Projects 1959 Impala Hardtop

Thanks for sharing on the full face mask. It is good to avoid all contact but the risk to eyes is scary. It was decent of the salesperson to tell you.

I worked on industrial sites with chlorine, chlorine dioxide, mercaptans, hydrogen sulphide and a myriad of other chemicals that will drop a person quickly. Some areas required working under air on maintenance shutdowns until the atmosphere cleared and was safe after opening tanks & piping. We depended on our masks & PPE to be safe.

My mask fit was tested often. The cartridges are removed and then the hands put over the air inlets and then inhale hard to suck the mask in. Then a smoke that is a severe irritant is puffed around the edges of the mask & any leakage will make a person cough. To test a mask. Take the cartridge off and pull the face mask tight, cover the air inlets tight with the palms and inhale, then the mask should suck in flat & hold. You can hear if and feel if it is leaking. If the cartridges foul and the mask leaks then it is a problem

In Canada almost everyone working in industry and construction trades are required to take WHMIS training which is training on identifying hazards with products & materials to be able to take the appropriate precautions. I think many states are the same but we are allowed to buy these & take them home with out any information of their risks. Every product has a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) that tells what PPE (personal protective equipment) to wear, the environmental conditions to work with and what to do in the event of a mishap. The MSDS sheets will tell what the toxic effects are short & long term for every product. In industry no product can be issued without labelling and the MSDS sheets readily available to the supervisors and employees. It is good for everyone to take a look at the MSDS for the chemicals they use.

The urethane we were using for painting that I reacted to was waterborne that was promoted as eco friendly which gives an extreme false sense of security to anyone not knowledgeable of WHMIS. The only eco friendly in the product was the water used to reduce the viscosity but part A & B was every bit as nasty as any conventional product. The water only eliminates the volatile reducer component. I read the MSDS & thought I had all the bases covered but it is good to learn about the full face mask. Thank you for that . The other thing to check with the mask is the life of the cartridge. We all use the cartridges over and over but the training is that in a strong environment they are good for about a half hour.

Nuff of that.
Good to see you are progressing again. I am following your build and enjoying your work.
Glenn

 

completely forgot I had the other one sitting outside and hadn't polished it when I finished the first one I was so excited how it came out I forgot about the other. polished it up late last night, ill put the trim on later right now need to get the radiator core done to mount them on











and got another pound of flake from detonator to finish up all the white. on the left, knockoff shitty flake someone wanted to use. on the right the real flake detonator flake



big difference trust me

 

glenn yea its some scary stuff. apparently you aren't even supposed to let it set on your skin itll absorb it and intoxicate a bit if so. and the waterborne eco friendly is only to protect environment not the sprayer the fumes and toxens are still there. what sucks, and don't know if he was correct, but that each set of cartridges as soon as you break open the wrapper is only good for one day, 24 hours. true? I spray about 3 times a week now, and each set of cartridges is 25 bucks. told me I might be able to do 2 days if I re wrap and put in fridge overnight. I didn't know the life on them was so short. is that correct?

 

This is skidding a little OT but personal safety in the home shop is as important as an industrial shop.

The cartridge lives definitely can be extended by bagging them. I don't think that they deteriorate as fast as you were told. Some cartridges for painting have replaceable cotton covers that take care of the paint clogging the surface of the filters. We dated the cartridges for work when we put them on our masks and changed them at regular intervals. I think it was 6 months if the mask was kept in the pouch but I kept the cartridge bags over my cartridges while they were in the pouch to preserve them.The fridge would slow down any chemical action going on but not sure what it would be if it was sealed and no air drawn passing through the cartridges.

See if you can find manufacturers recommendations for cartridges & that may have come with your mask. I think it becomes a judgement call as to how contaminated the atmosphere you are working in and how fast the mask is clogging with solids. We created our own temporary spray booth with filters over the openings on one side for the incoming air & an exhaust fan that changes the air in the booth quickly so the air is not so thick and the paint is drawn off by the fan. We probably use them up to 4 or 5 times & change them to err towards caution. Definitely should not have any paint odor coming through the mask.

I would look at the manufacturers recommendations for the filter cartridges if they are available. The information will be conservative. There can be a different cartridges for to cover different chemicals & environmental conditions. The life of the cartridges depend on how contaminated the environment is. I know it is approximately half an hour for a pair of cartridges on an industrial mask if it is used in a stronger environment. They are not intended for an environment that is too toxic or oxygen deprived. A professional painter may be able to give you some guidance.

I take a pragmatic view of safety. If you or I were paying someone to paint that they would be charging for the safety ppe as a factor of the shop rates. I know that large industrial contractors negotiate some dollars per hour for PPE or roll it into their rates. On top of that there is a factor for consumables which are misc. like tape, weld rod, shop towels etc, then some percents for overhead such as payroll, Hr etc. plus a few percents for profit. Whether I perform the work or hire a tradesman the job requires the same PPE or the tools either way. If we eliminate the contractor the same as you have eliminated hiring a painter then you have shed the painters hourly rates with all the adders, profit, overhead etc.. So other than materials & PPE then the only remaining cost is your time to save a lot of money. I think that is why I could relate to you doing your own work and in the driveway as I have done.

I have estimated costs for years and we always allowed 10% for consumables which always has seemed to worked. The other snake in the grass is to allow 10% for contingencies to cover the forgotten and surprises.

So factoring the consumables as a cost of doing this work irregardless then the occasional $25 for cartridges me be viewed as a reasonable part of the cost of doing the project. It is a factor no matter who does the work. If you were to add up all the costs to date that you have spent & take 10% then you may find that the safety costs as a consumable are not that far out of line. Shopping around may get a better deal on cartridges & there may be a deal by the box. It may reduce the pain little bit plus think of all the hours you have put in X a labor rate that you avoided.

As far as protecting the skin we use the hooded paper type tyvek suits that we get from a safety supply store for about $8. The paint stays on the coveralls then we can leave the coveralls in the shop take less contamination home. The coveralls are reasonably cool, liquid resistant and is a quick way of shedding the paint of our bodies. We buy the nitrile gloves in boxes of a 100 for working with paint & chemicals. The nitriles are similar to latex gloves but they are for mechanics & are tougher than latex. It is probably cheaper to throw the gloves than using reducer to wash a person's hands.

Take care
Glenn

 

thanks glenn, yea I get you if im paid to do a job add in the cost of a set or two cartridges. yea I was kinda disappointed when he said 24 hours, but I had the same respirator but half face not full face, and I used it for months and still didn't get a scent of the vapors or odor so I figured it was still working. ill use it a few times before I replace, definitely if I smell the paint through it. even if its already used a few times, its still better than not wearing it im sure its still catching the floating particles.

supposed to rain tomorrow, but just a bit mid morning. got a lot of progress done, radiator core, headlight buckets, upper and lower grille supports, cowl vent, and that bomb I have are ready for primer. a lot of sanding and prepping but they are ready. having those done the whole front end comes together and I can put back on =)

everyone is telling me its a nice color. whats funny is I thought this tone blue was chevy blue and was the same for all years from 58 to 68, that it was all the same just that it had a different name for every year. its not the same. my homie brought his 62 over this morning to see if I could spray a small patch in his quarter panel, said it was chevy light blue so I said yea I had some paint itll work. it was off, his blue was light blue like mine but had a bluer tone, mine has a grayish tone but both are still light blue just mine is just bit lighter. and his 62 wasn't resprayed it was original color he just needed a rust spot he fixed sprayed. wonder if its different for other years too

 

The colour of your car is a nice classic blue. It is Caddy like from the same era.

The worst is the paint hardener. Paints contains chemicals absorbed by the charcoal in the filters and once the active charcoal is spent then then the airborne chemicals get past the filters. One component of the catalyst is isocyanates that is crazy glue and it harms the body in so many ways. It is amazing that the isocyanates are allowed to be used given their affect on people. Bag the mask between uses and maybe put a piece of masking tape on the bag each time you use it so you have an idea of the number of hours on it and be reasonably conservative. The isocyanates do serious harm.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/isocyanates/
all best

 

man im so glad I know all this now. im the kind of guy that would have otherwise would alwasy have painted without the respirator thinking worst that could happen is I get alittle high but "man enough" to handle it. now I know better thanks for the info glenn

 

You are welcome. I really respect your attitude and patience with this. I think many of us have got a buzz painting especially with lacqquer but the new paints have taken the fun out of it.
Now you are aware of the MSDS sheets you can check out the typical chemicals like lacquer thinner, zinc chromate primer, acetone, MEK, resins etc as it advises of the PPE and the right atmosphere to work in. They will give you a new perspective as well.

Looking forward to your seeing your next round of photos.

all the best,

 

next round of photos =) shot primer today. used a new primer, metacryl, sprayed beautiful. good coverage and layed pretty smooth compared to European high build. mixes 4:1:1 for primer, 4:1:2 for sealer. goes on nice and wet and covers great =) dries to touch in about 5 min I gave it 10 min flash time

 

sneak peek



cut and buff tomorrow, front end will be back on by sunday. tomorrow wrap up my dash, then start the body this week

 

nice work on the painting!

 

These catalyzed paints are pretty vicious compared to the older enamels and straight lacquers. I printed out the MSDS sheet for my new paint and glad I know what I'm working with. I won't even have things like MEK around the shop. Good old lacquer thinner is bad enough.

That '59 is coming out nice and doing a lot of work outside too. I tend to like to build outside and roll it back in when I'm done.

 

thanks guys. and yea im kinda forced to work outside but I enjoy it better as long as im under the ez up I don't feel enclosed like in my garage. anything mechanical, fluid related or body related definitely outside. trim and upholstery inside seems to be better for me for some reason.

update why I haven't posted on my dash. last I posted on it it was primered and ready for paint, mentioned I was painting the next morning. well I did. but was unsuccessful so I had nothing to post. I guess we learn from our mistakes and I definitely did this time.

what happened was I prepped for paint, but overdid it. I prepped my dash, all 3 gauge bezels, two long trims that wrap along the end of the dash, and the end pieces that go by the door. that was the problem, I overwhelmed myself. I mixed the paint and started with the dash, but had to rush I had 7 pieces waiting to get sprayed as well in order to get all done in a time frame to go with the flash time. well when you occupy your mind to do too much at once, you make mistakes and miss little details and I did. the long curved pieces that go on the top front of the dash I sprayed without spraying the inside edge. the gauge bezel pieces basecoat came out ok as did the dash end pieces that match up to the door. right when I was done with my last coat of base, when the dash was looking perfect, from me rushing I jerked the gun too hard and a single drop from who the hell knows were drops right in the center. I dab it with a cloth and spray over it and fixed it, then another drop. this one was bigger and could not be dabbed, I turn to hurry and get the outside pieces done and the hose drags across the top of the dash. so that was it for the dash

mistake 2, I STARTED spraying basecoat by 6:30 pm, sun was still out but going down soon. big mistake. 6:30 first coat of base, 15min flash now 6:45. then second coat. 15 min flash now 7. last coat of base and its 7:10. wait 45 min to an hour to allow proper flash in order to spray clear coat now its 8pm. first coat of clear, 15 min flash now 8:15. second coat, 15 min flash now 8:30. last coat of clear, 15 min flash now 8:45. sun was set and got dark by 745, an hour before so I sprayed clear in the night and temperature drop so what happened was the clear didn't flash long enough it wasn't hot enough so I got solvents make bubbles in the clear trying to escape the top coat and some of the bubbles were so dense it made a hazy look.

moral of the story, don't rush don't overwhelm yourself do it one step at a time. trying to do too much at once opens up opportunity for mistakes. and secondly, goes with rushing. If it can wait and would be better for the next day, then wait. definitely with paint, never start too late unless you are in a temp controlled booth. if not, make sure you are done spraying your last coat by the time the sun is barely going down, do the math.

i was completely bummed out, thought i had to go back down to bare metal and not only did i waste a day but was set back a full 2 days to re sand, prep, primer and sand the primer to get ready for paint. so i put it off out of frustration but since i was done with the front end parts i figured it was time to fix it no running from it. i got lucky, i was able to peel off the clear coat with a razor without getting any of the primer off on the smaller pieces. and the dash with wash thinner i managed to damp and wipe the whole dash, all the paint came off without removing the primer at all, primer stayed hard and didn't even stain my rag gray only blue from the paint. i used half a gallon and a whole roll of bounty paper towels but now its all off and ready for respray =) so tomorrow im spraying it again but taking my time and being careful.=)

got this, blue to match the car it mounts on the dash looking towards the outside to show car registration




but put this in it instead, to remind me how far it came and how hard I tried on it




was either that pic or this pic, the first time I saw it when I first pulled up



tomorrow finish up the dash an wet sand and buff the front end parts to get them ready to mount

 

the white stuff around the edge of the windshield pillars and dash is rust inhibitor I left on there instead of painting blue because it does a better job sealing rust than paint. and when the windshield is in it sits on that so you cant see it. and when I peeled all the tape and masking paper off it let off a bunch of crap that's whats sitting ontop of the dash its not in the clear coat the clear coat was dry hours ago I can just blow that stuff off




but now, dash is done just wet sand and buff sunday and I can put it all together. all that's left now is the quarters, almost there =)

 

As always, it's looking beautiful. Keep up the great work!!

 

thanks caddy =) to be honest with you painting areas with nooks and crannies like the dash and firewall is really time consuming. that and I sanded the fingerprints right off my fingers im glad whats left is big long panels I can finally use my air tools. I start the quarters and tail this Monday I got a feeling itll all be prepped for paint in a week. once the paint is all done after that, whats left I can do a lot quicker than what I took doing the paint and body. I will have long nights putting it together but at that point im really going to be pumped to see it come together. spending the day tomorrow starting to put the front end back on starting with the radiator core. in the daylight. still need wet sand and buff doing it sunday




from this point on the build will get interesting again, finalizing its makeover

 

wet sanded and buffed, night pics

 

in the day












put this stuff up to fry with acid to remove the anodizing, sanded and buffed them. the rest of the pics describe themselves

 

I painted the passenger dash molding. originally black, seeing the car is white and blue I thought id thow some red in it. the paint reacted, came out with a crushed ice look. I like it im keeping it that way

 

You guys are doing some nice work. Love the color.

 

the reason the wires are all there looking bad is because I had to run them back in when I painted the firewall. will re run back out and clean it up when im done with the front. so I got to working on the front starting with the radiator core. came out nice. these are before pics, it originally came factory with wrinkles and crimps on the top when it was pressed. didn't like it, so I smoothed it out before I painted. before and after

 

the reason the wires are all there looking bad is because I had to run them back in when I painted the firewall. will re run back out and clean it up when im done with the front. so I got to working on the front starting with the radiator core. came out nice. these are before pics, it originally came factory with wrinkles and crimps on the top when it was pressed. didn't like it, so I smoothed it out before I painted. before and after

 

the reason the wires are all there looking bad is because I had to run them back in when I painted the firewall. will re run back out and clean it up when im done with the front. so I got to working on the front starting with the radiator core. came out nice. these are before pics, it originally came factory with wrinkles and crimps on the top when it was pressed. didn't like it, so I smoothed it out before I painted. before and after

 

and after bolting everything on its looking really good


















the fan shroud is a 348 fan shroud, ill still fly it don't have another and its already chromed so ill go with it. it IS 59 shroud anyways.

 

the only part I left original on the whole car, original paint. even got the original style rivets for it

 

Holy shit paint is looking awesome.

 

I absolutely agree. Fantastic paint work. Prep and color/wet sanding really pays off.