Another one written by my partner-in-crime, Jacob. This was a long and tough job as we didn't have a DA sander available. Enjoy ------- The AE86 has become a legend in its own right. Light, nimble, reliable, has the correct drive layout, and nice styling (IMO) with a peppy engine make for a great little car. Of course, it owns you on Mount Akina, but thats another story... The owner of this "Twin Cam" owns and runs Nativo Performance in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico (NativoPerformance.com). He is an avid STi owner and tuner, but somehow got convinced to build a GTS :/ One of the most knowledgeable tuners in the island, this car has some secret combinations of stock parts to make it fly while following the race series rules, including the side-exiting, wide-open exhaust. For more specifics, read up on the project HERE in Spanish. Needless to say, this is going to be one bad ass track car! As a track car, the paint job on this car was not perfect. Actually, that is an understatement. When the owner contacted us to polish out the car, he mentioned it had to look good from 20 feet away, that it was a track car, and some things would have to be sacrificed. As we saw it, there was simply no way simple polishing could make this car look better. The amount of orange peel was beyond anything I have ever seen. We took paint thickness measurements and saw 1000 micrometers + consistently. They had somehow used up a gallon of clear. I know, impossible, but that just shows you the quality of work the painters who did this car do. There were runs, all types of contamination defects, pinholes from solvent pop, fish-eyes, overspray OMG, showthrough metal (not enough base coat), blobs... en fin, a bad paint job. But where lay a challenge lay also an opportunity, we decided to do a complete wetsand and see just what we could salvage from this job. The car had no trim on it, no windows, to weatherseals. There would be minimal tape and easy access to all of the body. This should make it that much easier. Easier it was, but it still took a long time. We arrive and Marc quickly starts taking stats on the paint: First things to prepare: Sand paper. We use Nikkens Japanese Uni-Grit paper, and let soak as long as possible before using. In this case, we also used some rather hard water And now we prepare to do a test panel. Since this fender was brand new, we started here. A more consistent paint (hopefully) should provide more consistent results. We started on the driver's front fender: without light: with light: For sanding, we opted to use just one grit. This would allow us to sand in any direction. Usually, when using various grits, one should sand in specific directions per grit. This way you have a visual aid as to when you completely sand out the marks from the previous, more abrasive sanding. But using just one grit simplifies things quite a bit, especially since we are going to have to sand around all contours. Although there are many techniques out there, we were interested in the fastest ones. This is a race car, and the paint is super jacked. Here we are starting to sand:
shinier spots are low spots, and means further sanding is required: i know i look like a goof here... but I'm getting ready to polish out the sanding marks with the Makita Rotary, 3M Germany backing pad, "Yellow Brick" LLC constant pressure pad, and M105 after one quick pass, the reveal. Notice the tightness of the light reflection. Less orange peel = a more true and crisp reflection. Marc takes over: The fender looks MUCH better: The fender is done, the door is untouched: Now we know how the paint reacts to the sanding, we went ahead and sanded the entire car down, stopping to polish out certain areas for inspection only. Polishing would follow after all sanding is done. The less your polishing pads are exposed to dust, the less chance of contamination. messy and shiny. Who put the water bottle there!?: After doing the whole car, there were still areas that needed more work. The hood seemed to be harder than the rest of the car, and required dropping to 1500 grit. I got out the wool pad to not have to follow the sanding with a finer grit. It worked fine, removing the 1500 grit sanding ,arks with ease. So easy, we kept using the 1500 grit for touchups. Scary stuff as I brought out the burgundy foam "brillo" wool pad and let it loose of the roof: Progress as night falls: and more polishing... At this stage, after 7.5 hours straight, we called it quits for the day. We had sanded out about 90% of the surface, polished it out, and re-sanded a few areas. Yet to do: clear up sanding touch ups, refine polish with M205 or similar, then seal the paint. The next day we were able to work on the car was Dec 24th. The owner was leaving the following day, and would not get back until after we left the island. So it had to be today! The owner likes how his car is coming out: We finished up by polishing with M205 on a black LLC pad on the rotary. After 4 more hours of polishing, we put the front fascia on and took it outside for final pictures. Since the the car is scheduled to get stickered up soon, we gave it a quick spray of Blackfire Spray Sealant. The decal installer will wipe down with a solution that will strip off any sealants, so all we needed for paint protection was something to hold out living in the garage until then. We could have used almost any quick detailer with protection, but all we had on hand this day was the Blackfire and Dodo Juice Red Mist Tropical... two of our favorites! Tough choice indeed. Now, the car is not perfect, but we knew it would never be. We got to the point where further sanding and polishing would not improve the finish any more. Further, we would not recommend this to anyone! Please don't even ask the price to do something like this, as the cost to detail probably surpassed the cost to re-paint the car. Time spent = 12+ hours with 2 pro's working. Nice countryside to work in, but do not let the green fool you. It was 95 degrees F. Next mods: New turn signals and trim pieces, button up the engine and accesories, and take to its first track event in February 2010. The slicker surface should also be good for a few extra mph and a few mpg more Thanks for reading!
Great work guys ... :applause: This car brings a lot of good memories. My grandpa owned one of these when I was growing up in PR (non-hatchback gt-s version). He ended up with an AE86 after a car trade with one of his friends. These cars were/are called "sapitos" or froggies in PR because of their front-end. I don't think he ever understood that he owned such a "cult" car.
damn that was a nice turn out. i hate color sanding that much, but i love the way the paint feels before you buff it after sanding with 2500. great work guys. btw i a have an 86 sitting in my drive way right now awaiting rebuild
You all made that car look much,much better. Great job on getting the level of orange peel down to make the paint look respectable.
Very nice... I don't really like wet sanding... but on a car like that you really only have one choice...
Thanks a lot for the kind words guys. This paint was the worst... by FAR, I've ever come across. How someone could do such a horrible job painting a vehicle is beyond me. It would be the equivalent of a "pro detailer" burning every piece of trim on a car and sending it back off to the owner. Horrible. Regardless she came around pretty nice and at least looks respectable
Nice work, even though it was a lot of work! Awesome car with some nice wheels. Great job guys :applause:
