65 Mustang

shaneh

Promoted Users
So, this car was my first car. This friday(Feb 17th) will be my 49th birthday and the 35th anniversary with the car. Needless to say, we have a long history together. I rolled it into the garage in December 2009. Spent a year cutting out floor pans, cowl, quarter panels, trunk floors, etc and welding in new pieces. And then I let it sit for almost 8 years. When I decided I really wanted to get back on it last summer, I assessed the work I'd done years ago. As well as my goals. The overall goal is a gymkhana type car. Something I can run an open road race(like the Silver State Challenge in Nevada), run the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge, or take my family on the Hot Rod Power Tour or One Lap of America cruise.

I was not happy with the quarters so I cut them out and redid them. While doing that I narrowed the rear frame rails and did mini tubs, too. I also built a custom torque arm suspension with a 9" ford housing. In front, I cut out the shock towers and did a Mustang To Fear front suspension with C6 corvette spindles.

Back in November I built a redneck rotisserie and flipped the car on it's side. Today is a momentous day as I shot the SPI epoxy on the bottom. Now I need to decide if I'm going to cover the bottom in Raptor liner or actually paint it. With it being acar that will be used, I had bought Raptor. But the Ohhhh, shiny pieces side of my brain saw the fresh epoxy and now wants paint. lol.

I'll go back and start posting some pics of my journey along the way. I even found one of my Mom's knifes that I lost in 1987 working on the wiring. :) Here's how it sits today, though.
 

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Looks great not sure why you want the raptor but you know what your going for.
If mine and going to get abused i would leave in 4 coats of epoxy.
 
I'm actually really close to making that exact decision, Barry. I may shoot another coat of epoxy and start running brake and fuel lines.
 
Barry, I decided to do like you suggested and shoot 2 more coats of epoxy. I shot the first 2 on the 10th. I'll get to shoot the next 2 on the 18th. I know on the tech guide it says to sand with 180 after 7 days. On an outside surface that's prettty easy. On the underside floor pans, that's a bi%ch with all the ridges and creases Am I ok to stretch it to 8 days for recoat?
 
I'm thinking the same. Just epoxy the floor. I've done the epoxy and then raptor. With the idea that it will get used. But guess how hard it is to clean crap out of all those rough areas the raptor leaves. I think the epoxy would be way better. Way quicker to clean with a pressure washer than the raptor.
 
Went to shoot 3rd coat of epoxy and beat my head against the wall for an hour. My Finishline 4 that I used for primer would shoot a fine spray pattern for the first 6-8 trigger pulls but would then start to peter out down to nothing. I pulled it apart and cleaned it 4 times. Each time, great for the first few seconds. Didn't want to put epoxy in my trusty ol Devilbiss Plus that I've had for at least 15 years that I've used for base and clear. So I ran over to harbor freight and grabbed one of their $14 guns. Amazingly, that cheap ol thing shot absolutely perfectly, straight out of the box with nothing more than connecting my regulator to it. In fact, it sprayed better than my primer gun! lol If it's not one thing it's another!
 
Been a while. Got sidetracked for a bit with some "house projects". Trying to get the garage set up for the future. New hardie siding, spray foam insulation, AC, etc. Now back to the car. While it was on it's side I ran brake and fuel lines.
 

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Got car back right side up, shot 2 coats of epoxy, started filler, did first test fit of the fenders and front fiberglass.
 

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First blocking of engine compartment. Only spot that really bothers me is the spot over the 2nd rib on the passenger side. I knew it as I was welding the panel in that I'd gotten it too hot. So that's going to take some work. Another shot of epoxy should get 80% of the shiny spots gone.
 

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Reduced epoxy down 25% as sealer. What surprised me was that the gray seemed like the overspray was insane. Same LPH400 gun that I sprayed the black epoxy with, though. Which I thought was the polar opposite. Like there was no overspray. Just a visual thing with the lighter color??? First time to see it in any gloss. Have 2 little things I want to fix. Then wet sand it with 600 and spray color this weekend.
 

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Barry, I decided to do like you suggested and shoot 2 more coats of epoxy. I shot the first 2 on the 10th. I'll get to shoot the next 2 on the 18th. I know on the tech guide it says to sand with 180 after 7 days. On an outside surface that's prettty easy. On the underside floor pans, that's a bi%ch with all the ridges and creases Am I ok to stretch it to 8 days for recoat?

Yes with the epoxy you can go 14 days if no sun as epoxy sticks to epoxy different then other types of paints.
 
After clear. Damn kids hit the garage door opener to get their basketballs while I was inside the engine compartment spraying the first coat of clear. So I ended up within a shit ton of trash two of the panels. Grrrrr. But main goal was to get the suspension crossmember and mounts painted so I could hang the front suspension. I'll go back next week and sand the trash out and then mask it and shoot another 2 coats of clear.

That motobase covered really well. Even with the blue, I easily could have been done with 2 coats. I wish I'd have used Very Slow activator instead of Slow. Or thrown in a retarder. It was 90 degrees and 88% humidity and the Universal layed out nice, but then stopped flowing pretty quickly. I mean like in 15 minutes it was tack free.
 

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Reduced epoxy down 25% as sealer. What surprised me was that the gray seemed like the overspray was insane. Same LPH400 gun that I sprayed the black epoxy with, though. Which I thought was the polar opposite. Like there was no overspray. Just a visual thing with the lighter color??? First time to see it in any gloss. Have 2 little things I want to fix. Then wet sand it with 600 and spray color this weekend.

Which reducer did you use for the epoxy?
 
Layed down the base this morning. Used Motobose from Chad's. Color is Blue My Mind Pearl Metallic. Universal Clear is up to bat!
I really like that color. Is it a custom Moto Base color or was it on a production car ? If so, what yr. and model ? Would like to see it in person. It is really looking good. Nice work.
 
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