Hi everyone. A bit of an update and a bit of a problem. Sorry for the long post.
So, after painting the body in late August, I decided to land the tub on the chassis and get the car all put together for a test drive. I have literally removed just about every bolt that could be removed from this car, rebuilding the motor and gearbox (not the diff, that scared me), and I wanted to make sure that it was mechanically sound so that if I found problems, I could fix them over the winter. The test drive went well and the car, mechanically and electrically, is solid. Needs a tuning, but solid.
Last weekend I moved back to painting, starting with the doors. I used the same process as doing the body. I'm in a climate-controlled space and temp was right at the limit of 65F and it was maintained there (or a bit warmer) throughout this process. I checked metal and paint temp each time before spraying.
The doors were last sprayed with unreduced epoxy primer a while ago so I wet sanded everything through 400-grit, hit the few burn-through spots with full-strength epoxy, waited 30 minutes, then hit everything with reduced (25%) epoxy primer.
About 36 hours later (based on Barry's post from some time ago that you can wait up to 48 hours between reduced epoxy and base), I came back and wet sanded again with 800-grit, cleaned it up with waterborne W&G, waited 30 minutes for it to dry, tacked and shot 3 coats of medium red, mixed 1:1 with medium reducer and a bit of clear activator, waiting at least 30 minutes between coats. Following the third coat I did a visual inspection and everything looked good.
I came back the next day, wiped the doors down with solvent based W&G, waited at least 30 minutes, tacked and shot 4 coats of clear, mixed 1:1 with slow activator, waiting 30 minutes between coats. I did another quick visual and everything appear fine. That was Sunday.
I came back yesterday and the results were not good. It's really hard for me to capture a good pic, but I've included what I got. The texture is not the same all over (some spots are actually really good), but it's almost like a golf ball in places. My guess is that I simply put the clear on too heavy and the solvents struggled to escape. As the clear dried and shrank, the solvent finally released, leaving a pocket for the clear to sink into. Honestly, though, I really have no idea, I do know I don't want it to happen again.
I am prepared to respray the door but, before I do, I'm going to take advantage of my mistake and get some practicing cutting and buffing. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and be able to get the texture out. Sorry for the long post and I appreciate any help (or confirmation) anyone can provide.
Cheers,
Chris