From: Dan [dbrindle@kondratyev.com]
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2000 1:19 AM
To: 928
Subject: [928] Re: Painting the car questions for Mike Briggs and other
with experience.

Dave and a couple of others asked:

<"Heck, I'd be interested in hearing about your painting technique. You can
always learn something from someone that's had experience.">

Alright here goes.  First you have to remember what we were going for.
Since we were rebuilding late model wrecks we were attempting to get a good
looking factory job - not produce a show car with 40 coats of hand rubbed
lacquer.  This was back in the 1970's and the choices were basically enamel
and Acrylic Lacquer.  Most cars were painted in some form of enamel or for
many GM cars Acrylic Lacquer.

One of the problems with combining enamel with Acrylic is that it is easy to
get reactions.  One of the ways around this is to primer the entire car.
This is a pain if you are not going to strip the car of all of the chrome
and lights - which we generally did, but there always are a few gaskets and
accessories that are difficult and time consuming to strip.  Adding an extra
coat of primer complicates things, can show though on a scratch, takes more
time and does not necessarily give the best job.

One of the ways around this is to spray, after the body work is complete, is
a base coat of color with a very fast thinner.  This has the advantage of
keeping the number of coats down.  Since lacquer dries very quickly there is
no waiting.  The first coat is inspected for imperfections and all of the
minor nicks and sand marks filled.  We use to use lacquer primer straight
from the can with no thinning and put it on with thin aluminum applicators.
This left very little sanding.  Since first coat was put on almost dry will
be dull and a bit rough.  This is wet sanded with 600, blending the primer
patches in with the paint.  Where lacquer goes on thinner than other paints
it requires better preparation with the bodywork.  The first coat process
helps cut the time on getting the bodywork perfect before paint.  Remember
we were doing production work so the quicker the car got done the better as
long as quality was not compromised.   The first coat acts as a sealer so
there is a good base to build from.

The second coat is put on with a slower thinner and rather thick.  Again
this dries fast and does not leave a gloss.  Sometimes the second coat is
enough but if after drying for 24 hours to let all of the thinner evaporate,
minor imperfections come up, they are once again filled and the car hand
sanded again with 600.  To get a good job the second coat should be put on
by someone that knows haw to handle a spray gun as the smoother it goes on
the better the final job.

If there are some imperfections then they again are filled with primer and
sanded out.  The final coat is put on with an even slower thinner and some
gloss is obtained.  This is nice for door jambs and other hard to rub out
areas.

Once the final coat has set 24 hours it is rubbed out - we use to do this by
hand - but labor was cheap and a buffer would probably work just as well.
No wax was applied to the job only hand rubbing.  Any over spray on the
gaskets was cleaned by scraping with the same aluminum applicators.  Since
lacquer is brittle when first applied it is very easy to get exacting
detail.  I have had many people - including body men and dealers - look at
the finished job and not believe the car was a re-paint. In fact we sold a
number of the cars we did directly to dealers that were short the models we
were working with.
After sitting for a couple of weeks - preferably in the sun - the car was
hand rubbed again with a fine compound and waxed.  Done correctly this is a
job that should last as long as any other paint job, hold up better and
continue to improve with each clean up and wax job.  Unlike enamel it will
not develop swirl marks from buffing, have bits of dirt in it (there is no
need for a high end booth since the lacquer dries so quick),  chip as
easily.  After 150K on my other Porsche there were no rock chips in the hood
or fenders and as I said a taxi driver walked on the hood..  The rate of
oxidation is much less and a panel can be repaired without having to repaint
the entire panel.  In the old days body shops used to use Acrylic Lacquer to
do touch ups and minor dings.  The problem with that method that while it
was quick and looked good when the job was done the enamel fades quicker
that the lacquer patch and the patch will standout after a while.  But
patching lacquer on lacquer there is no problem..
I have tried a number of systems that use catalysts over the years and the
latest system is by far the best that has been developed.  But they all have
one problem in common - the hardness.  It is very difficult to "color" sand
these and buffer out any problems that show up in the job. The depth is
obtained by clear coating, which can chip as well.  With lacquer the depth
is obtained naturally - of course you can clear coat lacquer too, but I
never found it necessary.  One possibility is to mix part color and part
clear in the final coat for depth.
Dan