Sounds like the universe conspiring to bring you back Jim🤣🤣
I sprayed 2 coats in total so far, and now have the panel heater in front of the bonnet drying it off.
Ideally you would want a separate clean workshop spraying area. But unfortunately thats a dream situation which I dont have. I have a very cluttered workshop with 2 vehicles in it at the moment, along with many woodwork machines, car parts, and the sons own workshop and tools. So its always going to be cluttered unless I invest in an inflatable spray booth at some time.
Kadman, when it comes to spraying, you are in an impossible position. What I have done from time to time though is to make a temporary booth with 4 x 2's and some plastic sheeting, and plenty of water on the floor. It helps with the heating part of the job too. It wont keep the finish 100 free of dust etc, but it will minimise it. Needless to say, curious guests, be they Family or friends are not welcome ( nor pets either) it should be a no-go area when spraying. Anyway, the primer surface will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. Good Luck with it.
I have hung up large polythene sheets before to isolate the spraying area I have . And its manageable. But at the moment I have chosen to spray primer as a means of protecting the items in the winter conditions. And because I also have all the welding,grinding, cutting tools out at the same time, it just makes things more awkward.
Good thing is I am on the last item, passenger door to finish prime, so things should get handier from then on .
Remarkably the finish of the primer on the bonnet was well beyond what I would be happy with. And the bonnet and roof only will be attached to the car when I spray them. Doors and wings can go outside weather permitting. And an inflatable booth at 250 euro when they come up on donedeal is also an option.
Two things that might be helping is the car is on the lift, and when i spray the bonnet, I lift it up haigh to dry, keeping it away from the ground and the footsteps. Plus as I am spraying with less than 3 bar, it means I am not blowing spray all over creation.
Yes, that's a very fine finish on the bonnet, and all things considered, pretty blemish free too. If you get the top coats that good, you will be doing fine. All spraying, be it primer, base coat or Lacquer needs the "cleanest" dust free environment possible. But having said that, with primer you have a chance, as its going to be sanded down anyway, but you don't willingly have this option with top coats. The main problems with the top coats will occur on the horizontal panels, and I've often had to block sand bonnets and roofs to remove minute "specs", and then machine the finish back to a blemish free shine. As you said the primed panels can now be parked for as long as you like, they're protected.
Now that i am on to the second door, it was time to take off the existing door to salvage the hing leafs. I was a nightmare of a job with one hinge as it was welded in with rust. The other hinge was simple and the pin was in perfect condition which was odd. Its good enough to re use, but as I already have new ones I will be using them.
And the existing door will be stripped for the useable parts.
And the NOS door needs a good sanding to remove the surface rust, and coat with a suitable rust protection, and then sprayed.
Here we go ready for epoxy, just need to finish the top half.
And now for the epoxy. Only 1 coat as i ran low on hardener.
But one coat wasn't too bad. But it will get 2 or 3
Will you give it a light sanding before the next primer coats?
Always do.
I would love to get my hands on the original product used by VW for sticking the rubber door seals to the door, although thats a way off yet. Any product I used down through the years was never as good. The seals on these doors are perfectly stuck. Although weather beaten, they are stick firmly stuck all the way around the door. I have used most of the available adhesives over the last 25 years, but none have come close, they all fail to some degree. Even the top of the range recommended one's are no use, even silkaflex as well as tek 7 fail to some degree.
What was it originally Jim?
Is it not even available on the VW parts list?
It is and its called weatherstrip adhesive, and its not available in Ireland😁
Do you know where it is available?
Seems freely available in America, its a 3M product so has to be found other places too
Found Amazon germany, but its minimum 6 tubes order at a time
Or Here in Finland
Expensive stuff but i think if you have a word with someone who sells 3m products they could probably get at a more normal price
EDIT
Found this 5 tubes 103 euros
Looks like the stuff alright. I just need a source closer to home for 3m products. Thanks for posting.
I am starting on the rear right wing to deal with it. It has some rust damage in a couple of areas, but I dont have a good replacement, and unlikely to come across on for less than 700 euro if at all. So I will have to make it presentable enough to go on the car in the short term, and hopefully pin down one at some time in the future. The lefthand side is ok because I have a good replacement if i need one.
What you think might be a decent enough surface on an old wing, that might be suitable for 600 grit sanding to prep it for a coat of primer, could be a road to disaster if you are not careful. here on this wing you can see the OK looking top coat is sanded off to reveal a spiders web of rust below it running through the primer coat. This all needs to be removed to bare metal for the best chance of keeping future rust at bay.
And here is the left hand door hung for safe keeping until I get a chance to shoot another coat of primer on it.
Looks nice and square too!. As for the spiders rust web, I'd be taking an orbital sander loaded with 40 grit paper to that, and gradually reducing it to 180 pre primer. What's it like underneath? Still plenty of original anti-rust proofing there?
Yeah thats been done. The reason I stopped at the spiders web of rust for a picture was to show what could be beneath an ok appearance of a decent old wing surface. Had i just cleaned up the top layer of paint with 400 grit wet n dry, you could end up spraying over what you thought was a decent foundation for paint, where in fact you were covering up rust, allowing it to re appear in years to come.
Well while you are at it, you may as well do it right. Because as you have pointed out, it will not go away, and in time will make itself known again.
I have nearly finished making the repair panel for the bottom edge of the rear wing. Its in a bad way, but no replacements available at the moment anywhere. And if they do become available its 500 euro plus 200 euro for a wing that may need some repair. So its a repair on my own for the time being. I mocked up the piece and will finally dolly the bottom edge when its on
Thats an awkward section all right, above and beyond the "normal" definition. The bumper indent doesn't make it any easier. Do you have an oxy/acetylene welder? Would make the job a bit easier if you had rather than cold shaping it. Nonetheless, its shaping up all right.
Great tool you have there the red one, for following shapes
Yeah its very handy to keep on track of the panel contour. I have a larger one as well its about double the size. I would like one larger still if i could get one, but I am not too sure if they make them that big
No I never had an oxy acetylene set down through the years, it would be handy now alright. I have the piece welded in now, nearly. I just have to chase some pinholes, and a few larger as the existing metal is in a less than ideal state. If I cut out the entire rust of the wing, then the big end of the wing would be gone. So i am playing at preserving as much as i can to maintain the shape, and deal with any rust holes that appear with the mig spots. Its gonna have to do until I do get a wing. I could get the son to make a fibreglass mould from this existing wing. mmmm.
Come to think of it I could fibreglass the whole wing, and bang it back on.
I welded up the wing repair, and tomorrow will chase a few pinholes and hang the wing and then shape the bottom edge and the corner of the wheel arch and see how it looks.
I wouldn't bother with fibreglass personally now that you have that section looking so well. With it still off the car, you have full access with a hammer and dolly to shape the bumper indent. It will be fine.
Fantastic workmanship on show here, great thread.
I saw in some of the pics the body is on the lift with the floorpan off, but brakes, hubs etc. are still attached. So the suspension mounts onto the body? It's not a monocoque as the floorpan unbolts off but it seems it's not like the Beetle either where the floorpan was the chassis, and suspension and drivetrain mounts onto it and in theory the bare floorpan could be driven (if my understanding is correct)
I'm just wondering why they took that approach which wasn't one thing or the other.
Stick 2 long ones together!
