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Re: Datsunbeginner's Daily Ute

Subject: Re: Datsunbeginner's Daily Ute
by datsunbeginner on 2011/4/14 15:30:06

So I set out to finally paint the ute after hearing some girl at the train station go to her mom "eh mom look at that orange t-h-i-n-g". Wanted to smack her. I do admit, it is kinda an eyesore with grey splotches here and there on the bright orange where I've done sanding and bogging over the past year or so. Kinda reminds me of the movie "Joe Dirt" with his superbird. Never painted a car before so this was going to be all new to me.

Went to Inspirations paint and bought some fresh paint to match the old in two pak which they coined "blood orange". For a whopping $495 I walked away with 4 litres two pak, 4 litres thinner, 2 tins of hardener, and 4 litres 2 pak compatible primer and an empty wallet. They did give me some friendly advice though which was nice.

The last two weekends I've spent about 36 hours or so prepping, sanding, bogging, sanding, bogging, and more sanding to get the body where I think its up to snuff to start painting. Took the tonneau cover hooks which were pop riveted off, and the holding angle off as well. Don't plan on putting these back on and they are all intact if anyone wants them and the sports bar for a cheap price let me know. Bogged up the drill holes and sanded some more. Went over the whole ute with a big fat pen and marked out all the spots where there were slight imperfections which was a technique I thought worked really well in the longrun to track my progress. Patch primed the bare metal areas to be left for the next week when I was to prime. Left the interior and engine bay mostly as is because I decided not to paint these since I am putting the original color back on. Plus I would have no clue how to take all the mechanical bits out and put them back in successfully.

Stripped all the exterior bits off, tailights, bumpers, etc.. but I left all the glass and window rubbers on and just made sure I masked around them real accurately. Taking all the stuff off was kinda fun actually because it made me think about how all that stuff works. Oh and I found a small fender bender behind the bumper which was previously bogged up with about 2 inches of bog which I chiseled out. Most people take the glass out though don't they? Broke the lock on the fuel compartment taking it off ...doh! One more thing to fix haha.

So last weekend we finally got a coat of primer on her. Had a bit of trouble with the spray gun and compressor which I am borrowing from a friend who has kindly let me do the whole operation in his garage! The gun was just spraying real inconsistently which you can see in the photos in some spots...had a rant about this in a post on the main forum think its all due to the smallish old compressor he has. Will be getting a new gun and compressor to try this weekend hopefully with better luck. Oh and I have NFI why the primer is banana yellow either. Kinda unique I suppose. Reminds me of big bird somehow. Has anyone seen this color two pak compatible primer before?

Can't wait to get the color on hey? Its been alot of work till this point and I have TOTAL respect for people who do this professional as I now know why they charge so much $$ to have it done.

I'll post pics of the finished job if we get done this weekend. Wish us luck!