and buff it to see results. It starts out looking "Orange Peely" (like in the 3rd Pic), but know when to stop throwing on more as it flows out nicely!

Got a nice gloss to them with minimal OP, which saves a ton of cut and buff time. Started clean and mopped the floor. Did get some small airborne lint or fuzzy contamination, and a few minor "nib" sand out corrections. It is gonna happen, especially painting these parts in a big barn with stuff everywhere.

I realized this was most likely from me going in and out the Door to get a breath, clean a gun, etc. That breaks the vacuum and allows air to come in through the door when open, along with whatever is in the air like pollen, bugs, and fuzzys. So I know now to stay put until done. Were talking hard to see this stuff and very minor, and assume it is easily cut and buffed out. Being picky, and they are Rockers which don't get a whole lot of looks or attention, but this will not be the case with the rest of the panels.

Let them dry a bit and set them out in the sun to bake. They are deep jet black, high gloss a mile deep, and reflective as hell. That is what you want.

This is a good start, and now I am prepared to tackle the larger parts.

[hesster]

Got lots Painted today. Yesterday was heavy rain, so spent hours in prep - final scuff sanding the parts and deep cleaned the Barn to see if that helped reduce any floating contaminents. It really helped.

Painted the Spoiler and Winglets, Side Fender and Quarter Scoops, and Engine Cover for the part that is Black.

Built fixtures for the Spoiler and Winglets, cause chasing them around hanging by wire was not cutting it.

(3) coats each BC & CC. This takes hours to complete, and is a dance to paint, document the time, wait for flash time (15 min each BC, 30 min each CC), and go at it again. The Clear Gloss just got better and better, and some parts are like glass and probably don't even need to be Cut, just Buffed. The Spoiler main body had the most OP for some reason, but I intend to wet sand it dead flat and buff it out.

Was going to Paint the Shaker Scoop, but pulled it out of the process and decided to give it another coat of Primer, as I want that top shelf.

Yep - the top of the Engine Cover is knarly, but the Scoop is sitting on top of it so you don't see any of that.

I painted all of these with a TCP $45 Mini Gun and a 1.0 Nozzle. Go figure, cause it is not a $600 Gun, but it performed amazingly, and saves Paint as the IWATA throws a ton of it in comparison. So good choice there.

A great day.