Time for an update

[Michael2009]

what is best to paint in acrylic or two pac?

[rocket]

Hi Michael2009, It is considered that 2 pak - Clear over Basecoat will give the best finish, however there are a few things to consider before choosing.

Breathing the fumes of 2 Pak paints is an absolute no no as it can cause very bad health issues with your lungs. Therefore, if you have access to a spray booth, good quality respirator and wear full coveralls 2 Pak is the way to go.

But if you are doing this in a home garage then i would use Acrylic Lacquer. You still need to use a good respirator, but it is a lot safer. I have painted many cars at home over the years using Acrylic Lacquer. I always used clear coat for the last couple of coats and always cut and buffed the car to an excellent gloss afterwards.

Here is a Link to an excellent Forum which is all about paint and panel work -

http://www.autobody101.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=f5de5720e1d096489c56246f8c1be79a
 
Hope this helps.

Rocket.

[rocket]

Luke has sprayed the Primer Surfacer to the bottom of the Vert, rubbed it back and is now applying Seam Sealer prior to spraying the Matt Black -



Our electrical gremlins are now all sorted. Ron picked up his 71 Mach 1 from the auto electrician on Thursday. Problem was the engine feed wiring loom had been played with at some stage, the resistor wire from the ignition switch to the coil had been cut and then the wires just joined by twisting them together. This resulted in a poor contact which prevented the coil from getting 12 volts at start and then dropping back to the correct voltage -



The gremlins in the Red Mach 1 were also perplexing. Changed the carby - made no difference. The Distributor that was fitted in Perth already had new points and condensor fitted, but after much head scratching it was decided to change them anyway. Bingo - problem solved. Even brand new components can be crook. The car is now running sweet again, ready to be used for a wedding on Sunday. -



Next post - a couple of very nice Mach 1`s

[scedd1]

NEW = Never Ever Worked

[rocket]

NEW = Never Ever Worked

Hi Scedd, They did work - for about 15 minutes of driving time
We will now buy points, condensors and rotor buttons in lots of 3 - just in case.

2 more Mach 1`s arrived in SA last week 

This one was a Victorian car - Geelong i think - Very nice yellow paint job. We prepared a quote for the owner - John - to get the car ready for the Regency Park Rego Inspectors. Not a lot wrong with it. A slightly leaking petrol tank, remove the track rods, some worn shockers, couple of suspension bushes and just a few minor holes in the floorpans to be fixed -

 







The next one is fresh from the USA. Sourced by Shermatt for the new owner (also) John, who drove it from the docks straight to our workshop. We have the task of preparing this one too for inspection at Regency Park. Owner is thrilled to bits with it so far, although he said it was blowing a bit of smoke out the exhaust on the way to the workshop. Hmmm... Don`t know if the movement of the ship could have splashed oil around the engine - have not heard of that before?

It was straight up onto the hoist to check it out properly. Another good one. Found the brakes need a bit of work, but nothing major required -











Will be great seeing these 2 superb Mach 1`s out cruising.

Sorry the photos show both cars up on the hoist. Will get some good shots of each car when they are on the ground.

Matt, Jeremy said to write that you did great. Car is a ball tearer.

Rocket. 

[mwizz]

Great looking cars

[scedd1]

Seeing as its now nearly 4 months past Christmas, i figured i should use my fancy polisher from Rocket.
I washed the princess's Commodore and decided to polish it.
After 36 pages of advice and instructions in this thread, i decided to ignore the lot as it seemed too hard.
So i applied the Menzerna 4500 to the whole car by hand (in the garage) then fired up the polisher with a black pad on full speed and buffed the whole car.
The car needed a run, so i took it to Tara and Dalby yesterday.
I spotted a Valiant Drifter ute and a panelvan and was having a look, when i noticed how shiny she was (even though you can see how cloudy it is in the reflection) and took this pic.
Imagine the result if i did it properly

[rocket]

Welll......Scedd... What can i say?


Other than  - Excellent job mate The Princess should be very happy with you and her car. That is a very nice shine!

Just maybe you have found a whole new method. Think of all the stop/starts you would have needed to do if you did it my way. Takes me about 5 hours for each polishing stage, but using your method probably only 2 hours.

Well done.

Rocket.

[scedd1]

Dont give me too much credit rocket.
My reasoning was that the Holden robots have already done a great paintjob and it just needed a polish.
This thing has sat in the garage for 16 months and only comes out about 1 day per month maximum, so the paint was perfect, but just needed its shine back.
It actually took about 4 hours in total and i was really impressed with the polisher and the result.
The Hilux and the Mustang will still be done your way, theres no escaping that fact for them.

[rocket]

Scedd, It worked well for the job you required.

The Menzerna 4500 is a finishing polish, so good choice just to give the paint a freshen up.

I finally managed to get a few shots of the 2 Mach 1`s. They were used in a wedding last Sunday at Mc Laren Vale which is way over the other side of town. This was the first long drive the Red Mach 1 has had. Monique drove the Red one and was more than happy with how the car drove. Here are some photos -









I don`t know whether you can tell from the above photos, the Blue Mach1 is still sporting the Menzerna polish job with just a wax over it, but the Red Mach 1 had a couple of minor paint touch ups just before we left for Perth. Luke and BradB then gave it a buff with 3M compound, but there was no time to give it a Menzerna polish. Can you see the difference. I can!!
Give me the Menzerna look anyday. Time for me to get busy!

Rocket. 

[unilec5544]

Both cars look awesome Rocket, one thing I noticed is the gap between the body and the rear bumper on the right side of the blue Mach 1 seems a lot bigger than the red one, this seems to be an issue with a lot of mustangs that I have seen.

[rocket]

Hi Unilec5544, You had me wondering whether it is an issue so i went through the photobucket album looking for the photos from Shermatt that he took when purchasing the Blue Mach 1 for us . Here they are -





The gaps were the same before. I don`t consider it a problem as i think it could easily be adjusted if we were concerned about it.

But thanks, yes.... We agree they are both awesome.

There was a MOCA SA meeting tonight where the awards from the Nationals were being handed out, together with the judging sheets. Hope they bring the three Silver awards in tomorrow so that i can get some nice photos.


Rocket.

[rocket]

We had a very busy week so not much time for photos, however i did manage to take a few yesterday.

The 68 Vert has had the engine bay and undercarriage painted. Upon closer inspection of the body afterwards it was decided to go all out and repaint the body as well. Here it is having had several repairs completed, sanded and then the car was sprayed with Primer and guide coat -





Jeremy started to clean up the undercarriage of the Yellow Mach 1. After using a wire wheel on the suspect right front floor pan, the few rust holes turned into swiss cheese so will require replacing -





Jeremy received the trophies and judging sheets for the Red and Blue Mach 1`s - Sorry, not a great photo, but here they are -



I have the judging sheets here and having a good look through them. I will make a post later about how points are awarded and our thoughts about it all.

Rocket.

[mwizz]

Nice collection of trophies

[rocket]

Nice collection of trophies

Thanks Mark.

Rocket.

[jusTANG]

Good job Rocket,
you and the boy's were topic of conversation the other night at a meet up of all makes and models.

Your boy's blew some of the eastern staters away when they removed a fresh concourse car of its trailer to help a fellow mustang owner out on the trip over west.
And then I think Monique? being under the cars detailing them made many an owner jealous 

[rocket]

For those who are not familiar with Concours Judging this is how it basically works -

A total of 1,000 points can be awarded when a car is judged. Points are allocated in 6 basic categories. If a car achieves a total of 700-799 points it is awarded Bronze, 800-899 achieves Silver, 900-1,000 achieves the much covetted Gold award.

Each judging category consists of different sections of the car with points awarded 50/50 for condition and originality.

The last 2 years our Red and Blue Mach 1`s have achieved Silver awards which we are absolutely thrilled with.

To explain better, the Blue Mach 1 this year was awarded a total of 824 points out of 1,000, which leaves us 76 points short of Gold. Do we try for Gold next year? Maybe. The Blue Mach 1 is being put up for sale by Jeremy. If he is offered 65k for the car, then that would be up to the new owner. In the meantime we will begin to further improve the car with that covetted Gold firmly in our sights.

Here are the points that were awarded in each category.

Body and Paint - 170 points available - achieved 164... Very happy with that!
Body Originality - 100points available - achieved 100 ... Going well.
Engine/Engine Bay - 265 points available - achieved 214....Not as good - wrong carby cost dearly.
Interior - 195 points available - achieved 179....Meh, that is ok. Bit of tidying up around dash required.
Underbody - 170 points available - achieved 95... ouch! Thought that was the strong point of the car. Bugger!
Boot/Wheels & Tyres - 100 points available - achieved 72... Need to put a set of original 14"twelve slotters on the car - not15" Magnum 500s!

So i think we can quite easily pick up those 76 points with a bit of attention to detail. Underbody faults included things like wrong shockers, incorrect springs, wrong paint colour on suspension components and fuel tank, dirty in parts ( hard to clean it properly after driving 2,000 klms ), wrong clamps etc. We paint clear over the suspension parts after painting them which is a no, no for concours cars.

We do not want to have trailer queens that we are too scared to drive, but i believe with careful use and all correct components being fitted over the next few months, we can hopefully go close next year.

It was said that the judging was quite strict this year. No problem with that, in fact there is nothing on the judging sheets that we can disagree with. We just need to lift our game a bit if we are to try and win those Gold awards. Time to hit that Concours Forum and learn some more about it.

Rocket.

[Ash]

Wow, after breaking it down like that Rocket, you guys did very well. Very impressive 

[rocket]

Good job Rocket,
you and the boy's were topic of conversation the other night at a meet up of all makes and models.

Your boy's blew some of the eastern staters away when they removed a fresh concourse car of its trailer to help a fellow mustang owner out on the trip over west.
And then I think Monique? being under the cars detailing them made many an owner jealous 

Hi jusTang, Jeremy and Brad made the call to unload the Blue Mach1 off the trailer so that the convoy could keep moving. We would never leave a fellow Mustanger stranded in the middle of nowhere. Fact is a breakdown could happen to any of us at any time, so best to help each other out.

Monique and Fiona both spent time under the cars at Newcastle and Perth cleaning the undercarriages. They are both worth their weight in Gold. Here is a photo of them having come up for a breather from under the cars at Bathurst on the way to Newcastle last year -



Rocket.

[jusTANG]

Need to put a set of original 14"twelve slotters on the car - not15" Magnum 500s!

mmm..... that sounds familiar 

good job but, just need to decide how to achieve say 100 more points  and leave the rest as you like itand 

[jusTANG]

yeah that's it. Story goes she could and did slide under the car while it was sitting on the road on all four tyres 

BTW, have not forgot about polish thread still locked out of photobucket 

[rocket]

Wow, after breaking it down like that Rocket, you guys did very well. Very impressive 

Hi Ash, Thanks mate, I guess body and paint is our specialty, just need to lift our game as far as original components underneath are concerned.

mmm..... that sounds familiar 

good job but, just need to decide how to achieve say 100 more points  and leave the rest as you like itand 

  Yes... I saw the same thing mentioned about Foresight`s car. Those Magnum Wheels just look so bloody good on the Mach 1`s

I have heard it said that sometimes you should leave some things and just concentrate on areas where you can pick up the most points. Oh... Burnouts are strictly forbidden in the Mach 1`s

yeah that's it. Story goes she could and did slide under the car while it was sitting on the road on all four tyres 

BTW, have not forgot about polish thread still locked out of photobucket 


Yes i am still peeved about photofarket myself. Takes ages now to load up photos unless you have their app running all the time which also means it loads up every bloody photo. No thanks. Must be something better out there somewhere.... I just cannot find it yet.

Rocket.

[mwizz]

Thanks for that info Rod, that is very interesting and helps me understand the process.

On a side note I will probably be after a set of 15" Magnum 500s for the Boss to swap for the Magnums with the polyglas when taking it on local drives just in case you will be looking at parting with them.

[rocket]

Thanks for that info Rod, that is very interesting and helps me understand the process.

On a side note I will probably be after a set of 15" Magnum 500s for the Boss to swap for the Magnums with the polyglas when taking it on local drives just in case you will be looking at parting with them.

No worries Mark, sounds like you are going to enter the Boss in Concours? If so, i am happy to make you a copy of the judging results so that you can have a really good understanding of what is required.

Not much chance of Jeremy parting with his precious Magnum 500 Wheels .  Jack made a very kind offer before the Nationals of letting us borrow the wheels from his original 69  for the event, but Jeremy said thanks but no thanks. He was horrified at the thought of taking those Magnum 500s off the Blue Mach 1.



Rocket.

[mwizz]

Oh well, it was worth asking