With the bulk of the paint work completed on this car it is time to place a few orders and gather up some parts I’ll need to begin the assembly work. That starts with a quality wiring harness and that, or course, has to be a Painless Products harness. I don’t like to admit this, but I’ve actually used other brands of wiring harnesses in the past. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I’ve wired a car or two over my career as a car nut I don’t think I would have ever been able to follow the instructions and actually wire a car with the other brands.

The Painless harness I selected is the Universal Street Rod Harness, 18 circuit/Non-GM column (Eastwood # 60046). I opted for the 18 circuit harness simply because street rods are always in flux. Twelve circuits could have easily wired this car, but having a few extra circuits will let me add more electrical devices in the future. Who knows, they may even come up with something better than the eight track stereo and if they do an extra circuit could come in handy.

Aside from the 18 circuit harness I also ordered a few extra goodies designed to make wiring this car even a little easier. Those include: Electric Fan Harness (Eastwood # 60093), Fuel Pump Harness (Eastwood # 60152), Master Disconnect Harness (Eastwood # 60190), Headlight Switch (Eastwood # 60306), and Windshield Wiper Switch (Eastwood # 60311).

Once you have the harness in hand the best place to st art is with reading the instruction manual. The manual is broken down into three separate sections, the headlight and engine section, dash section, and tail light section. Each one of those sections is broken down and detailed even more and just to make certain you don’t find yourself scratching your head Painless also includes several schematics to keep you headed in the right direction.

To make life even easier each wire in the harness is numbered and labeled. An example is wire # 901. This wire is gray with a white tracer stripe, is 18 gauge, and st art s at the engine cooling fan switch and goes to the fan relay. If you have your glasses on you can even read the words “Fan Relay” printed on the wire. How sweet it is.

I’ll spend the next few days routing wires and plugging in circuits using a battery charger as my voltage source. Never use the car battery as your voltage source when wiring a car. Car batteries carry too many amps. A short circuit or mis-wired circuit could easily fry an expensive component. By the way. Neatness counts. Painless supplies each harness with an assortment of wire ties and rubber grommets. Use them and keep your harness looking professional.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

Ask any professional automotive painter out there if he has ever “signed” his work and mostly likely he’ll cowboy up and admit that he has. I even sign my work on occasion and the ’46 Ford is no exception.

This is the windshield pillar post on the left side. This little “autograph” isn’t much, but there is no way I can leave it. It has to go.

The trick is in making this little run go away without sanding through the surrounding clear coat. Sanding through the clear coat would mean a lot of extra time and money spent on repainting this p art of the car.

Getting rid of the run st art s with finding or making the smallest sanding block possible. Had this been a flat panel I would probably bring out the Nib File (Eastwood # 34000) or the Run Razor (Eastwood # 34005) and cut this run down and be done with it. But this area isn’t flat. It is very much curved and rounded, which makes it very easy to cut right through the clear coat. I need something else here.

Notice in the photo that I’m using a piece of a wooden stir stick as a block and that I am only using the edge of stick to do the sanding. What grit sand paper? I’m st art ing with 1000-grit. Working with the thin edge of the stir stick gives me more control over where an d h ow much I’m sanding. To make this run go away I only want to sand the leading edge of the run. I don’t care how thick the build up of clear is behind the leading edge, all I’m concerned with is cutting down that edge and feathering it into the surrounding clear. By the way, I always wet sand this type of repair.

So how did I fare? Here’s the result of my sanding. Notice that I’ve sanded only a very small area and that the leading edge of the run has been feathered into the surrounding clear. That’s the goal. From here I can move to 1500-grit and finish with 2000-grit sand paper and sand this area just like I would any other p art of the car, with the flat of the sanding block.

A little compounding and this spot will be a good as new. I’ll have to find some other place to sign my work.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

As promised here is a close up look at how I laid out the graphics lines. To start, I only use 3M ¼-inch Fine Line tape # 37166 to lay out stripes or graphic work. The Fine Line tape insures that I always get a sharp edge along the paint lines. I never use masking tape as it can’t deliver the sharp, crisp lines I need between each color.

Here I’ve mounted the hood on the car. Notice the use of masking tape on the cowl area to insure I don’t scratch or chip the paint in this area while mounting and aligning the hood. Next the graphics lines on the cowl are carried forward onto the hood using the qu art er inch Fine Line tape. Also notice that the hoo d h as been lightly sanded using 1000-grit sand paper. This insures the graphic colors will stick and also insures the surface along the edges of the Fine Line tape are thoroughly sanded. This can sometimes be a problem when laying out graphic lines on an unsanded surface.

Now notice that the tape lines are laid out so that I can spray the red color first.

I’ve skipped ahead some and applied both colors. Notice that I applied the light purple over the red. That is evident by the Fine Line tape over the red. This was the lay out line for the light purple.

Here is the final result. All I have to do now is remove the hood and apply three or four coats of clear.

Okay, here’s some details.

I applied the initial HOK Purple in the booth and covered that with a single coat of clear. I allowed the hood to cure over night before mounting it on the car and laying out the graphics lines. I use this method for the simple reason that applying the one coat of clear reduces the chances of scuffing the purple while mounting the hood as well as stops the clock where top coating the purple is concerned. That gives me all the time I need to hang the hood, adjust the fit and lay out the graphics.

Oh, there is one more reason for applying the single coat of clear. Occasionally you will run across base colors that bleed. What’s that? The base color reacts to the clear coat as it is being applied and softens to the point of intermingling with the clear. Usually this isn’t a problem and can actually make the clear coat appear deeper and shinier. It can become a problem when you have multiple colors, such as I have on the ’46, and the base color bleeds into the clear and then leaches onto the other colors. That’s a disaster in any shop. To prevent base coat bleeding the simple solution is to lock the base color down with a single coat of clear. Once that is done you can apply graphic colors to your he art s desire.

Don’t know if any of your colors are bleeders? That’s time to bring out a test panel and apply the colors and cover them with a couple of heavy coats of clear. Hang the test panel vertically so that the clear can sag and keep an eye on it. You'll know soon enough if any of the colors are bleeding onto the other colors.

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

The paint work on this car is by no means complete. I still have both fenders, the hood, and the grille pieces to paint.

The process for painting these p art s hasn’t changed, so I won’t bore you with more painting details However, because a question arose concerning the use of 3M fine line tape to lay out the graphics I will cover that aspect of the refinishing process a little deeper and give you a close up look at how and why I laid out each color. But that’s for next time, when I’m ready to hang the hood and complete the graphics work on that panel. Meanwhile I need to reach the point at which I can st art putting p art s back on this car and to do that I need to color sand and buff the body.

Basically I use a six step process; sanding, more sanding, then more sanding, then compounding, then polishing, then shining. Ever wonder why top show winners have paint jobs that cost $50,000.00 or more? It’s got very little to do with the high cost of paint.

Using the deck lid as an example, I st art ed by sanding the panel using 1000-grit sand paper. Notice how flat and dull the finish has become. That’s the plan. I want the surface void of any shine and sanded as smooth as possible.

The sanding blocks of choice comes from the Eastwood #34055 Flexible Sanding Block kit and I selected these block for the simple reason that they are flexible and will easily follow the contours of any panel on this car. I never sand with my bare hands. Doing so can result in tracks left in the clear coat that exactly match the size and width of my fingers. That’s a very ugly look and not something I want on my ride.

Next I sand the panel with 1500-grit. No pic of this procedure because it looks the same as the 1000-grit results. The real change comes when I sand the panel using 2000-grit. Notice that the shine is beginning to return to the panel and I’ve yet to put a buffer to the panel.

After sanding it’s time to compound. I use Norton products, Eastwood #25266 Norton Liquid Ice System. Start by compounding the panel using the Super Cut Wool Pad and Liquid Ice Extra Cut compound. This is what brings back the shine.

Need a good buffer? Try the Eastwood # 12020 kit as it contains a DeWalt Electric Polisher. This is a variable speed unit that tops out around 3000 rpm. That’s perfect for compounding.

Once the shine is back I move to the Blue Foam Cutting Pad to remove swirl marks left from the compounding process. I dampen the pad before use and add just a few drops of Extra Cut to the pad, not the panel being buffed. This gets rid of the swirl marks and leaves me a great looking surface.

Next I switch to the White Finishing Pad. I also dampen this pad and apply a few drops of Extra Cut to the pad. And the results? You can shave in this shine.

Okay, how about a tip or two? First, operate the buffer slightly tipped. This gives you better control over the machine. Second, pay attention to the direction of spin. You can buff from a position of on the panel to off the panel, but not from off the panel to on the panel. 

If you allow the buffer to spin from off the panel to on the panel you risk cutting through the paint on the edge of the panel. Yes, you can tape the edges and I often do so.

Norton products are not like most other compounds. If the surface begins to dry out you can rejuvenate the compound by misting the surface with water.

Lastly, when you are finished with the compounding clean up the car and get rid of the splattered compound. Compound can and will etch a fresh clear coat. So take the time to clean up and save yourself some work rubbing out the etching marks.

Project vehicle provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

Occasionally I get tunnel vision and forget that most readers of this blog haven’t been breathing paint fumes for the past thirty plus years like I have and may not be real familiar with spray guns.

I’ll st art with gun selection. I happen to prefer the Binks M1-G for spraying colors and the DeVilbiss Plus GFG 670 for spraying clear coats. I have no kick against Sharpe, Iwata, or even SATA. They are all great guns. It’s just that I grew up on the Binks and DeVilbiss brand of guns and they fit my hand.

If you are having difficulty deciding which gun to buy the only thing I can add is that the cost of the gun will be directly reflected in the results of the paint job.

Now let’s talk about the guns. First off, when you are through spraying clean the gun inside and out. I use lacquer thinner to rinse through the gun then wipe it clean on the outside. I never allow a spray gun to soak in lacquer thinner. Thinner can cause some seals to swell and that can reduce the effectiveness of the gun. I also remove the spray tip and clean the air vents with the cleaning wire that comes with the gun.

Let me warn you, never use anything but the cleaning wire that came with the gun to clean the air vents. Should you inadvertently enlarge the vents using an improper tool the gun will not longer spray like it should. The only cure is to purchase a new spray tip.

Tip. If the gun is spraying off to one side turn the spray tip 180 degrees. If the misguided spray flips to the other direction the problem is a clog in the air vents on the tip. If not you have trash in the gun and it must be taken ap art and cleaned. Warning! The instructions that come with your gun will be specific about how far you can break the gun down. Follow those instructions as removing some p art s of the gun may require you to purchase new seals before assembling the gun again.

Now let’s set the gun for spraying. All spray guns have two adjustment knobs. The top knob is the fan adjustment. Turn this knob full inboard then back it out two and a half turns. That shoul d h ave the fan pattern set to a nice oval shape.

The lower knob is the fluid flow control knob. Loosen this knob three turns. Any more and the knob might come off the gun. It is spring loaded so take care not to loosen it too much.

Now squeeze the trigger an d h old it. Now tighten the fluid flow control knob until you feel the trigger begin to move. Stop. The fluid control is set.

Next load a small amount of paint into the gun and using a length of masking paper spray a test burst, about a half second. The pattern should be oval shaped and roughly six inches long. To change the pattern the fan adjustment knob is tightened to produce a more rounded pattern or loosened to produce a more elongated oval shape. When the pattern is about six inches long and about two inches wide the gun is set.

Now for the regulator. I use a diaphragm type regulator because this type of regulator gives me constant flow of air from the moment I pull the trigger. I don’t get that burst of air at first trigger pull that is common to other types of regulators.

To set the regulator refer to the instructions that came with the gun for the recommended psi setting and set the air flow with the trigger pulled and air flowing through the gun. Binks will tell you to set the M1-G at 10-12 psi at the air cap. They actually make gauges to read the psi at the air cap but very few paint suppliers will have them. For the M1-G 10 –12 psi will equal about 22 psi at the inlet.

You will also read about cfm requirements for HVLP spray guns. What this means is that you will need an air compressor capable of producing the required cfm or the higher volume of air, as in High Volume Low Pressure for HVLP, needed for proper operation simply won’t be there. Gun production will suffer as will the results. Look for a compressor that can produce 12 – 14 cfm at 30 psi.

Finally, tape some masking paper to the shop wall and st art practicing. The side of your precious ride is no place to learn how to spray.

Project vehicle provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

So you don’t have to scroll back through the past few installments I’ll do a quick review on where I’m at with this car. I’ve painted the body, applied a coat of clear, added the graphics, and applied another coat of clear over the graphics only. That puts me at the point of being ready to apply the final clear coats to the body.

I’m using the DeVilbiss Plus GFG 670 gravity feed gun, # 34227, to spray the HOK UC 35 Polyurethane Clear. This gun is a personal favorite of mine. I know how the gun sprays, how each coat will lay when sprayed, and I can even tell by the sound if the gun isn’t working properly.

I’m going to add three more coats of clear to the entire body plus add a couple of extra coats over the graphics on the sides of the car. Why the extra coats on the graphics? The graphics have left paint lines between the colors. That’s so I can burying the colors and eliminate the paint lines.

But as I mentioned last time what I really want to do is talk about spraying techniques. As late as just a few years ago spraying clear coats meant getting orange peel. Removing that orange peel meant hours spent sanding the clear to flatten the surface and remove the orange peel.

Pick up any paint manufacturer’s technical sheets on their clear coat products and you will see the words “apply medium wet”. We always followed that advice and we always got orange peel. At least to an extent.

Well, paint manufacturers, paint gun makers, and painters are always tinkering with things to improve them. So I’m happy to say that after a lot of tinkering on everybody’s part spraying clear coats has gotten a lot easier and the results right out of the gun look more like glass and less like an orange peel.

Here’s the trick. First off, use only quality paints. It’s a no brainer. Second, the more you pay for a gun the better the results. Third, forget the words medium wet.

This pic was taken right after the first coat of clear went on. Notice that it appears slightly rough. No orange peel, but a little rough. To apply this coat I sped up the application process. For example, in the old days I would have taken about five seconds to move from the front of this quarter to the rear to make a single pass. Today I made this same pass is about three seconds. Faster, but not much faster. The result is this rougher appearing coat.

But don’t worry, it won’t stay rough for long. As the coat beings to cure it will begin to flow out and lay flat. All I have to do is give it a full fifteen minutes to cure before applying the second coat.

Here’s my second coat. Notice how much smoother the finish has become. Given more time to cure this coat will flow out even more and be as smooth as glass. Now that’s a paint job. In a commercial shop the painter might stop, clean his gun, and go home.

But not me, I’m not done. My third coat will go over the graphics only. In the old days I would have been concerned with leaving a dry edge around the graphics. Not anymore. Today’s clear coat products flow out much better and leaving a dry edge is pretty much a thing of the past.

Thirty minutes later I’ll add the fourth coat over the graphics and thirty minutes after that I’ll spray a final coat over the entire body. Why increase the cure time to thirty minutes between coats instead of the fifteen minutes used before? I’m getting a lot of clear on the car and I need to give those coats time to dissipate the solvents trapped within the layers of clear. If I didn’t I could very easily end up with solvent pops. What that? Think of a pan of water boiling on the stove with steam bubbles popping on the surface. It is the same thing with solvents trapped within the clear coats. Those solvents must be allowed to surface and release from the clear. If I hurried the painting process by piling on the clear I could trap those solvents and when they pushed to the surface and popped they would leave behind craters in my clear, hundreds of them. And they won’t go away. The only recourse would be to sand the surface flat and recoat with more clear. So I’ll wait.

So how slick is the ’46? You can see the haze around it, but you can also see the shine. This is one nice ride.

Project vehicle provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

Here is a first look at the completed graphic work. It’s definitely different, and I think once the car is finished it will be a real eye catcher.

Here are some of the details. I didn’t want the usual tapered or faded look to the end of the graphics so I elected for something I’ve never seen before. The rough and torn end of this graphic leaves the impression that the red was applied with a brush and this is where I ran out of paint. I continued this look with the smaller stripe above. 

That’s all well and good, but I still have work to do so it’s back to the grind. Notice in the next pic that I’ve once again removed the doors and deck lid then sanded the new graphics using 1000-grit sand paper. Like I did when sanding the rest of the body, I’m not trying to remove much of the clear, just rough it up enough to accept some additional clear. The reason for removing the doors and deck are to give me better access to spraying around the door jambs and the deck lid opening.

The plan is to apply at least two more coats of clear to the entire body and at least four coats over the graphic work. Why extra coats over the graphics? Adding the additional colors to the sides of the car has produced paint lines. Applying additional clear over those paint lines will let me come back and aggressively sand the paint lines smooth. In the paint shop we would refer to this technique as “burying the paint lines”.

It’s the techniques used to apply these clear coats that I want to cover in depth. That will take more space than I have left here so for now I’ll check my supply of HOK products and get ready to spray some more clear.

Project vehicle provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

            As long as the body is still on the AutoTwirler rotisserie, Eastwood #12174, this is a good time to lightly sand the clear coat.  I’ll wet sand the body with 1000-grit on a soft block, Eastwood # 34064, and once that is done the body can go back on the frame.

This is the last of a three step operation that took the body of the ’46 from primer yellow to a single coat of clear. All three of these steps occurred over the span of about twelve hours.

Having decided upon the colors for this car, formulated and implemented a spraying plan, and having made a spray out card to verify the color I can now move forward with getting a little purple on the ’46.

The color I’m spraying is HOK KBC 10 Purple. This is a metallic color, but it is also a pearl, which makes it very transparent. Thus the need for having already given the body of the ’46 three coats of HOK BC 10 Black under base. The other two colors are HOK KBC 20 Red and HOK KBC 17 Purple, but I won’t put these colors on the car until later.

Right now the body is still on the rotisserie and that makes spraying the purple base coats much easier. I’m still using the Binks M1-G with a 1.3mm spray tip (#34160) and I’ll make the application spraying medium wet coats.

Once the three coats are on the car I’ll set the timer for one hour then mix a little HOK UC 35 Polyurethane Clear and give the body a single coat of clear.

I’ve been saying the body will get a single coat of clear to lock down the base color coats but I think this may need some explanation. First off, the need for a clear coat is dictated by the fact that I only have a twelve hour window after the last coat of color is applied to get a clear coat over the color or I will have to sand the coat, apply more color, then add the clear coat.

That twelve hour window is extremely short when you consider I have two other colors to add to the car once the purple has dried. Those additional colors will require me to mount the body back on the frame, install the doors and the deck lid, lay out the graphic lines, apply the colors, remove the doors and deck lid, then at last, apply the clear coats. Twelve hours just ain’t gonna get it. I need more time.

To get that needed extra time the solution is to lock the purple base color down with a coat of clear. That stops the twelve hour timer dead in its tracks and gives me all the additional time I need to get the body back on the frame, hang the doors and deck, and lay out the graphics.

So my plan calls for giving the roof of the car two coats of clear and the sides of the car only one coat. The reason for two coats on the roof is that while the body is on the rotisserie accessing the roof is very easy. Later, when the body is back on the frame accessing the roof won’t be quite so easy. Getting that extra clear on the roof now saves me some grief later when finishing up the clear coat application.

I haven’t mentioned the need to finish the firewall. This panel will be very difficult to clear coat once the body is back on the frame so now is the time to complete this p art of the car. I’ll give the firewall three coats and call it done.

To apply the HOK UC 35 Polyurethane Clear I’ll use a DeVilbiss PLUS GFG 670 (# 34227) and apply a medium wet coat. I’ll give this coat at least a half hour to cure then give the roof that second coat and the firewall an extra two coats.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

The HOK KC 10 Purple arrived at the shop in quart cans. I trust House of Kolor’s ability to properly mix colors, but I have this long ago ingrained warning gene that tells me to always combine quart cans of color to insure the color remains consistent throughout the spraying process.

So my first stop is at my local home improvement center to purchase a two-gallon plastic bucket and a couple of new one-gallon paint cans. The plastic bucket lets me combine all eight quarts of purple into one container, stir thoroughly, then pour the mixture into the two, one-gallon cans. Now I have a mix that I know is consistent from the first spray cup to the last spray cup.

As I mentioned previously the plan calls for painting this car in sections. That makes it easier on me, but tosses into the mix a whole new set of problems with color matching. I’ve already taken the first step to insure a color match now I need to take the next step.

For that I’ll use a spray out card. This is little more than a black and white card I tape to the end of a stir stick and use to verify color consistency from panel to panel. Having one end white and the other end black helps me to know how many coats of color it takes to get good coverage. In this case three coats.

With the seal coat on the car I’m ready to start the process of making this car purple.

The first step will be to apply three coats of black under base HOK BC 25. I’ll use the Binks M1-G (#34160) with a 1.3mm spray tip and apply the three coats medium wet. What’s the definition of medium wet? To me medium wet means I can see a wet puddle of paint immediately behind the gun as I spray. This puddle quickly dries to a semi-gloss finish. How quick? About three seconds. Any longer and the coat is being applied too wet and will result in an orange peel surface. That’s not what I’m looking for. I want the surface as flat and smooth as possible.

I’d suggest a little practice before attacking the panels on your ride. Black base coat is cheap, compared to red base coat, and it shows any and all problems with your spraying techniques such as getting runs from moving across the panel too slow, or leaving a grainy texture from moving across the panel too fast.

The reason for applying the black under base is that the HOK KB 10 Purple is extremely transparent. Without the black under base the purple would end up streaked with light and dark spots. Not a good thing. The black helps prevent any streaking as well as reduces the number of coats of purple I’ll need to apply to this car.

As for applying three coats of the black under base, this gives me plenty of depth to the black, about 1.5 mils total. That’s enough coverage to allow me to pause the painting process and give the black a light sanding using 1000 grit sand paper. Why sand the black? Seal coats usually go on nice and smooth, but they take longer to dry to the touch than do base color coats. How much longer? Up to an hour. That’s plenty of time for trash to find its way to the surface of this car and give me an imperfection. I could lightly sand the seal coat, but in most cases doing so would require me to recoat the surface with additional sealer. That sort of defeats the purpose.

So giving the black under base a light sanding instead of sanding the seal coat lets me forgo the extra seal coat and I end up with a very slick surface once everything is said and done. That allows me to move on to the purple, which I’ll apply next.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

At last the primer sanding stage of this project is complete and I can now think about putting some paint on this car.

I have a plan for that, but when you read it you may think the method I’m going to use for spraying this car is a little unorthodox. In some shops it might even be considered down right silly. But for me, since I’ll be doing all of the paint work myself, this method is the best way to reach my goal without killing myself in the process.

What I propose to do is spray the car in sections. That means I’ll spray the body, the doors, the deck lid, the hood, the fenders and the grille panel separately, and in that order.

But there’s a catch to all this separate p art s spraying. I’ll be adding some serious graphic work to the sides of the car to help break up all that purple paint so I really can’t paint all these p art s separately. To get the graphics on the car the doors and deck lid must be installed.

That creates a problem when you consider I have a seal coat, three black under base coats, and at least three purple base color coats to put on the car before the graphic colors can be sprayed. At roughly one hour per coat, and that includes drying time, you can see I’m in for a long day.

So here’s the plan. At this moment the body is still on the AutoTwirler rotisserie (Eastwood # 12174). My intention is to leave the body on the rotisserie and apply the seal coat, under base and base color coats while I can turn the body for better access to everything that needs painting. This is one of those “why do it the hard way?” things.

Once the last coat of color is on the body I’ll finish this section by applying two coats of clear to the body. That locks down the base coats as they must be clear coated within twelve hours of application or I have to go back, sand the coats and add an additional coat of color before applying the clear. I’ll give the doors and deck lid the same treatment.

That lets me come back later and lightly sand the body, the doors, and the deck lid using 1000 grit sand paper in preparation for applying the graphics and final coats of clear.

I’ll install the doors and deck lid, lay out the graphics work along the sides of the car, do the necessary paint work then cover everything with an additional three coats of clear.

The paint products of choice come from House of Kolor (HOK). Try the Eastwood web site for a complete breakdown of the colors and under coat products available. The first coat to go on will be a seal coat. My choice is KS 10. This is a white sealer and it mixes 4:1:1, four p art s sealer to one p art RU310 Reducer to one p art RU 150 Catalyst. I apply the coat using the Binks M1-G (Eastwood # 31160) with a 1.4mm spray tip.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

I’m still in the priming and blocking stage, which I’m really tired of doing, so I thought this would be a good time to take a much needed break and take care of some other issues that need to be addressed.

Project cars only stay on schedule when you strive to stay ahead of the curve by looking ahead to what needs to be done next. In this case I have four really big issues that must be addressed or this car will end up sitting for a few weeks while I wait for parts and pieces to arrive at the shop. That’s not acceptable.

First on my list is fuel injection. No carburetor for this ride. If installing fuel injection makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, relax. Things have changed dramatically in this area over the past year or so. You no longer have to scavenge a unit from a Detroit refugee and hope it works, or be a computer wizard to get the unit to work right. All you have to do is pick up the phone and call Affordable Fuel Injection.

I opted for their TBI (Throttle Body Injection) system just because it looks very retro with the polished high rise manifold and carburetor looking throttle body unit.

Next I need wiring. For that I need an easy to install harness with plenty of instructions to keep me on the right track. The only real option in that department is Painless Performance. I opted for the Universal Street Rod Harness (18 circuit/non-GM column) # 60046, electric fan circuit # 60093, fuel pump circuit # 60152, master disconnect switch # 60190, head light switch # 60306, and windshield wiper switch # 60311. You may want or need more for your ride so browse the Eastwood on line catalog for a complete listing of Painless components.

This segment will be more of an FYI installment than anything else.

It is a long way around the ’46 with a piece of sand paper and I didn’t think you would be interested in watching me sand a little here and sand a little there trying to get the body slick enough for paint.

So instead I thought I would broach a subject that restorers of old cars often have to contend with, making the mental change from sanding body filler to sanding primer coats.

No, it ain’t the same. Sanding body filler requires hard, deliberate sanding strokes designed to forcefully cut through filler to find the right shape of the panel being repaired. Sanding primer requires light, calculated sanding strokes designed to, almost delicately, remove just enough primer to leave the surface smooth and defect free. All of the shaping and sculpting has already been done.

No amount of sanding with 320-grit sand paper will ever make much difference in the way a panel is shaped. It will, however, make a world of difference in how that shaped panel appears once painted. So remember that. If the panel isn’t perfect when you apply the primer it isn’t going to be perfect when you sand it.

But I wanted to talk about how to get your brain to make the mind set shift from sanding body filler to sanding primer.

This isn’t a shift that comes instantly. Ever wonder why most commercial body shops have body technicians and painters and not body techs/painters? It is the basic need to make this mind shift from body repair to paint repair once the body filler repairs have been completed. Most often the time needed to make such a shift in a commercial body shop setting simply isn’t there.

The result is that the paint repair work ends up being attacked like the surface was made of filler and not primer. The primer is sanded away, then more primer is added. Then that primer is sanded away because the repair still doesn’t feel right and the cost and time spent begins to skyrocket. Pretty soon the technician gives up and paints the car. The result is often a less than perfect job.

So the question is, what’s he doing wrong and why isn’t he making that needed mind set shift? What he’s doing wrong is trying to sand the primer the same way he sanded the body filler, with a firm hand. He also failed to recognize that primer serves two basic functions, to fill defects and forecast problem areas.

Filling defects is self explanatory so I’ll discuss forecasting problem areas.

Primer must always be sanding with a light hand. It is not there to shape or level bad body filler repairs. But it can be used to help find bad body filler repairs by telegraphing low spots where the guide coat remains after block sanding an area. Here’s an example.

In the body filler mind set this problem would simply call for more sanding until the panel felt smooth. In the primer sanding mind set this problem calls for ceasing the sanding process and filling the low spot with Evercoat Metal Glaze. Of course that means more primer, but then that’s what primer is there for, to help find problems and fill minor defects such as sand scratches.

That’s what he’s doing wrong, so how does he get his mind to shift and stop making those mistakes? Fortunately, it isn’t that hard. The brain just needs a little down time to make the shift. This is the same thing you do to your late model when the Check Engine light comes on. To get it to go off you have to disconnect the battery for a little while and allow the codes to clear from the computer.

Your brain works the same way. It has to be unplugged so the codes can be cleared. This is what allows you to leave the shop on Friday and return on Monday only to find problems with a repair you thought you had overcome on Friday. Been there, done that? Me too.

So how do I “code clear” and let my mind shift? I find it helpful to just walk away from the car for a few days, sometimes I let the ride sit for up to a week while I work on something else. By the time I get back to the car I expect to st art sanding and find problems I didn’t know existed. That’s the way sanding primer is supposed to be.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

I hate to think about it, but the time has finally come to block sand the primer coats on the ’46. But before I coat the entire shop in primer dust let me offer a little more explanation as to how this process actually works.

The final finish for this car will be done in HOK KBC 10 Purple. This is a very deep purple, bordering on black. In some lighting the color will actually appear to be black. That means I can’t take any chances with the prep work and everything I do from this point forward must be with a critical eye towards perfection. Even missing the slightest of problem areas on the car will leave them standing out like a lone wave on the ocean. That’s something I just can’t have.

I’ll also start sanding using the longest sanding block possible and sand the bigger areas of the car first. I’ll leave the smaller, harder to reach places for later, as I graduate down in sanding block lengths. That is where a five-inch sanding block holds as much importance as a thirty-six inch sanding block. Each one has its place and will definitely be needed.

I’m going to begin with 120-grit sand paper and graduate down to 220-grit sand paper. Won’t that take most of the primer off of the car? It sure will, but that’s exactly what I want at this point. I’m not trying to perfect the surface. I’m looking for any remaining imperfections such as minute waves, deep sand scratches, or pin holes that might have been missed when sanding the plastic body filler.

Once I find these problems I’ll fix them by either doing additional sanding or by filling them with Evercoat Metal Glaze # 31279Z.

As for doing the actual sanding, believe me that once the primer has been sanded with 220-grit sand paper the whole world changes. The surface of the car will suddenly become very smooth and problems that could never be found before will readily stand out. This is where you have to forget what you are seeing and trust what your hands are telling you. It’s a long process and I’ll guide coat the car every time I change grits of sand paper. Doing so will help me keep track of where I’ve already sanded as well as keep me posted on how I’m doing in the sand scratch removal department.

In case you are wondering, the car will stay on the AutoTwirler rotisserie throughout the sanding process. It makes sanding the car so much easier when you can turn the car as desired and not have to become a contortionist in order to reach some hidden spot that needs to be sanded.

Once I have the car sanded from top to bottom an d h ave corrected all of the imperfections I can find I’ll apply three more coats of primer and repeat the process. The only difference will be that instead of working with 120 and 220 grit sand papers I’ll start with 320-grit and finish with 400. By the time that happens this body should be ready for paint.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

I knew from having replaced the floor pans in this car that I would want the underside of the car to have a textured finish. I have a number of product choices to pick from to achieve that look, but that number is quickly pared down when you toss into the mix the desire to not only texture the underside but also give it some sound and heat insulation qualities as well as have a finish that can be painted.

What’s left? Lizard Skin products. I selected Lizard Skin Ceramic Insulation # 21200 to texture the underside as it gives me everything just mentioned plus absolute ease of application. All I had to do was mix the ceramic mixture and pour it into the Eastwood applicator gun #16030A and apply it at roughly ten mils per coat. With three coats I end up with an overall thickness of about thirty mils. Perfect.

But I didn’t stop there. I also opted for the Lizard Skin Heat and Sound Insulation Material #21201 for the interior of the car. I’ll get the added bonus of sound enhancement to go along with the heat and road noise reduction.

The Heat and Sound Insulation Material mixes and applies at roughly ten mils per coat. I applied three coats.

The Heat and Sound Material won’t be painted. I’ll leave it as is and cover it with interior trim when the time comes.

The underside is a different story. I wanted this part of the car, which will rarely be seen, to match the part of the car that will be seen. To achieve that goal I opted for House of Kolor #KBC 10 Purple and applied two coats using the Binks M1-G # 34160 with a 1.3mm spray tip. The color works best when applied over a black base, but up against the black background of the Lizard Skin coverage was great and I knew there would be no need for the black base coat. I will use the black base coat once I’m ready to spray the top side of this car to insure good coverage.

I finished by applying two coats of House of Kolor UC 35 Clear using the DeVilbiss Plus GFG 670 #34227 gravity feed spray gun with a 1.3 mm spray tip.

Why shift from the Binks to the DeVilbiss? To start with I never spray clear coats with the same gun I use to spray primers or base color coats. Even though I clean my spray guns thoroughly after every use there is always the chance that a tiny particle of old paint has been left behind. It never fails that a left behind particle hangs around until the last coat of clear then blast out of the gun to ruin your clear coat.

Okay, I know what you are thinking. Yep, I do have a number of good spray guns. I own three Binks M1-G HVLP spray guns # 34160 with either a 1.4 mm or 1.3 mm spray tip and use these guns to spray primers, seal coats and base color coats. I own two DeVilbiss spray guns, a Plus GFG # 34227 with a 1.3 mm spray tip and a GTi-620G Millennium HVLP # 34171 with a 1.3 mm spray tip. Both of these guns are dedicated to spraying clear coats only. Is one of the DeVilbiss guns better than the other? Depends upon the application. If I have to crawl up inside a car to spray I pick up the GTi-620G because it is an HVLP and puts out a little less over spray. That’s important when visibility is at a premium.

I also own two DeVilbiss SriW 630G # 34226 spot repair guns. One for clear, one for base colors. Try spraying inside a trunk with this gun and you will quickly appreciate how nice it is to have a smaller gun. Both of these guns have a 1.0 mm spray tip and because they are of such high quality I don’t have to adjust the mix to achieve an acceptable spray pattern.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

Need a little more information on mounting your ride on a rotisserie? Here goes.

I talked a little bit about balancing whatever you mount. That’s really the most important thing there is to know about hanging a body or frame on a rotisserie. If it isn’t balanced, it won’t turn very effectively. I’ve seen guys wench a body around on a rotisserie using a cable puller. Believe me, if it is that hard to move you didn’t get the object anywhere near being balanced. You should be able to turn the body or frame by hand.

Where’s the best place to mount a body? Would you believe just above the rocker panels? It may seem like the body will be top heavy and once the locks are loosed on the rotisserie the body will do a 180 degree flip an d h ang there like a hog on a spit, but that’s very unlikely. The bulk of the weight of the body is actually within a foot of the floor pans. All of the reinforcement beams, brackets, and attachments are located at or near the rocker. The cowl, roof, and quarter panels are just skins and they don’t weight much.

Of course both pivot points of the rotisserie must be at the same level. You simply can’t turn an object that has the pivot point at one end measuring 48 inches from the floor and the pivot point on the other end measuring 36 inches from the floor. You may end up with your ride being mounted at an angled position in order to get the rotisserie pivot points equal, but who cares about that? The car doesn’t care, and it won’t matter much anyway once the car has been rolled over on its side.

Finally, you have to use a little common sense. Don’t expect a quarter inch bolt to withstand the weight of a car body. I use 3/8-inch, grade 8 bolts to secure the body to the rotisserie unit. They’re strong and they won’t break.

I also remove everything from the body or frame before mounting it. I don’t want the doors or the deck lid to pop open while the body is hanging upside down. Besides, all that stuff is just extra weight and will be in the way once you are ready to begin work. Okay, I do have one exception. I sometimes use the rotisserie as a build up rack for frames. It sure is nice to work at a comfortable height when installing control arms, routing lines, and doing other things that need to be done during frame assembly.

You say you have a convertible? Here’s your warning. You must brace the interior compartment before mounting the body on the rotisserie. That means welding square tubing across the door openings to prevent the body from flexing once it has been mounted, or purchasing a set of Adjustable Door Bars # 12177. I don’t have a set of door bars handy to show you, but I’ve used them in the past and they work great to brace a convertible body or to brace a coupe should you decide to chop the top.

Lastly, check every bolt on the unit to be sure they are tight before trying to turn whatever is mounted. I’ve actually stood a few feet away from a car body when it slid right off the end of the pivot beam because someone forgot to tighten the bolts. Try to explain that to a car owner.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

I can proudly state I’ve yet to long for a sanding block to hold. However, I can hear the ’46 calling and I know sooner or later I’ll once again have to pick up a sanding block and go to work.

But that’s for later. Right now my concern is with finishing up the underside of the car and that calls for mounting the body on the AutoTwirler rotisserie and rolling it over.

If there is any one thing you should know about mounting a vehicle on a rotisserie it has to be getting the vehicle properly balanced. Whatever you mount must be balanced or you will go through misery trying to turn the thing. How hard is the ’46 to turn now that it is mounted on the AutoTwirler # 12174 rotisserie? A piece of cake.

So how do you achieve a good balance? Let’s go through the process. To start with you have to find mounting locations on the car that are roughly the same height from the floor. Here I’m measuring the distance from the floor to the mounting beam, 39 inches.

At this height I can extend the mounting arms forward and bolt them to the frame mounting holes inside the trunk compartment. This is the perfect place to mount the rear half of the rotisserie so that will become my reference point for finding a suitable mounting point at the front of the car.

Luckily, at the front of the car the lower frame mounting brackets measured 38 inched from the floor. That’s close enough so that will be my front mounting point.

This is where the fine tune features of the AutoTwirler rotisserie come in handy. I lowered the mounting beams via the adjustment screws and bolted the extension arms to the body. This also insures the pivot points of both units stays roughly equal to each other.

The hydraulic rams come into use now as I raise the body straight up. All I need is enough height to clear the center rail when I turn the body. Once that is achieved I lock everything down via the locking bolts and the unit is completely safe.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

At long last the body of the ’46 is ready for primer. My choice for primer is House of Kolor KP 2CF A & B. This is a two-part epoxy primer/surfacer, the same product I used to initially coat the body after it returned to the shop from media blasting. I start by cleaning the body using HOK KC 20. This is a post sanding cleaner and it will remove all remaining traces of sanding dust left from the block sanding process.

After a thorough cleaning it is on to priming. To apply the primer I use the Binks MI-G with a 1.4mm spray tip and apply two medium wet coats. To be sure I stay healthy during the process I also dress in a painter’s suit, wear latex gloves, and protect my lungs with a Pro Respirator # 19830.

I suspect you are wondering why I’m only applying two coats. Normally I would go the distance and apply four coats. But this ride is destined to be spray painted a very deep purple, bordering on black, and because of that I want every opportunity available to be sure the car is a close to perfection body repair wise as is possible.

To reach that goal I’ll apply the two coats of epoxy primer/surface, allow the coats to cure over night, and start over once again with the sanding block. Only this time I’ll be using 220-grit sand paper. I’ll still be using the longest blocks possible, the size of this big bubble hasn’t changed much, to be sure I get the panels as smooth as possible and add a thin guide coat # 12389Z to help locate any imperfections I might have missed.

Of course there is a huge difference in sanding techniques when comparing sanding plastic body filler to sanding primer so before I get very deep into the sanding process I’ll spend a little time showing you some of those differences.

In the meantime I’m going to give my arms a rest and concentrate on other aspects of this build, in particular mounting the body on the AutoTwirler rotisserie and finishing up the underside of the car. That will call for some Lizard Skin products to insulate an d h eat shield this ride, plus a little purple paint from HOK.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

Here are a couple of points I need to cover concerning the use of the Single Stage Reflective Chrome powder coating product on suspension parts and wheels. I used the powder to coat brand new pieces. That eliminated the need to have a professional check these parts for stress cracks before coating them. Don’t forget, most powder coat products will fill stress cracks an d h ide them. That can be a good thing if the part is ornamental, but a very bad thing if the part is something like an aluminum wheel or a suspension spring. So the bottom line is to never powder coat any suspension component or wheel, especially aluminum wheels, unless the part has been verified crack free by a professional. Who are the professionals? Most machine shops will have the capability to check your parts for cracks.

When applying the Single Stage Reflective Chrome powder on aluminum parts or steel springs reduce the oven heat down to 325 F. and extend the length of time the piece stays in the oven. The reduced heat won’t affect the strength or tension of the metal and you’ll still achieve the desired results.

 I haven’t visited the tedium of block sanding the body of this ride for several weeks now.  I’m happy to report that much progress has been made and I’m almost ready to prime the body.   But before I do let me take you on a short tour of what has been accomplished in the way of modifications to the body.  I’ll start at the front and work my way to the rear of the car.

Up here I filled all of the holes in the firewall then smoothed the panel to give it a more polished look.

Here on the side of the cowl I welded this seam solid and smoothed the area with additional body filler.  The purpose of this exercise was to improve on the flow of the shape of the car.  This was the location of the body line that moves from the rear of the car to the front.  I kept the line everywhere else, but because this line was not continued on the hood I elected to fade it out here on the cowl instead of letting it abruptly end as the factory had done.

Moving on towards the rear of the car I also elected to weld the running boards to the body and finish them with a little Rage body filler.  I think it helps with the flow of the body lines by eliminating the gap between the two panels.

Still farther back I took a cue from a ’47 Ford built by a friend of mine and welded the rear fenders to the body.  This gives the body a little more of that unibody look and really helps with the overall flow.

That brings me to the point to where I’m dealing with what appears to be one continuous slab of metal that happens to be shaped like a ’46 Ford.  That means that any imperfection in the body filler will show through and ruin the look of the whole car.  To combat that issue I plan to once again guide coat and sand the body of the car.  That should put me very close to applying a little primer.  Hopefully by the end of next week this car will be HOK primer yellow.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo, TX 79109