Not a lot engine compartment visible with 5.0 and accessories in round body.IMO paint body color,at least under hood,radiator support.We need pics Don.
Looks real good LS and that is what I had initially planned and had it painted but, am just rethinking this. I am leaning more and more towards your opinion. There is still a little challenge to where to break the colors. I figure right where the side walls meet the frame and in the tunnel. I am still wondering on the radiator support exterior side. I am leaning towards staying black there due to being less visible.
Yes, I agree on the less than perfect, you are not the first person who mentioned that and I feel I am getting closer to acceptance. I need to lay down a bit more feather fill in a few spots sand that, do some inner door work and some tail gate work and I will be as ready as I can be.
I once brought the primer down to 600 grit. It looked so good that I considered laying down 4 coats of clear over it. Painted, however, it looked no better than ending at 320. I have found that a no fill catalyzed primer gives the best results in the jambs and interior as it lays down flatter than feather fill does. They also adhere better than ff on any areas that are unsanded or not 100% clean.
I thin my feather fill with acetone to make it lay down nicely, more like primer. I don't on the early coats where I want it to go on heavy and and don't want to trap any solvent under it, but as I get closer the thinning really helps so it sands a lot better. It also slows down the catalyst for those high temperature applications. No 600 sanding, too smooth, paint recommends 400 as finest to give it some good mechanical bond.
I have always found the paint recommendations for final sanding more than a bit odd as the recommended sealer removes any chance of a mechanical connection. Fact is that the paint bonds by 'melting' the surface of the paint below. Sanding old paint is important as oxidation resists this. That is why painting with a paint containing a solvent incompatible with the primer or old paint results in failure. Also consider that clear has no issue sticking to a 'perfectly' flat base coat. When I do body work, I go 80 then 40 on the bondo, 100 on the skim coat (often mixed with primer as we discussed before), then 320 on the high build primer. I don't shoot any primer until I am ready to go down to 100. I use the long boards with 40 grit early on when dealing with panels. That way I don't discover waves at the end. Blocking the primer down to 1500, or even 2000 is not unheard of, but those cars belong in glass boxes.
The paint does not melt modern catalyzed primers, the bond is mechanical only unless you paint on top of epoxy within the specified period before the chemical reaction is complete. Now doubt the paint used to have a chemical bond with the single stage primers such as lacquer and others that were used. That is no longer the case, the bond is only mechanical with 2 part catalyzed primers of today such as polyester and urethane. If I were to sand it that smooth it would just flake off.
That's interesting. Those of us that color sand with 1500 or 2000, along with those of us that do not sand the sealer, must have some kind of Voodoo watching over us. Body shops blend into unsanded (just the oxidation knocked off) panels all the time. Come to think of it, you aren't going to sand your base coat at all. What will keep the clear coat from flaking off that shiny surface? I bet the ol black magic works as well in LA as it does here in CA.
The base coat does melt in with the clear coat and the base coat is not shiny but a dull finish. You need to spray the clear on within 24 hours so the base is still green and the clear can melt it. As for the sealer I suspect that will bond with the paint chemically or you have to put the paint on it within a specified time if catalyzed. I don't use a sealer. I have never seen anybody blend into an unsanded panel with catalyzed paint.
