The Mite
Part: 29

RE-clear coat and RE-color sand and RE-buff

Bugeye Sprite Hood So, after about 8 hours of sanding with 1200 grit paper, I managed to eliminate all the orange-peel and smooth out the entire car. I had no fingerprints left after a weekend of sanding. Then I spent 5 hours with the buffer and the two stages of compound to get the finish you see here. It looked pretty good for a first-time garage paint job. There's a few mistakes, and I know exactly where they are. There are also a few minor scratches that showed up.
3M Polishing Compounds This is the buffing compound. I first used the stuff in the black container with a wool buff, and then moved on to the white container with a foam buff. It was very messy, spreading compound all over the spray booth and all over me, but the results were worth it.
PPG Deltron DBC British Racing Green and Arctic White This is the base coat paint that I used. PPG Deltron, British Racing Green, an OEM Jaguar color code DBC 44524 and Polar White, an OEM Suzuki color, code DBC 90606.
PPG Concept Clear Urethane Here's the Urethane clear. It was pretty expensive and I had about 1/3 gallon left after finishing the car. It needs a hardener and a reducer. I talked to the guy at the paint shop and he said, " Dude, just scuff up the car with 400 grit and then shoot another coat of clear -it'll be awesome and give the paint amazing depth! With one coat, you shouldn't have any orange-peel and you'll be done!" Cool! I'll do it!
Drips and Sags in my paint So, I scuffed up the whole car with 400 grit paper (it was hard to bring myself to scratch up the nicely buffe surface, but I did it) and since the weather was about 15 degrees cooler, I used a different reducer. Well, stupid me. I sprayed the clear just like I did for the first coats, but due to the different reducer, cooler temperature and some operator error, I managed to Drip and orange-peel around the whole car! AAAAAAGH! Here you can see one of the drips. I scuffed it with some sandpaper to make it show up better.
Orange Peel in my paint Here's the orange peel.....So...back to wet sanding the car with 400 grit and then ANOTHER respray of the clear. This time it turned out okay, but had a little orange peel.
Color wet sanded door on the sprite Again, the 8+ hours of colorsanding the clear with 1200 grit paper. This is a door almost finished
Wet sanded fender on my Sprite And the rear driver's side fender, finished wet-sanding and ready for buffing. I managed not to burn through the paint with the buffer by taping the sharp edges with masking tape.
The Bugeye Bonnet with stripes, polished and ready to go And, after another 4+ hours of buffing and a sore back, I've got a shiny car again. This weekend I hope to attach some suspension pieces! But we're going to the Sand Car Challenge in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Dash painted with hammered finsh paint Oh, and I painted the dash, too. I used Rustoleum hammered finish paint and I think it looks good. I did not want the factory crinkle finish.

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