Paint Class - Day 34

Today, when I got to class there were staduim-style seats set up in the shop and there was an airbrush demonstration going on.

Cadillac Meet

We had the New Members meet today, and there was a new member with a 67 convertible! Makes me want mine to run...

Spring Break!

This week is Spring Break so no class!

Paint Class - Day 33

Today, I was put on a new team and we moved a Pontiac Gram Am out of the yard to put it back together as best we could so the owner could take it away. These things are really made poorly. everything in the car was plastic and falling apart.

We were supposed to clean out the shop today, but half the students didn't show up. I think it was because the day before, the instructor said to everyone that we would be cleaning the shop up today. So we got out a bit early today.

Paint Class - Day 32

Today I was back on the VW, new teacher, new instruction that it wasn't done yet, now I had to go into the door jams and sand the flaky old paint off that was still there. and get the guide coats bits that I missed yesterday off.

About an hour into the class I was put on a new car. There was a crappy beat-up Jeep Cherokee that had one small section of the drivers door sanded and filled with plastic filler. THe instructor said the filler was not covering enough area, that the dent was larger so we neeede to re-do the filler, and prime that area. Eventually the whole door would be painted. I sanded the area down with a DA and 150 sandpaper (we were out of 180) then mixed and applied the filler, cleaned up and waited for it to dry. then went over it with a cheesegrater, and an long board with 80, then 180 sandpaper. Then back over thesendscrates with a DA and 320 sandpaper. Taped the door up, sprayed the area with degreaser, and sprayed it with a coat of primer over the exposed metal and then another coat tover the whole area that was taped off (less than the whole door).



Luckily, the team next to me was spraying primer, so I got to use their gun, and didn't have to mix and clean and all that.

Paint Class- Day 31

My team had blocked the rest of the VW, and been re-assigned to another project, so it was just me finishing up the edges. Ther e is not supposed to be any of the guide coat showing, but it's hard to get into the crevices, so i folded up a small piece of sand paper and started working on those. then the instructer came by and felt the door panel that was done the day before by my team, and told me it wasn't good enough, so I had to re-guide coat it, and block it agin to level the door (you could feel bumps in the door). I got it pretty smooth, but not perfect, I think the body work done underneath was pretty extreame.

Paint Class - Day 30

I skipped class tonight, I had a volunteer project that I needed to attend instead.

Wheel cylinders

I installed the new Wheel cylinders on the pass side of the '67 DeVille. I'll install the other one and bleed the brakes when I go down to visit my brother again. I forgot to bring my brake tool kit with me, so it made the job a little more difficult, but all went smoothly, and hopefully after this process is finished, I'll have brakes!

Cadillac Work Party

Today one of the members of the Cadillac-LaSalle club had a work party. We couldn't get as much done as we had hoped to but it was interesting.

Paint Class - Day 29

Today we primed the VW bug, first we sprayed primer onto the bondo areas (there were a lot of them). Then, I got to spray most of the body with 2 coats of primer, it was good to be able to spray so much and get the hang of it. The new guy on the team did the roof areas.

Paint Class - Day 28

Today my partner and I were assigned to a new project plus we picked up another team member. We were assigned to a VW bug that the body repair class had finished with, and now we were going to prime it. We spent the day taping the car off so it could be sprayed. then we sprayed some etching primer onto the bare metal areas. My partner showed me how to spray it on, in little spurts lightly over just the bare metal areas. While we waited for that to dry, we ran out of time and had to claen up.

Paint Class - Day 27

Today we vacuumed, cleaned and washed the BMW, and tried applying a hand glaze. but that softest towels we has to use were totally scratching the paint, so we did one more round of glaze with the buffers and the foam pads to get rid of the scratches, and left it alone. Then we dressed the tired and rubber/vinyl on the car. We also had to go through the car and make sure the fluids were all topped off, and the lights all worked.

One of the maps lights did not work, so I tried to replace it, but the two possible bulbs we had in the shop didn't work, so we left it. In the process of finding that out, I dropped two bulbs under the seats, and had to dig them out of the most disgusting stuff that had been living under the seats for god knows how long. and I burned my finger on the bulb that had been left on than shut off but hadn't cooled long enough.

The car looked really pretty by the time we were done with it, but by the time we left, it was totally covered in a layer of dust. I hope they have a swiffer or feather duster or something in the shop.

oil

The oil in the 95 was 1 quart low already (I just changed the oil a couple weekend ago). This car seems to be eating though the oil like crazy... but I don't see any leaks. Maybe I should be a little lighter on the gas pedal...

Paint Class - Day 26

Today we re-did all the detailing on the BMW, except we put the hood and trunk back on the car first, and then detail the whole car as well. We again started with the polishing compound, then moved to the glaze. We had a third person help us, which was nice...I guess he was the one who took all the stuff off the car, because he was the one who put it all back on too (lights, wiring, clips etc...). We wasted a lot of time (not our team specifically, but the whole class moving cars around - what a fiasco), so we ended up staying late, luckily we have no class tomorrow.

Paint class - Day 25

Today we talked about detailing in lecture for about a half hour, then my partner and I started working on detailing the paint on the BMW hood and trunk. First we wet sanded the paint with a 1500 grit sandpaper in one direction. then came back with a 2500 grit in the opposite direction. then we rinsed the panels and dried them, and used a buffer with a wool pad and rubbing compound to buff the paint. After that we used the buffer with a faom pad and glaze to make the paint super-shiney.

Paint Class - Day 24

Short class today. We went over the test we took last Wednesday and then we went home.

duh

This morning, (well, it was morning for me, but it may have technically been the afternoon...) I went out to get the mail, and there were these three teenage guys in a loose formation, making their way across the street from my neighbors house. They look a little hip-hop, they also looked lost. One of them asked if I could "electrify" his car (um he didn't speak English very well) which was around the corner. I said sure, went inside and grabbed my keys (while trying to scarf down the bowl of cereal I had in my had so it wouldn't get soggy).

I grabbed the jumper cables from the 944, and drove around the corner to their Chevy (Malibu?). I assumed they weren't stealing te car since they had the keys for it. They already had cables, so we used them, and I hooked my car up. It wasn't working though. Hmmm. Then we moved the ground, turns out I totally put the ground cable on a painted surface which does not conduct electricity properly, so once we moved it to a metal grounding point their car started right up. I'm going to claim sleepiness on this one, but really I think it's just forgetfulness.