JANUARY
Alas, the meat and potatoes of the build so far: paint.
My original plan was to only spray the exterior to get the car in and out of paint ASAP, but a coworker said to me, "why would you make the outside look so good, but have ugly jambs?"
Okay... He got me.
The color was gonna be two-tone: 3P2 Black Cherry Pearl from a Prius Persona as the main color, and a black roof, either solid or something fancy.
First thing's first, detrim the car.
The doors were pretty dinged up over the years, so I marked everything to be repaired that primer wouldn't be able to fill.
I had previously started body work on the right overfender, so when the car was in the shop, I was able to focus on the left side.
The body line is awful to work on, on top of being so wavy everywhere.
You're wondering why the front end is still blue? Well, the paint was literally starting to lift off the panels and repair rings were bleeding through. Before I started prepping the front end I decided to take a paint thickness gauge to them and...
That's a no from me, dawg.
For reference, typical factory 2-stage paint is roughly 6 mils. In some areas, I measured up to 21 mils; a couple sections on the fender didn't even give a measurement!
I was not willing to open that can of worms of prior work, especially considering I planned on getting wider fenders and a different bumper so the front end stayed untouched.
I got the overfenders into some high-build poly primer and they were looking good!
I was very excited to finally see the fuel door and the overfender in one color. The body line still needed tweaking though.
The sight of the rust around the windshield dam traumatized me, so I for sure had to epoxy the car.
I started with the roof so I could get a glimpse of the car two-toned.
Man, it looked pretty cool if you squinted, lol.
I continued with prepping the rest of the car for epoxy:
The car was now fully black in epoxy primer and it was at this point I had a change of heart: I'm gonna paint the car black instead.
A few reasons reinforced my decision:
- The paint is cheaper
- I can panel paint the car
- When I spray the front end separately, I don't have to worry about a color mismatch
HOWEVER, my body work and blocking had to be top-notch. I was ready to showcase what I've learned over the years.
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