Motivated by the projects posted here, I repainted my Belvedere. This was my first experience dabbling in the black art of automotive paint.
The body, rust wise, was very solid. It had 4 spots of rust through behind all 4 wheels in the lower fenders and quarters. They were about quarter to half dollar size. No other rust. But there was plenty of minor collision damage that was redone badly way back when. Had a nice dent/crease in the pass side rear quarter and door, The driver's side rear quarter was hit at some point as the trunk extension in that area was dented in. Front pass side fender was also touched good. In all every panel had nice dents except for the roof! I even found out that the driver's side back door was re-skinned at one point with what looks to be an oem skin.
With that said, there were some panel alignment issues. And don't get me started on the tail light panel and body seams. That area was difficult to get looking presentable because of the sharp concave and convex curves and there was damage there too.
Had the car blasted locally, exterior only, for around $475, and then the real fun started. I have come to hate body work but I think it came out nice considering the damage.
I applied 2 wet coats of SPI epoxy primer. This stuff was nice and sanded very well to remove 100 grit scratch marks and other minor imperfections. Doors were removed and primed separately. I did not apply high build or do any extensive blocking as a show car it is not and frankly I would have had a hard time with all the curved and rounded surfaces. Touched up some sand through and washed the entire thing with water and Dawn. The next day, wiped it all down with SPI wax/grease remover
Thinned down the epoxy and applied a sealer coat. Waited 2 hours and applied 3 coats of Sikkens U-Tech U500 SS urethane in Ermine White (the local distributor did not have any mopar codes that far back, but they did have GM codes so I went with GM color WA2661, Ermine White.) I was very happy with the paint. Great color, nice shine, and good coverage. No bad orange peel! But I did get some sags, runs and dirt specks. Next step is to color sand and buff it out.
The body, rust wise, was very solid. It had 4 spots of rust through behind all 4 wheels in the lower fenders and quarters. They were about quarter to half dollar size. No other rust. But there was plenty of minor collision damage that was redone badly way back when. Had a nice dent/crease in the pass side rear quarter and door, The driver's side rear quarter was hit at some point as the trunk extension in that area was dented in. Front pass side fender was also touched good. In all every panel had nice dents except for the roof! I even found out that the driver's side back door was re-skinned at one point with what looks to be an oem skin.
With that said, there were some panel alignment issues. And don't get me started on the tail light panel and body seams. That area was difficult to get looking presentable because of the sharp concave and convex curves and there was damage there too.
Had the car blasted locally, exterior only, for around $475, and then the real fun started. I have come to hate body work but I think it came out nice considering the damage.
I applied 2 wet coats of SPI epoxy primer. This stuff was nice and sanded very well to remove 100 grit scratch marks and other minor imperfections. Doors were removed and primed separately. I did not apply high build or do any extensive blocking as a show car it is not and frankly I would have had a hard time with all the curved and rounded surfaces. Touched up some sand through and washed the entire thing with water and Dawn. The next day, wiped it all down with SPI wax/grease remover
Thinned down the epoxy and applied a sealer coat. Waited 2 hours and applied 3 coats of Sikkens U-Tech U500 SS urethane in Ermine White (the local distributor did not have any mopar codes that far back, but they did have GM codes so I went with GM color WA2661, Ermine White.) I was very happy with the paint. Great color, nice shine, and good coverage. No bad orange peel! But I did get some sags, runs and dirt specks. Next step is to color sand and buff it out.
