1973 IH Travelall - Family Cruiser, Big project....

In reply to NOHOME :

Shoulders..... Lol

Sand it off, add more on.... I'm just about out of 80 grit.... 

I feel your pain. 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Just when I think I'm getting close..... 

Pin holes, how are they dealt with? I have tons.... 

In reply to java230 :

glaze putty. Or thinned filler?

I grabbed some spot putty from the parts store 

Thanks guys. Ran spot putty over a bunch.... Just means more damn sanding. 

In reply to java230 :

what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

java230 said:

Thanks guys. Ran spot putty over a bunch.... Just means more damn sandingy. 

I sanded it with 320 on the challenge car to save some effort on final sanding. Dunno if right or wrong though 

Not that you cant fill over epoxy, but an idea would be to pick one panel that you think is your best ( or worst)  effort, mask off the surrounding panels and shoot it in epoxy. It will give you some idea of what to expect before you shoot a lot of expensive epoxy over the entire car.

The other thing that it will accomplish is to get over the first time painting jitters. Nothing worse than starting a first paint job when it matters, and have to deal with little issues that frustrate you early on, when you still have the rest of the car to paint.  

I have a spare fender, I was planning to throw some filler on it next time I had filler mixed. Sand that with the 80 and see how it looks painted. I cleaned things up pretty well, and it looks pretty scratchy.... 

More sanding.... Drivers side is all hit with 150. A few spots hit will glaze.

Pass side got lots more filler

Test fender with filler

java230 said:

Bonus points for the SafetyFlop/Wedge!

In reply to ClemSparks :

Combat flip flops (yes really!) super high quality, love them. That's an old worn out one that I use to slam in the door to hold it open a bit so I can block the edges. 

OK test fender....

I didn't sand it quite as well as the truck (still some edges, was more worried about bondo vs bare metal paint differences). I can definately see the bondo, its duller, like paint absorbed more.

This is the area painted.

Can definitely see the texture diff here

Just need a second coat? Its also just rattle can paint

I still say mix up a small portion of the epoxy and shoot it on your best or worst effort panel and decide if you are going to be happy with the results. 150 grit sanding marks are going to be pretty obvious.

Yup. And without some form of sealer on the bondo, it WILL telegraph through the topcoat. Even rattle can rustoleum primer will prevent it though. 

Id also sand the whole with with 220/320 if you want the epoxy primer to look at all decent. The sanding scratches will show worse than you ever thought possible. 

***this is based on my experience doing E36 M3ty bodywork to E36 M3ty cars with E36 M3ty materials in E36 M3ty conditions. Your experience may be different. 

Ugh. I don't want to 220 everything!! 

I'll shoot son primer on the lower area and try again 

In reply to NOHOME :

trying to shoot it in one go. Guess I may have to do a tear panel. I'm ok with not Shiney/perfect, but I'm not sure I want to see scratches all over 

Shoot a panel and decide based on data. What you got to lose besides maybe a couple of hours? You got a lot more to lose if you shoot the whole truck and hate it.

You may even try to shoot a panel, not like it, and sand the epoxy to 220 or 300 and then shoot the second coat of epoxy for the win.

While you can certainly do whatever filler work you want over epoxy, you don't want to decide after spraying a full gallon that you now need to high fill and do another coat of epoxy.

Pete

In reply to NOHOME :

Your right.... I may have to shoot a panel. 

Primered the lower section

shot color over it all

if any consolation epoxy does cover better than the spray can stuff. I would not want to do much more sanding on the filler because you will move into the taking too much off territory. Filler looks flat. Congratulations you earned it.  Time to move to smooth without removing filler.

In reply to NOHOME :

I had a friend who worked in a body shop come by..... He seemed to think the 150 grit/drivers was totally good to go for epoxy. 

I hope it does cover a bit more than rattle cans, but I wanted a worst ish case scenario. 

java230 said:

In reply to NOHOME :

Here are the metal high spots I had. I think your right that I can take more off all across the bottom at the body line there. The body line is acting as an artificial "high" I think!

And again I REALLY appreciate all the help :D

I wish I had seen this as you were dealing with it, but I'm too ADD to read more than 2-3 pages at a time. 

That little donut shaped high spot is something I've seen a few times. It's from people leaning on the car to get up and down to work on brakes, changing tires etc. Almost always to the right of the arch. Almost every 2nd gen Camaro/Firebird I've worked on had them on both driver's and passenger sides. (8-9 of them anyway)

The low spot in the middle is almost always stretched and pushed in and that stretched area is making the donut pushing back out because it's trying to spring back into position. 

I'd wager that that dent (and heat distortion from welding the trim holes shut) is what was pushing up that high spot below it at the arch you stuggled with early on. 

I only mention it now because it might help someone else in the future. 

As far as your current surface texture issue. It would take a lot less time to just spray a good high build on it than it would to sand it beyond 150, and be a lot less likely to bite you in the ass. (No new valleys chasing out the 150 and little risk of 150 showing through high build.)

Also, when spraying over textured surfaces, doing one coat and letting it cure fully before subsequent coats makes a massive difference in coverage as the layers don't homogenize.