The Other 68 Dart Resto Project
Another update, I got the drivers door done, I just need to weld up the trim holes and spray a coat of primer.
This is what it looked like before I started, you can see that there were large areas where the clear coat had failed, which led to the failure of the base coat, which left bare filler that you see here. I have no idea why the clear was flaking, but it might have been because the car sat in the Texas sun for 15 years, slowly baking.
After doing a little research, I found out that I need to strip the old paint off completely since the clear was improperly applied and there would be a high risk of it peeling off if I just scuffed it. I did things the hard way and sanded off the paint with 80 grit in my D/A.
Once I got the paint stripped, I started blocking the door with a 17" board, the previous paint job had a thick layer of filler primer on it (brown), so I just started sanding until I got the panel straight. The existing filled was done properly, and I saw no need to strip it down and start from scratch.
This is what it looks like now, the panel is pretty straight now, I did have a few divits that I had to lay in some fresh putty to make it really smooth. I still need to weld up the trim holes in the door. Once I do that and get the door back on the car and aligned, I will spray the whole car in the finish primer. The driver's side of the car is worse than the Passenger side, so that is why I am spending most of my time on this side. The front fender was replaced before and really only needs to be sanded and aligned.
Another update, I got the drivers door done, I just need to weld up the trim holes and spray a coat of primer.
This is what it looked like before I started, you can see that there were large areas where the clear coat had failed, which led to the failure of the base coat, which left bare filler that you see here. I have no idea why the clear was flaking, but it might have been because the car sat in the Texas sun for 15 years, slowly baking.
After doing a little research, I found out that I need to strip the old paint off completely since the clear was improperly applied and there would be a high risk of it peeling off if I just scuffed it. I did things the hard way and sanded off the paint with 80 grit in my D/A.
Once I got the paint stripped, I started blocking the door with a 17" board, the previous paint job had a thick layer of filler primer on it (brown), so I just started sanding until I got the panel straight. The existing filled was done properly, and I saw no need to strip it down and start from scratch.
This is what it looks like now, the panel is pretty straight now, I did have a few divits that I had to lay in some fresh putty to make it really smooth. I still need to weld up the trim holes in the door. Once I do that and get the door back on the car and aligned, I will spray the whole car in the finish primer. The driver's side of the car is worse than the Passenger side, so that is why I am spending most of my time on this side. The front fender was replaced before and really only needs to be sanded and aligned.
