Nick's "lvndpst" Restoration (and Slight Modification) Thread

My hood scoop is not very glossy and kinda orange peely (just sitting on the dusty hood atm). Gonna have to try some super fine grit on it, and polish it. Still havent tweaked the front bumper into place yet, but I only have so much time with the newborn. We are slowly getting there fellas!

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Your hood scoop isn't very glossy for the same reason it's highly susceptible to solvents. It's lacquer.

This is gonna sound waay harder than it will really be because you've got a small piece, it is already painted nicely, and that paint is new and soft.

Get some 800 and some some 1500 grit paper. (or better yet, you can even get a sanding block in those grits from AZ.)
Wetsand the thing w/ 800 first till you see a flat surface, wiping it dry regularly to check what it looks like dry. You'll know what I'm talking about immediately after you dry it to check. Watch the color of the water as you sand,..it'll also be a clue as to how much you're sanding off, as it'll start turning red if/when you cut through the clear coat. The 1500 gets rid of the sandscratch carnage that was left from the 800, so you only need to go over the thing a couple of times w/ that.
Then....get some #2 rated rubbing compound and hand rub that thing like DanielSan....(sanda da floor,...go,..this way w/ a right hand, den go this way w/a left hand.)If you really want to get it looking good, get the #1 finishing polish, and that'll get rid of the swirl marks that the #2 creates..
Wipe it off.....you'll get a gloss that shines better than the rest of the car real quick. Lather, rinse, repeat till that btch looks like a Steinway. And you'll see why the words "hand rubbed lacquer" were the standard for a show quality paint job for 40 years..
 
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Your hood scoop isn't very glossy for the same reason it's highly susceptible to solvents. It's lacquer.

This is gonna sound waay harder than it will really be because you've got a small piece, it is already painted nicely, and that paint is new and soft.

Get some 800 and some some 1500 grit paper. (or better yet, you can even get a sanding block in those grits from AZ.)
Wetsand the thing w/ 800 first till you see a flat surface, wiping it dry regularly to check what it looks like dry. You'll know what I'm talking about immediately after you dry it to check. Watch the color of the water as you sand,..it'll also be a clue as to how much you're sanding off, as it'll start turning red if/when you cut through the clear coat. The 1500 gets rid of the sandscratch carnage that was left from the 800, so you only need to go over the thing a couple of times w/ that.
Then....get some #2 rated rubbing compound and hand rub that thing like DanielSan....(sanda da floor,...go,..this way w/ a right hand, den go this way w/a left hand.)If you really want to get it looking good, get the #1 finishing polish, and that'll get rid of the swirl marks that the #2 creates..
Wipe it off.....you'll get a gloss that shines better than the rest of the car real quick. Lather, rinse, repeat till that btch looks like a Steinway. And you'll see why the words "hand rubbed lacquer" were the standard for a show quality paint job for 40 years..

I appreciate the schooling man! I will most likely do that tonight!
 
Well buddy @madmike1157 , it turned out like dog sht. Got it smooth with 800 grit without breaking too deep, smoothed it with 1500, then the two compounds followed by wax, and holy f'in scratches. At this point I am sick of it, and will be dropping it off for paint.
There's the old Nick we all know and love....

Whatya mean holy fkn scratches? That's the 800 that you didn't get out w/1500. Lacquer was designed so monkey's w/ lobotomies could paint the cars back in the days of the model T. You could spray lacquer out of a spray bottle, and w/ enough "elbow grease" make that sht look like a bagillion dollars.
What you're seeing goes away the more you rub it. It's not like waxing a car Jeeves, you have to work the area UNTIL you get rid of the scratches..You think you have scratches, you shouldve seen the Monster's trunk. It was so hazy I finally forced myself to get out the buffer and fix it.

There was no reason to use the #1 compound if the #2 hadn't gotten rid of the scratches...In the Monster's buffing regimen, the sandpaper starts at 1000, followed by 2000, followed by 3000, THEN followed by the #2, then followed by the #1 compound.
And I have to do that to the whole freakin car!

And all you had was one, little, stinkin, hood scoop.:nonono:
What's wrong? Are your arms tired, and hurty-wurty my poor wittle baby?

What are you gonna use to paint the rest of the bumper? I'll bet the same stuff right?

Sanda da floor Daniel San. Wax on, wax off....
This hood scoop?....painted in the exact same stuff you did.
pliner0190mq7.webp

The rest of the car was done in BCCC. I needed more room after the 363 stuck it's head out of the hood.
 
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There's the old Nick we all know and love....

Whatya mean holy fkn scratches? That's the 800 that you didn't get out w/1500. Lacquer was designed so monkey's w/ lobotomies could paint the cars back in the days of the model T. You could spray lacquer out of a spray bottle, and w/ enough "elbow grease" make that sht look like a bagillion dollars.
What you're seeing goes away the more you rub it. It's not like waxing a car Jeeves, you have to work the area UNTIL you get rid of the scratches..You think you have scratches, you shouldve seen the Monster's trunk. It was so hazy I finally forced myself to get out the buffer and fix it.

There was no reason to use the #1 compound if the #2 hadn't gotten rid of the scratches...In the Monster's buffing regimen, the sandpaper starts at 1000, followed by 2000, followed by 3000, THEN followed by the #2, then followed by the #1 compound.
And I have to do that to the whole freakin car!

And all you had was one, little, stinkin, hood scoop.:nonono:
What's wrong? Are your arms tired, and hurty-wurty my poor wittle baby?

What are you gonna use to paint the rest of the bumper? I'll bet the same stuff right?

Sanda da floor Daniel San. Wax on, wax off....
This hood scoop?....painted in the exact same stuff you did.
pliner0190mq7.webp

The rest of the car was done in BCCC. I needed more room after the 363 stuck it's head out of the hood.

I can always count on you to remotivate me, lol. Since I dont know what Im doing, it makes it harder to know how to fix it. Part of me just doesnt have patience for body work, period. As far as the silver on the bottom of the car, that hides imperfections. I already did that in high school and it turned out fine. I dont anticipate issue there.
 
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There's the old Nick we all know and love....

Whatya mean holy fkn scratches? That's the 800 that you didn't get out w/1500. Lacquer was designed so monkey's w/ lobotomies could paint the cars back in the days of the model T. You could spray lacquer out of a spray bottle, and w/ enough "elbow grease" make that sht look like a bagillion dollars.
What you're seeing goes away the more you rub it. It's not like waxing a car Jeeves, you have to work the area UNTIL you get rid of the scratches..You think you have scratches, you shouldve seen the Monster's trunk. It was so hazy I finally forced myself to get out the buffer and fix it.

There was no reason to use the #1 compound if the #2 hadn't gotten rid of the scratches...In the Monster's buffing regimen, the sandpaper starts at 1000, followed by 2000, followed by 3000, THEN followed by the #2, then followed by the #1 compound.
And I have to do that to the whole freakin car!

And all you had was one, little, stinkin, hood scoop.:nonono:
What's wrong? Are your arms tired, and hurty-wurty my poor wittle baby?

What are you gonna use to paint the rest of the bumper? I'll bet the same stuff right?

Sanda da floor Daniel San. Wax on, wax off....
This hood scoop?....painted in the exact same stuff you did.
pliner0190mq7.webp

The rest of the car was done in BCCC. I needed more room after the 363 stuck it's head out of the hood.



upload_2017-4-25_18-37-2.webp



:rock:
 
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I managed to get the rear bumper trimmed, cut off the ends of my crusty old factory tails, and cut my rear springs down. The springs are the right height, but I cut them in a bad place so they dont actually rest where they are supposed to (hard to explain). Seems like its putting strain on my axle, and pushing it back as you can see in the pic. So I guess that leaves me having to buy springs at some point. But then I'll want control arms... And while Im there, shocks too. Grr, wish I woulda just paid attention and cut them in the right place. Anyway, pics for tonight.

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Anyone need some gently used GT tail pipes?

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My hood scoop is not very glossy and kinda orange peely (just sitting on the dusty hood atm). Gonna have to try some super fine grit on it, and polish it. Still havent tweaked the front bumper into place yet, but I only have so much time with the newborn. We are slowly getting there fellas!

20170423_193955.webp
So... How long before we can order a custom front bumper? I need one for my 87 GT... Ha! That thing is awesome!!!
 
So... How long before we can order a custom front bumper? I need one for my 87 GT... Ha! That thing is awesome!!!

I dont know if youve read it in any of the 79 places Ive said it, but I HATE bodywork. So therefore I will not be producing more of these! Thank you for the compliment though man!

@madmike1157 , I was quoted $300 to paint the scoop, so I drug the damned thing home with me and started sanding it with 1500 again. I think I have it in a lot better shape, but Im going to buy some finer grit tomorrow and give it another once over. The shiney spots are just my finger prints.

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Just a question, you are wet sanding and going up/down then side to side with the next finer grit
I wet sanded a black lacquer lincoln when I was a kid, it took
F-O-R-E-V-E-R
I get tired just thinking about it.
I bet you hate bodywork or did you say that already
 
I am wet sanding, but going in gentle circles so as not to create any more damn scratches. The 2000+ grit I will barely put my hand on the block, lol. Want this bish smooth as a baby's bottom so I can thank @madmike1157 for his kind encouragement getting me to a decent end product.
It works like this, Iowa Nick.

It seems stupid to keep increasing the number of the grit towards 3000, (considering 3000 grit paper doesn't feel like sand paper at all) but when time to make it shine, the effort to make that happen diminishes dramatically.

When I stop at 2000, I'm buffing my balls off. I can get it to shine, but you can see the sand scratches all over in the base. If I hit it w/ 3000 before that, the shine appears almost immediately. So,...sand as much as you want w/ grits that get increasingly higher. The smoother you make it before you start rubbing, the nicer that'll be when you start putting your Daniel on.
 
I am really tired of looking at the car wondering how the front bumper is going to look finished, so next on the agenda is washing and sanding the rest of the silver on the car. Then sometime next week when it stops raining, spray that silver. In the mean time, I need to purchase one fog light bezel and some new fog lights.
 
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