Well I had a chance to work on the bug today. The weather was great so I rolled it out of the garage to some color sanding in a few areas that were still a bit rough. I spent most of the afternoon sanding, buffing and polishing. Not perfect but coming along. I also put the rear license plate thingy on. Now I can saw that I'm actually puting things back together.
Mike Cummings stopped by this evening and he helped me put the front fenders and beading on. We also put the driver and passenger door seals in. The doors are going to need a little adusting so they close right with the seals in place. The seals still need some tweaking too.
Mike and I where talking about lower the rear. He told me about a tool that is built for compressing the rear spring so that it can be removed. I'll start looking around for it.
Showing posts with label Paint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paint. Show all posts
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Pre-release pictures of the new paint job
Well the painting is done. Just a but more polishing tonight. I'll be picking it up this coming Saturday morning. I'm super stoked to be getting it back. The quality of the pictures aren't the best, they where taken from my phone camera.
I also have the rear window in being tinted today. I tried doing it myself, but there was just too much curve to the window for my limited skills and tools to get done right. I think that I can do the others myself.
Next is the roof headliner, then I can get the glass put in. Bumpers, lights, running boards, trim, dash, seats, carpet, rims, lower, tune up ... Lots of things to still do before I can drive.
YEAH!!!
I also have the rear window in being tinted today. I tried doing it myself, but there was just too much curve to the window for my limited skills and tools to get done right. I think that I can do the others myself.
Next is the roof headliner, then I can get the glass put in. Bumpers, lights, running boards, trim, dash, seats, carpet, rims, lower, tune up ... Lots of things to still do before I can drive.
YEAH!!!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Car is at the painter ...
Yeah! The car made it to the painter today. He should have it for a couple of weeks. I'm so stoked!
Coll thing ... the car is running good enough that I was able to drive it up the driveway and onto the trailer. Then back off the trailer and into the paint shop. I was getting a little worried the last couple weeks that it wasn't going to be running and I was going to have to push it onto the trailer.
Coll thing ... the car is running good enough that I was able to drive it up the driveway and onto the trailer. Then back off the trailer and into the paint shop. I was getting a little worried the last couple weeks that it wasn't going to be running and I was going to have to push it onto the trailer.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Paint and a carb rebuild ...
I picked up my paint last night on my way home from work. Cost for the paint and materials ... $281.66. I went with the with the Omni line of paint from PPG.The order process was made smooth by the great help from Dave at the local CarQuest. When I placed the order I had John (the painter) on speaker phone, and he and Dave could make sure that I picked up everything needed. John was also able to select the products that he's had experiance with.
I've made arrangements to take the car over to the painter this coming Sunday afternoon. Eric will be helping me by taking it over with his trailer. Thanks Eric!
Lastly, I rebuilt my carb last night. This is the first time that I've re-built a 34 PICT 3 carb, but it was rather straight forward. It took me about 3 hours total. I took it apart, clean everything with cleaner and an air compressor. Put everything back together, and mounted it back on the car. I will still have to make a couple of carb adjustments, but that will have to wait until I have the ignition put back together and timed (statically).
Thats all for one night...
Update. I have the ignition put back together and statically timed for 5 deg before TDC. Put the battery in the car to test everything out ... nothing. Switched batteries and the lights come on and the fan blows, but the starter isn't spinning. I've got it hooked up to a charger for the night, we'll see what happens tomorrow after work.
Update. Ended up replacing the ground battery cable, fired right up ... after a few cranks. The original one was just too worn out.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Paint color ...
OK. I've got it down to 3 different paint options. I decided that I wanted to go with a color that was available from VW from that time period. I looked up the paint codes from PPG's website that where available in 1973 from VW and I found a sample page that had the colors. The original color of the car is L-54D Marina Blue. The current shade of blue is just a little too ... light and powdery for my liking. Anyway, using GIMP I used the color picker tool, selected the colors from the sample page, used the RGB values to customize the color on Bug Selecta, exported the image into GIMP and tinted the windows to 40%. Here is what I came up with ...
This is the color that I'm going to go with. L-52B Biscay Blue 2580. It should complement the existing blue interior nicely.
No tint, with tint, painted bumpers and no bumpers
This is the color that I'm going to go with. L-52B Biscay Blue 2580. It should complement the existing blue interior nicely.
No tint, with tint, painted bumpers and no bumpers
L-61B Sumatra Green, 2480
L-64K Zambezi Green, 2582
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Time for the painter ...
I met a friend or a friend during a Super Bowl party, and he knows how to paint cars and does body work. He's been in the business for a number of years and has complete facilities at his home. Nice!
We talked for a little while and he was interested in my bug project. So a couple of weeks ago he stopped by and took a good look at the current state of the car. He was happy to see how solid the body is and how very little rust the car had. He agreed that now would be the right time to paint the car, before putting all of the peices back on.
I feel confident about his experiance and quality and I've been open to his suggestions and recommendations. He's been doing it for a lot of years, and what do I really know ... not much. The extent of my body work experiance started with my friend Chris's 73 Camaro in high school and has only been a couple of other small scratches and dents. Not much experiance ... and it shows. I try to do a good job, but it never looks as good as it could.
Anyway, now its up me to pick a color. I have to do it soon so that it can get mixed up and into his hands before he gets the car ... which will be at the end of the month. Yep, in only a couple weeks the bug will be taking a MAJOR step forward in the process of getting back onto the road. He's going to fix up the small rust patches at the lower corners of the back window, prep and paint the car. He thinks that it will take him about a week or two from start to finish.
Once everything is painted, we're going to hang the bumpers, doors, hood and rear deck lid while its at his place. that way we can do any quick touch-ups if we need to, but more importantly, I don't have to worry about scratching the parts when I bring them home or have them get scratched sitting around before it gets warm enough in my shed to get them put back on.
Things to do:
I don't need to put the molding for the hood and deck lid on right now. I can place something temporary between the lids and body until I get home. Same goes for the door hardware and latches.
Today I was thinking of a green ... I feel like Brett Farve ... I can't make up my mind!
We talked for a little while and he was interested in my bug project. So a couple of weeks ago he stopped by and took a good look at the current state of the car. He was happy to see how solid the body is and how very little rust the car had. He agreed that now would be the right time to paint the car, before putting all of the peices back on.
I feel confident about his experiance and quality and I've been open to his suggestions and recommendations. He's been doing it for a lot of years, and what do I really know ... not much. The extent of my body work experiance started with my friend Chris's 73 Camaro in high school and has only been a couple of other small scratches and dents. Not much experiance ... and it shows. I try to do a good job, but it never looks as good as it could.
Anyway, now its up me to pick a color. I have to do it soon so that it can get mixed up and into his hands before he gets the car ... which will be at the end of the month. Yep, in only a couple weeks the bug will be taking a MAJOR step forward in the process of getting back onto the road. He's going to fix up the small rust patches at the lower corners of the back window, prep and paint the car. He thinks that it will take him about a week or two from start to finish.
Once everything is painted, we're going to hang the bumpers, doors, hood and rear deck lid while its at his place. that way we can do any quick touch-ups if we need to, but more importantly, I don't have to worry about scratching the parts when I bring them home or have them get scratched sitting around before it gets warm enough in my shed to get them put back on.
Things to do:
- Picking a color
- Get the paint
- Find the fender molding
- Order fender fasteners and hardware
- Find or order bolts for the hood and rear deck lid
- Find or order screws for the doors.
I don't need to put the molding for the hood and deck lid on right now. I can place something temporary between the lids and body until I get home. Same goes for the door hardware and latches.
Today I was thinking of a green ... I feel like Brett Farve ... I can't make up my mind!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Paint
Well its been a little while since I've done anything with the bug. I've done a little more small touch-ups on the body and it getting closer to being ready for paint.
The one thing that I've come to realize is that paint is a complicate choice. I really would like to paint the car its final color before I put it all back together, but I also want to get it back on the road. Paint is on a car to protect the metal from the elements which will make it rust. The metal on the car is in great condition for its age and I would really like to keep it that way. That means painting before it gets on the road.
The other thing that I've come to realize is that painting a car the right way costs a lot more money then I have sitting aroung. My goal isn't to have a show quality car but rather something that looks alright and runs well. I would rather spend money on other things like the engine.
I know the basic steps for painting a car but I need help with learning and performing the finer parts of this delicate art.
So far I've thought about painting it with black primer to protect the metal. It gives it that un-finished project look. I could do this myself and start to put things back together and paint the car a final color in the future.
Another thought, is paint it with spray cans. Yep, a "rattle-can" paint job. It would protect the metal and give it a more finished look. The problem that I see with this ... it's probably going to make a "real" paint job more work, which would also add more to the cost.
I also read about using a small roller to paint a car, but I know that I'm not going to do that.
Last week I talked to my father-in-law's friend Kenny who paints cars on his own. Does a great job but he has a project already planned for the winter so he wouldn't be able to get to me until the spring time. Since he does it in his spair time he said it usually takes 2 to 3 months to finish all of the work which means that it would be finished sometime early to mid summer. This is probably my best option because the car will get painted the right way and it will give me a little more time to save some money. He estimates the cost would be around $900 for paint and labor, but can change if things come up.
Fall time is here now and winter will be coming soon. I would really like to drive the car but now is the best time to paint the car while its still in parts ... oh what to do.
The one thing that I've come to realize is that paint is a complicate choice. I really would like to paint the car its final color before I put it all back together, but I also want to get it back on the road. Paint is on a car to protect the metal from the elements which will make it rust. The metal on the car is in great condition for its age and I would really like to keep it that way. That means painting before it gets on the road.
The other thing that I've come to realize is that painting a car the right way costs a lot more money then I have sitting aroung. My goal isn't to have a show quality car but rather something that looks alright and runs well. I would rather spend money on other things like the engine.
I know the basic steps for painting a car but I need help with learning and performing the finer parts of this delicate art.
So far I've thought about painting it with black primer to protect the metal. It gives it that un-finished project look. I could do this myself and start to put things back together and paint the car a final color in the future.
Another thought, is paint it with spray cans. Yep, a "rattle-can" paint job. It would protect the metal and give it a more finished look. The problem that I see with this ... it's probably going to make a "real" paint job more work, which would also add more to the cost.
I also read about using a small roller to paint a car, but I know that I'm not going to do that.
Last week I talked to my father-in-law's friend Kenny who paints cars on his own. Does a great job but he has a project already planned for the winter so he wouldn't be able to get to me until the spring time. Since he does it in his spair time he said it usually takes 2 to 3 months to finish all of the work which means that it would be finished sometime early to mid summer. This is probably my best option because the car will get painted the right way and it will give me a little more time to save some money. He estimates the cost would be around $900 for paint and labor, but can change if things come up.
Fall time is here now and winter will be coming soon. I would really like to drive the car but now is the best time to paint the car while its still in parts ... oh what to do.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Paint colors ...
Today I changed my mind. Now I'm thinking red, maybe with no bumpers and low profile Porsche rims, or maybe a little more classic look with a white side panel and Empi rims.
Try your own style at Bug Selecta. You can pick a Beetle, Type 3, Bus or Porsche.
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