Repainting

[steveplym]

Well I am full into my project. Repainting the p-15 as the old lacquer paint was cracking and faded. Car was restored and repainted in 1979. Bodywork has held up quite well, but the paint has not.

I went ahead and used a DA and sanded all the paint off the front fenders. Minor filler work is all that is needed now. I also went ahead and stripped the roof with paint stripper. I knew there was not hardly any filler on the roof, found one small dent that had been filled. I went ahead and removed the old filler there and will redo it. Starting to take the DA and cleaning the roof up.

I'm going to sand down the quarter panels and then prime with a 2k Evercoat fill primer. Removed the rear fenders and front grille panel. I'm also going to remove the trunk lid and doors. Then I will prime the body and once it is sanded down I'll paint it in sections. Probably front fender, roof and cowl, left door jambs and quarter, then right door jambs and quarter. Once that is done I'll prep and prime all the other parts individually. Then paint them.

I plan on sanding and buffing each part before I put it on. I've found a blue color I like on TCP global. Which is equal to PPG products. I'm going to go with basecoat/clearcoat. I'll keep everyone posted on the project as I go along.

I'm hoping to have it painted by July. Then will continue to do small improvements along the way. For example, new weatherstrip, paint dash and trim, etc.

Here's some pics.

[Normspeed]

Looking good. I can't wait for the day when I can finally get going on my paint and body work.

[steveplym]

Here's a little update on the progress so far. I ordered the paint today and primed the car yesterday. A gallon of Marine blue basecoat/clearcoat is on its way. The primer is an Evercoat filler primer. Should get it wet sanded this weekend and see how much spot putty I'll need and get any spot priming done.

Hoping to get the body painted the next weekend possibly. Then work on individual parts like the hood, rear fenders, and trunk lid. That's the easy part. I spent about 3-4 hours masking off everything yesterday. Get to do it all again when I paint. I can't wait to see the car shine again. Once its painted I'll sand and buff any dust nibs or runs that may happen. Painting in my garage there will be a few dust nibs. HVLP guns do help the problem a bit.

I'll continue with the updates.

[Joe Flanagan]

I hope mine turns out that nicely. I wish I had all that room!

[NatesSedan]

Looking great Steve! Do you have any finger prints left? The sand paper wears them off quick! We primed my father in laws P-15 last wekend and hope to paint this weekend if the weather cooperates. We are going with Hot Rod Flatz Burnt Orange. Its a good looking suede.

By the way...how did you manage to get the cowl trim off? All the trim we removed had clips on the back and we couldn't get up there to remove it.

[steveplym]

Hey natesSedan, The way I removed the cowl trim was way up under the dash there were two bolt on clips with nuts. This car has been redone before so I'm not sure if that was original or not. Had to stick my hand way up in there to get to them. Good light helps too.

Good luck on your project, and after next week I probably won't have any finger prints left either.

[Normspeed]

I'm green with envy. I can't wait to get some serious body cleanup and painting done on my P24. Current plan is John Deere blitz black.

[dirty dan]

Are you filling in the rear fender seams when you place them back? Mine looks like the seam has bondo and both sides are cracking at the seam in the rear (see photo). What is the correct way to install these? From the photos I've seen everyone seems to have a seamless look on the rear fenders.

[BobT-47P15]

What they are supposed to have is fender welt.......can be either chrome,

black, or some other color of one's choosing. Used only on the rear

fenders. Can be purchased from various sources.

It has a tab that goes between body and fender to hold it in place.

Kind of a trick to get the curves just right, but it can be done.

I think the vinyl type is easier to work with than the chrome clad.

I think the notches (spaces) in the tab are the key to it's bending better.

[dirty dan]

What they are supposed to have is fender welt.......can be either chrome,

black, or some other color of one's choosing. Used only on the rear

fenders. Can be purchased from various sources.

It has a tab that goes between body and fender to hold it in place.

Kind of a trick to get the curves just right, but it can be done.

I think the vinyl type is easier to work with than the chrome clad.

I think the notches (spaces) in the tab are the key to it's bending better.

That's great information. Thanks.

[BobT-47P15]

Here is a pic of a Dodge coupe in a possibly similar color of blue.

Looks nice.

[Don Jordan]

http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f281/2375830/?action=view&current=DSC00564.jpg

That color seems to be going around.

[steveplym]

That's great information. Thanks.

Yeah Dirty Dan like Bob said I have fender welt for the fenders. Had it on the car when I got it and I like the look, may need to replace the ones I currently have, but they are available.

That Dodge coupe looks nice, I can't wait to see some color on mine.

[kiwi mopar]

great job so far.

keep us up dated.

[steveplym]

Another update on the progress. I painted the door jambs and trunk jamb area today. Wanted to get that done before I painted the roof, quarters, and front fenders. Next step is to finish sanding the rest of the body and prep it for paint.

I'm using a basecoat/clearcoat and it has a lot of gloss and laid down nicely. Can't wait to get the color on the body too. Hope to have it painted weekend after next. Here's some pics of the progress.

[Don Jordan]

Is your dash painted or is that wood grained? If it is wood grain - did you do it?

[steveplym]

The dash is actually fake wood grain. Was brushed on by the previous owner 25 years ago. Something called "one step". I think it was used on cabinets and such to make a wood grain appearance. The sun has baked it off in several places and the plan is to paint it this time. Probably body color or something similar.

[dirty dan]

The dash is actually fake wood grain. Was brushed on by the previous owner 25 years ago. Something called "one step". I think it was used on cabinets and such to make a wood grain appearance. The sun has baked it off in several places and the plan is to paint it this time. Probably body color or something similar.

I thought all of these cars came from the factory with the woodgrain painted dash. Am I mistaken?

[steveplym]

Correct, but this was a cheap alternative to wood graining. This car had the original wood grained dash painted on, but the wood grain painted on this dash is not very good quality. Just cheap stuff available at the hardware store at the time. You can see lots of brush strokes on the dash. Had to do this as the original paint on the dash was not in very good shape.

[Allan Faust]

Mine will be "majik blue pearl" once I finally get around to painting it....

[steveplym]

Well got the left front fender sanded and ready to paint tonight. Both rear quarter are ready, just need a final sanding. All that is left to do is sand the roof, rockers and cowl. Then I'll be ready to paint. Taking some time off work this weekend so have plenty of time to get it done. Weather won't be too bad.

Next weekend I plan on painting the car on Saturday. I've still got the doors, hood, trunk lid, and other pieces left to paint. I've been taking the doors apart this week and sanding them down. Hope to get them primed next weekend and maybe paint them during the holiday weekend. Will be nice to have the doors back on the car so I can clean up the interior.

Will post more pics as I continue this adventure.

[NatesSedan]

Sounds like its coming together Steve. How much filler did you have to use?

We recently painted my father in laws car. It turned out real nice. We used a satin burnt orange from Hot Rod Flatz. The black fender welt looks great on the orange fender. Still putting everything back together and polishing trim etc.

[randroid]

Steve,

A question in the back of my mind while anticipating painting my car this summer is how to accurately re-align the doors once I rehang them. If I needed to rehang without repainting I would simply use a scratch awl or marking pen to outline where they should go, but after sanding and such I'd need to start from scratch.

I can plumb a door in a house with the best of them (albeit a lot slower) and I'm anticipating shims and the like, but a 36" entry door balances differently than a many-pound rear suicide door (which has too many compound curves and angles to lull me into thinking it's going to be simple).

So, how are you planning on doing it?

Thanks,

-Randy

[steveplym]

Sounds like its coming together Steve. How much filler did you have to use?

We recently painted my father in laws car. It turned out real nice. We used a satin burnt orange from Hot Rod Flatz. The black fender welt looks great on the orange fender. Still putting everything back together and polishing trim etc.

I didn't use a whole lot of filler. Had a few dents and dings I had to fix since the last restoration in '79. The car really has a fair amount of filler on it. There were several problems that had to be corrected during the first restoration, but since all of it was in good condition and not cracking I decided not to disturb it.

Figured why mess with something that has held up for 30 years already. Car sits in the garage and is only out on nice days so why make more work for myself. I could probably only make it worse.

Need to post a picture of your father-in-laws car. I bet that orange does look good with black fender welt.

[steveplym]

So, how are you planning on doing it?

Well if you look where I dismounted the doors I took them off at the hinges. Unbolted them behind the trim panels. Those holes are not elongated. That means there is not much room for readjustment. Pretty much a direct bolt on.

Now I must admit I haven't installed doors on a P-15, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but there doesn't seem to be much adjustment there.

You can see the hinges in the pics above, and the holes for the bolts are round and about the size of the threads. When I loosened them up they did not move much, so hopefully it won't take much to get them back together.