Project StinkBug: Spraying Ancient Lacquer Paint After 25 Years

I was mostly satisfied with the paintwork going on with the '57 this year, but the labor costs were adding up. And when there was a problem with the hood, and it would need to be repainted at my expense, I decided to try my hand at painting using the old acrylic lacquer paint cans that came with this car.

I bought a 21-gallon oiled Harbor Freight air compressor, and all the various bits like an air hose and fittings and paint filters from them too. I had already bought a gallon of Clear Lacquer Sunscreen and some Slow High Gloss Thinner LT-85 on Amazon. I bought a $42 spray gun from Amazon, which was kind of a splurge, when Harbor Freight guns are $10. But I liked the smaller 1.3mm tip size for lacquer. So in addition to the base coat and the clear and the thinner, which I already had left over, I spent about $275 on various things, most of which can be used again and again for years.

The challenge was trying to paint a hood to match a car that was painted 25 years ago (and I'd be using the remnants in a 25 year old paint can!) And the old paint job on the rest of the car is still great, previously wet-sanded and polished to a mirror shine. To me, the rest of the car looks like a great $10,000 paint job. So the hood had to be great, not just good. I wasn't sure I should even attempt it, but in the end I'm very happy with my results and am already planning to redo the driver's side rocker, driver's side door jambs, and rear door that my painter did earlier this year.

The painting process was straightforward, and lacquer paint was easy to deal with. I think a stunning lacquer paint job can be attained by the average hobbyist in their backyard.

The hood is all prepped, and I'm ready to lay down the green lacquer and clearcoat lacquer in my backyard. My neighbors must love me... ;)

At this point, done with the final coat of clear over the green, I really wasn't sure what to think. I thought it would have much more shine. There's 5 or 6 coats of green and 5 or 6 coats of clear. The coats were pretty thin though, so it built up slowly. The outside temperature was over 90 degrees, so the paint was drying quickly, even with 1:1 of 85 degree reducer.

I waited only 24 hours for drying and started wet-sanding with 800, 1000, 1500, and then 2000 grit paper. I really just skimmed over it quickly. Then I used a wool bonnet with rubbing compound, and a foam bonnet with 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. Most folks suggest waiting a week or longer to sand, which I'll try next time. I'll also start wet-sanding with 1000 grit or higher instead of 800.

Update: So, the clear coat on the hood was damaged two days after painting, when I placed the hood upside down (in the sun no less) to assess stripped hood bolt threads, and the heat melted the clear coat into the foam it was resting on. I ended up wet sanding all the clear coat with 600 grit, mostly where the damage had occurred, but not down to the green, and then re cleared the whole hood. It's important to not get down to the green layer or you'd have to re-shoot the green metallic. I then wet sanded with 1000 and then 2000 and then polished with a cheap wool bonnet and rubbing compound. Finished it up with a foam pad and 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. I'm surprised, but this re-do looks even better than the first attempt, and I'm comfortable with the process of fewer wet-sanding grits.

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Project StinkBug: '57 Plate for a '57 Chevy

North Carolina is clearly a car-friendly state. It's the home of NASCAR after all.

Here in NC, we don't need to display a front license plate. In fact, the DMV only gives us one plate per car to display on the rear.

There are no unsightly inpsection and county stickers required to be stuck to the front windshield either.

And interestingly, for classic cars, NC allows owners to display a NC license plate from the year of manufacture (YOM) of the car. As long as the "real"plate is somewhere inside the vehicle, if the driver is pulled over.

So I set out to find a nice '57 plate from NC. (I had considered finding a plate from Alabama, having learned that my car was sold new there back in '57. Those plates are also black with yellowish text like a NC plate. But I couldn't find a decent plate at a good price.)

Weeks ago I was able to find a nice original paint NC plate at the local Autofest here in Raleigh. I had seen similar plates going for about $125 on eBay, so I was happy to pay the asking price of $80 for this one.

A little wax and polishing and the plate looks even better then it did. I studied the plate and little bit of paint loss closely, and I'm convinced it's original paint.

Project StinkBug: More Green Bits

The '57 came with a couple cans of old acrylic lacquer paint mixed back in 1989. I wasn't sure this exterior paint would still be good, and various painters I questioned didn't think so either. And, the previous owner didn't mention which clearcoat he had used on top of this lacquer, but there was evidence of lots of buffing and polishing, which wouldn't have been possible on a metallic lacquer color coat. So, there was some uncertainty when it came to painting the remaining bits and pieces that were missing from the car when I bought it.

Here are many of the interior window trim pieces hanging in the paint shop, prepped for final paint.

 The previous owner also has been unreliable at getting me the final parts he had promised, so I haven't bothered to include him in any of the project at this point (although oddly he texts looking for information and photos). I found a painter in my neck of the woods who has been willing to work with me to figure out the best process at duplicating the previously unfinished paint job.

After the final coat of acrylic lacquer green, the bits will be getting doused in multiple coats of urethane clear the next morning. I went with urethane clear on top of all the interior bits, because it gives a great shine and no need for wet sanding at all (saving lots of time and money).

For some reason, one of the cans of paint didn't even match the car, being too light by a couple shades. But the other one seems to match very close (for a car that was apparently painted back around 1990 and then stored inside under a cover.) After some experimentation, the best match is four coats of the acrylic lacquer metallic green mixed with a high gloss thinner, with at least four coats of a clear lacquer on top.

Here's a piece of interior trim with the fresh paint job, laying on the fender and dash with the old paint job. The hood here has been painted with the "wrong" can of green paint that came with the car and will need to be redone; it's a couple shades lighter even with the very same clear urethane on top.

Hopefully, we'll have the remaining bits all green and shiny this month.

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Project StinkBug: Open Wide

A milestone day last week as the new crate 350 dressed in '57 accessories was mated to a rebuilt turbo 350 transmission and a higher-performance torque converter. I painted the transmission cast gray, which if I read the detailing materials correctly, was one of a couple correct colors for the transmission (usually a two-speed Powerglide) that year.

The transmission has a polished and finned pan on it, which probably isn't correct, but it looks good and seems high quality and leak-free. All the other bits and pieces, such as the dipstick tube, kickdown cable, etc. will be replaced for new.

Hopefully, I don't see this sight again for many, many years...

I found a stock-appearing flywheel cover (in black with no vents), and we will bolt that on shortly, along with some new linkage pieces to get the turbo 350 to work in this car.

With the radiator core support removed, the engine and transmission pretty much go right in, but the firewall area is a tight fit.

I'm hoping to have another evening or two to work on the car before shipping it back to my house from Josh's garage.

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Rise and Shine

I had a chance to pull out the '66 Mustang yesterday from its many-months hibernation. I had been chasing a few minor coolant leaks with it early last year, and with the Bel Air taking up my time more and more, I just let the Mustang sit. And sit.

So yesterday, I finished repairing the leaks. I installed new heater hoses at the heater box, charged the flat battery, changed the oil and filter, siphoned some year-old gas, poured in a couple gallons of fresh gas, and it started up after just a few seconds of cranking. I was surprised it started so quickly, but the EZ EFI fuel injection really works awesome.

Well, I also bolted on the original California black license plate that had been on the car since, most likely, Day One. I've had the original front plate on the car as long as I've owned the car, but just decided to clean up the rear plate, and replace my modern North Carolina plate with it. (North Carolina allows classic cars to wear NC plates from the year of manufacture, in this case '66. I'm going with the CA plate, since it's original and similarly styled -- black and yellow.)

The incredible part is that after I peeled off stacks of registration stickers from the plate (and saved them in a baggie!), I found the original 1967 registration sticker underneath in nearly mint condition. It blows my mind that the original owner put that sticker there -- nearly half a century ago.

I'd be driving it again today, but after being in the 70s and sunny yesterday, we are in the 20s and snowing and will hit the mid-teens tonight. A sixty-degree swing in just over 24 hours...

Wearing the black and yellow plate again...