Hello, Just joined and this looks like a great place to ask some general questions about my first old school project. Engine bay/undercarriage I am looking to clean up my engine bay which is not bad but I want to strip the paint and minor surface rust, grease, treat it then primer it black. I will probably leave the black primer on for good so something that looks durable and will last would be ideal. Any suggestions? Body From what I been reading on the web, I should to block sand the entire body with 80grit then use finishing putty to spray the whole car. I then should use a sealer like DuPont 2804s high solids urethane and I am also understanding that I should use build up primer after this step followed by wet sanding using 220-grit and then 400-grit before I can paint. If that is correct then my question is, I think I want to give it a rat rod look so could any of those products be left on as the final coating or is there another primer/paint I should use for the final finish of mat black/white? And being that I probably don't want a glossy paint job, could any of the previous steps be skipped? Bagging I got so many questions and I don't want to turn this into a long boring post but if anyone has info on budget bagging a 1956 Buick Special then please let me know as that will be my next step. Thanks in advanced!
Shhhhh! don't say rat rod. If you want a flat black look, it would probably better to go with a flattening agent added to your paint. I've always understood primer absorbs moisture. I did'nt think they made the Riviera until the mid 60's?????? Welcome to the HAMB, those old Buicks are cool.
A little bit at a time You need to decid on what you want the car to look like and start heading in that direction, search this site you will find all the info you will need good luck
love that car. please try to resist buying into the whole "rat rod" thing. since you're new i'll let you in on a secret, rat rods are looked down upon in the car community. they're a joke. just try to build a nice old car out of it, and do what you want with it-just don't choose to go with a "fad" just my .02 anyway, do what you want with it, it will still be a cool car.
you can start with 80 sanding for a flat job, if you want to paint it, media blasting is the way. you dont spray finishing putty, and you dont wanna coat the whole car with it either. as said, primers dont make a good final finish, the best semi gloss black i have used is rm uno, and sem hot rod black. skull
You have a nice car and are proly a great guy, but 'till you make a proper intro. and stop it with that rat rod shit, you will not......Oh well, welcome.
As far as the budget bagging goes, you can buy a universal kit that has everything you need for under 900 bucks from this place. I'm sure it's not the best stuff money can buy, but it should do the job. http://www.x2industries.com/
Welcome. You have a beautiful car. I have a Century Riviera 4-door hardtop, almost exactly like yours. I'm currently bagging my car, so you're in luck. I have a thread open that I'll be updating as I get some more work done (currently waiting on hardware). I ordered my Air Lift kit from kustombuilder here on the HAMB. Great kit and price. Let me know if you have any questions? How's the interior? Is the car rusty? Original nailhead/dynaflow? Also, post some more pics.
I get the picture and I wont turn this baby into a rat rod, just trying to convey the thought of a mat black paint job and bagged Like you guys said, one step at a time. I will be working on the engine/bay this weekend and I just did a compression test on it and got 115 to 120 consistently on all 8. I been trying to find a converter from psi to ratio but they all require complex stroke, vol, etc to calculate if my engine needs rebuilding or not. Does anyone have experience with this? If my compression is good and the car does feel strong, I can just tune it up and leave it or maybe just do the top end. Once again, thanks for welcoming me and I'll post pictures of my progress and soon enough the end result. BTW, Century, I will definitely hit you up or if you have time, maybe document your steps and post them with pics and I'll do the same when I do mine. If all goes well, I'll be buying the same kit, thanks.
Century, to answer your questions, the car has surface rust here and there, the driver side floor pan is rusted out so I'll be replacing that when I get to the interior. The interior was redone a while ago but they used some funky green material so I am going to pull everything out and do it Red/Black. The engine is the original nailhead 322 with a 2barrel carb which I want to change to a 4barrel. So I am looking for a manifold/carb combo in the mean time. The owner lost the original key, so I am going to try to make a key impression and file it down with some blanks. If that does not work then I'll just have to replace the ignition lock, therefore I have no idea what the trunk looks like but from underneath it looks ok. Currently doing research on kits for the interior but they're pretty scarce for these cars.
Sounds like the engine is fine to me. Do the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, fuel filter, and fluids... you should be fine. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't even mess with the paint. It looks pretty decent and has a little age to it. As for the key, you can definitely get one made from the cylinder. Any capable locksmith should be able to do it.
yep and that's nto a turd, but with flat black it will be. If you have your heart on a flat or satin finish at least give it a little color....
Green is the new red...If the interior has been redone, why spend good money you could be using on something else more important. Keep the interior while you paint the car a boring, follow-me flat black...green goes with black... As for material, try SMS Fabrics out of Oregon, they stock 90% of the original vinyls and cloth patterns of most major manufacturers...it wouldn't be hard to re-do the interior in original reds and blacks... R-
Hi 40studedude, I was just reading your thread on the 55 cady build last night, awesome job and progress!! Your post has given me inspiration to pull my engine/tranny so I can paint it right. As for my original ideal to go with flat black, that is now out the window and I now want a gloss black! I was going to do a two tone white/black but I am really digging a super glossy black right now and with a red/black interior that should really pop. I agree with you and I should keep the current green interior for now but it honestly looks like it was done in TJ so I cant wait to jank it out. I will be painting the car myself so I am doing a lot of reading and just purchased a HB hvlp, I know these are the worst but I also read some reviews that they're pretty decent for the $$. At least it will be good enough to shoot the primer, sealant, engine and firewall paint
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