I got over to the body shop and worked on the Mustang yesterday morning for a few hours for only the second time since I towed it over there. Two weeks ago I blocked down the roof, quarters and rockers, trying to make sure it is as straight as I can make it and sharpen up the body lines. My friend Mike was busting my balls about sanding so much material back off, saying you remember you are not painting the car black right? I know white hides a lot of imperfections but I feel if I body work and prep the car as if it was going to be black then the white will look that much better. Last weekend, my wife and I went to Nashville with friends, so no Mustang time that weekend.
Yesterday, we got it into the prep station and masked it up and sprayed the (hopefully) last coats of primer. I loved using that masking film they use at the shop. It is so much easier than ripping off masking paper and taping the sheets together to cover the larger openings like I have always had to do before. Mike showed me, you back mask all of the openings and then drape the film over the entire car. Next just push the film into the openings and into contact with the tape and then trim with a razor blade. It was really much easier and more effective than using masking paper, that's why they are the pros, they know the tricks.
This was the first time the body of the car has been sprayed in a controlled environment. All of the other work and primer spraying has been in my home garage. Needless to say, it was much more pleasant to spray in a booth that is filtering out the fumes and controlling the dust and dirt. Next weekend we are going to New Orleans with different friends, so it will be another few weeks before any more progress is made.
I sprayed three coats of primer on the roof and quarters and two coats on the rockers, door jambs and body back panel. I want to make sure the roof and quarters had plenty of material to block sand again and hopefully not cut through and have to re-prime. The next step is to install and align the doors and fenders correctly, and then give the whole body a complete blocking down to insure all of the panels blend together nicely. Then it will be ready to blow back apart and paint white. That's probably not going to be until late April or May but depending on other stuff getting in the way, it should be Wimbledon white before the end of May.
My wife just bought me tickets for the Jimmy Buffet tribute concert on April 11th for my father's day gift so I am sure we be in southern Cali for that whole weekend. Which is a great gift and I am sure we will have a great time, but it pushes the finish date out again.
