I painted the '70 Riv on Saturday.

Seems it's taken an eternity to get to this point!
Now I get to sand it again. Yea!
God, I hate sanding. At least it's color sanding this time.


Good things don't come easy though.

WOWW! did you paint it in your garage ,or did you have a booth? and what kind of base/clear did you use?

Sweepspear wrote:

Seems it's taken an eternity to get to this point!

Good things don't come easy though.

LOOKS GREAT!
I know mine DID take forever!
One of these days I'll get to my '65 ... I hope anyway.
Good luck with the sanding.

robotennis61 wrote:

WOWW! did you paint it in your garage ,or did you have a booth? and what kind of base/clear did you use?

Did it in my garage with a cheap $50.00 Harbor Freight gun and a 20 gallon compressor.
Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. It can!
The paint is a single stage. Sherwin Williams 3rd Dimension 5.0 Urethane Enamel.

99Rivman wrote:

LOOKS GREAT!
I know mine DID take forever!
One of these days I'll get to my '65 ... I hope anyway.
Good luck with the sanding.

Thanks!

its lookin real good! why did you opt for single stage? a 2 stage would have added more depth no? i guess you can allways scuff her up at a later stage, if your so inclined, and shoot her with some clear... btw,what did the paint set you back?

jus curious,who negatived me? i didnt do nuthin?

sombody fuckith with me .

Amazing work Dale , looks really straight. Now you have me inspired to paint my Charger myself. How many hours would you say you have into the body, minus the paint?

Yeah, it looks good!

Thanks!

robotennis61 wrote:

its lookin real good! why did you opt for single stage? a 2 stage would have added more depth no? i guess you can allways scuff her up at a later stage, if your so inclined, and shoot her with some clear... btw,what did the paint set you back?

I went with a single stage since it is a solid color. Besides, they didn't have clear coat when new. Sometimes older cars look a bit off with clear on them.
A gallon of paint & primer with the reducers and hardeners was just shy of $400.00.

BMD wrote:

Amazing work Dale , looks really straight. Now you have me inspired to paint my Charger myself. How many hours would you say you have into the body, minus the paint?

I didn't keep track of time. It was spread out over such a long period of time. I put the first coat of high build primer on it last September.
I've read on some other boards that the body line on those Chargers is a tricky one to keep straight when sanding.

Sweepspear wrote:

BMD wrote:

Amazing work Dale , looks really straight. Now you have me inspired to paint my Charger myself. How many hours would you say you have into the body, minus the paint?

I didn't keep track of time. It was spread out over such a long period of time. I put the first coat of high build primer on it last September.
I've read on some other boards that the body line on those Chargers is a tricky one to keep straight when sanding.

Yeah, definately, On these cars I think its best to start from the centerline out. So, if you have time and can remember, what are the steps you took at the beginning?

Looks great! And I don't get why someone keeps "minusing" robotennis for his posts. It's getting ridiculous. :/

Any wet sanding to do? or did it turn out as good as you'd hoped?

BMD wrote:

Yeah, definately, On these cars I think its best to start from the centerline out. So, if you have time and can remember, what are the steps you took at the beginning?

After removing the trim I washed the car thoroughly with Dawn dish washing liquid. I was told this does a great job of stripping wax and grease off the finish. As an extra measure, I then went over it with wax & grease remover.

Since the old paint was relatively solid, just nicks and scratches, I went over it with a DA using 80 grit paper to rough up the surface, and feather out the nicks.
The only rust I had to deal with was on the rear quarters just above the wheel openings.
It was bubbling under the surface.
I found there was a previous bondo repair on both sides in that same area. I cut out the rusty portions and welded in new metal.
I then used Rage filler were ever there were low spots like on the doors where parking lot dings had occurred.

Then, 3 coats of high build 2k primer.

This spring I block sanded the primer dry with 320 grit, using a guide coat of black to see the low spots.
Another 2 coats of the high build primer, and then blocked it again, this time wet using 500 grit.
Tedious work that I don't have the most patience for.

Then sprayed the color as you see it now.
The only part that I knew I would not be completely happy with is the hood. It had a lot of waves in the metal that while I did my best to block sand out, is still not as flat as I would like it.
Not surprisingly these hoods for '68, '69 & '70's are hard to come by these days. This hood that I found locally from an ROA member is from a '68. Despite it's flaws, it is actually better than the one that was on the car which was bent in the front were it met the fenders.
I figure I'll live with it for now. If a nicer hood comes along I can always replace it.

That's about it.

Hometown Hero wrote:

Any wet sanding to do? or did it turn out as good as you'd hoped?

Oh yeah. Plenty of wet sanding the color in my future. I have some light orange peel in a couple of spots, and a few runs. Plus it's hard not to end up with some flecks of dust here and there.
If the paint had flowed out as well on the whole car as it did on the fender skirts I don't think I would touch it.

Thanks for the info, Dale. Keep us updated with your resto!

Damn, that looks real good considering the equipment you used.

I have been playing with the idea of painting my own car for years and I have most the tools but I just haven't had the nerve to do it. I'm too afraid I'll screw something up.

Did you ventilate the garage or just leave it wide open?

I've read a few books on bodywork and painting but I'm still skeptical.

Great job though. Make sure to post finished pics.

VJD2 wrote:

Damn, that looks real good considering the equipment you used.

I have been playing with the idea of painting my own car for years and I have most the tools but I just haven't had the nerve to do it. I'm too afraid I'll screw something up.

Did you ventilate the garage or just leave it wide open?

I've read a few books on bodywork and painting but I'm still skeptical.

Great job though. Make sure to post finished pics.

Believe me, I was nervous I'd screw it up.

I used a couple of old box fans under the garage door to draw fumes out.
I wrote out what I did in detail with a few more pictures in my thread on the ROA section of the AACA board.
http://forums.aaca.org/f177/painted-my-70-saturday-288517-2.html

excellent job!