Prime time

I used a Saturday during Memorial Day weekend and then took the the following Tuesday and Wednesday off from work to get some SPI Epoxy on the car. The entire project was broken up into three segments: on the Saturday I shot the interior and inside trunk; Tuesday I shot the exterior, and Wednesday I shot bolt on sheet metal and pot metal parts such as quarter panel extensions and head light buckets.

This is all about preparation. To demonstrate the extent of preparation, each of the 3 days shooting primer were 8-9 hour days. Of this 8-9 hours, only 10-20 minutes of each day was spent with the trigger actually pulled. So that means there was 7 hrs and 40 minutes of straight last minute preparation, and 20 minutes or less of spraying paint. The final prep steps include doing any last minute sanding, scuffing, or removing small spots of flash rust. And finally (and most important) degreasing, and more degreasing, and then more degreasing. At bare minimum I degrease all surfaces to receive primer twice. The wax and grease remover should be sprayed on and immediately wiped off. Wiping it off is necessary to remove the contaminants lifted off the surface of the metal. If not wiped off, the contaminants will remain on the metal. Note lacquer thinner should not be used as a degreaser because it does not lift contaminants like wax and grease remover does, thus leaving a residue on the surface of the metal consisting of contaminants. For the final degreasing, I wipe the surface with a shop towel with degreaser on it, then wipe again with a clean dry shop towel. And now for the good stuff...