[BadlandsGhost]

I just decided to post one of my current projects, maytbe it'll be a help to somebody else down the line. Anyway<g>
The fx on my 93 have been in bad shape for a while, and I've decided to try to fix them up a little. If anyones interested, I'll use this thread to detail the process as step by step as I can.
What I started with: Mine were badly faded, basically to a flat grey, with numerous pits and one fairly ugly crack on the front fascia that was torn all the way through the vinyl. The sides also have some spiderwebbing and some nasty chip spots (there when I bought the car, I tried to paint them shortly thereafter, but didn't use bumper paint, so it all flaked off).
Heres some pics of what I started with.

[BadlandsGhost]

I've decided to do the effects in sections, since my "working" time is limited to about 4 hours a week. I decided to start on the front end since it was in the worst shape.
After a nice washing, I took a fine grain wet sanding paper to it, and was amazed at how much paint was "just-barely" hanging on.
After a quick run over, I had several yellow plastic spots, and a whole lot of nicks and dings. (To go along with the wear-through that was already there). Especially daunting was a couple of "runs" along the fender corner.

Well, bedtime for now, I'll continue this tommorow,
J

[Joes 5.0]

Just got to say thank you for posting this stuff up, my stang looks like the ground effects got a yellow spray paint can blown up on it its cracking and peeling so bad, but i'm not to sure how to work with the plastic body kit material.... so keep posting, thanks, and good luck

[BadlandsGhost]

Well, heres some of the pics from last weekend:
After the inital sanding, with a few of the worst holes/gouges already patched (the black spots)
The bumper filler is a bondo type product that you mix 50/50, and then have something like 6 minutes before it starts to cure. I just basically smeared it into the cracks with a thin piece of plastic, getting the rough shape. For the biggest tear (top, near center of bumper) I had to cut a small chunk out of the vinyl and then filled the hole in.

(Edit) OK, here we go again:


J

[BadlandsGhost]

The next step was to sand the filler down, just like with regular bondo. The filler instructions gave a 30 min cure time, which seemed accurate except for one batch that I must have gotten the proportions a little off. It didnt set right, so when I started sanding, it basically came off in clumps. this mainly happened on the driver corner, and a little on the pass corner.
I used 3m sanding sponges, mainly because they fit nicely into the "lip" around the bumper, and were good for doing the edge of the lip.

Since I was hitting my time limit, I decided to just throw a coat of primer on to the nearly finished areas, and leave the incomplete ones "as-is". To mask, I used painters tape and wax paper (bad idea, the tape had a very hard time sticking to the paper. Did great on the car itself though.)
Then I just did a light coat of (IMPORTANT) flexable bumper primer.

Anyway, that was last weekends progress, hopefully tonight I'll get todays pics uploaded and post again.
Whaddya folks think so far?

J

[BadlandsGhost]

OK, heres what little I got done yesterday:
First pics are the bad areas that didn't cure last weekend. I hit them with a coarse grit sponge to knock them into the right shape, including some more smoothing on the biggest hole I patched::

Sorry, but the driver side didn't want to upload.

These last ones are after I added another layer of the bumper fill to the low spots I was left with (you can see the primer still there around/in the spots. ).
Hopefully next weekend will be the final "patching" since the sides and back seem to be in decent enough condition to just sand and paint. And I also included a pic of the spreader and mixing board I've been using.

Anyway, anybody? Questions? Comments?

J

[rcknfrd]

Where are you buying your supplies (paint, filler, etc...) Take some pictures of the materials as well. Costs? I am thinking about doing some of this work myself also.

[BadlandsGhost]

Actually it hasn't cost that much so far. Included are all the things I've used/planning to use.
From the upper left, clockwise:
plasti-cote flexable bumper primer, from wally-world, $4 a can
SEM Ford lt.titanium, PN SEM39283 about $7 a can, plus shipping (varies) I had to order it online, but if you know any paint shops...?
Decently sized garbage bags [for the wheels](the ones I got we're slightly small but usable) couple of bucks at Wally.
Painters tape: $3-5 bucks at wally or the Depot
Bondo flexable bumper filler: I got mine at advance, $4 a pop, it was hidden among the other bodywork accessories (I didnt notice it the first trip, lol).
And 3 grits of 3m sanding sponges, also from wally world, about 4 bucks a piece. I've also used some of the other wet/dry stuff I have here, but it was mainly incidental. I had 'em, why not use em?

Alltogether, I'd say I've got 50-60 bucks invested, plus the time. but honestly, even for not being nearly done, I think it'll be hugely apparent in the look of the car. Even with the front corners still looking messed up, just having a front end mainly one color (even if it is primer right now) makes a huge difference.
I can't wait to post pics of the final work, LOL

Hope it helps
J

[GhostDog 5.0]

Sticky'd post , great work and very nice pics.

[Stangboy5666]

It looks much better! Im extremely impressed. Ive been thinking about doing this same thing, because my car is an 88 and therefore monotone. It also has that ugly black trim stripe on my cardinal red. I dont care for the red, but I would love to have the titanium lower half like you do, and mine is yellow in the usual spots anyway, so maybe Iwill also give this a shot. Nice job, and keep up the good work. Also thanks Ghost for the sticky, this is a great thread

[BadlandsGhost]

Thanks for the praise guys, its very encouraging , Also Ghost, thaks for the sticky. Believe it or not, that made my day<g>.
Yup, fear not, mores definatly coming. Looks like this weekend I'll actually have the whole day to work on it.

Thanks again for the encouragement.
J

[BadlandsGhost]

Woo! The front end is finally done!
Well, heres yesterday. I apoligize in advance for the brightness in the pics, It was a bit overcast, and I was racing against rain to get everything done.

Again, before starting, I washed the car, paying particular attention to removing the weeks accumulation of road grime on the front end.

OK, I started with a final rough sand on the touchup spots I did last weekend, got them knocked down farly smooth. After that I resanded the main patch spots and a couple of the patches that I had covered in primer with the med and finer grade pads just to smooth everything down enough for the final primer coat.
The finished result wasnt "perfect", I could have done a little more, but you still can't tell unless youre 12" away, so I decided to let it ride.

I also sanded around the edge where it transitions from ground effect to body paint to kill some of the rough texture where the paint had completly worn through. To avoid scratching the body color up, I had to use the edge of the pads bordering on the open foam ends, which seemed to work pretty well.

[BadlandsGhost]

In the first pic on this set you can see what I was talking about with the worn out edges that I had to sand smooth.

After that, I cleaned everything again with an alcahol soaked rag, and masked for painting again.
I did the primer in 2-3 fairly light coats, taking about 3 mins to work from one end to the other, and by then the start point would be dry enough to start the next coat.

Then finally, it was time to break out the SEM paint.
One thing I noticed that made life a little more difficult was that the primer was so light, it was initally hard to tell how well the titanium was actually going on. It might be easier with a different color primer, or then again, it might just take that much more paint to cover it...?
Speaking of...The previous recommendation that I was given was that 2 cans were plenty to do the whole car. I'd daresay that thats not going to be the case since I used 1 whole can just on the front.

Anyway, with the bumper color, I started with a light mist coat, let that dry, and then started spraying slighty heavier coats after that, making sure to keep it light enough that it didnt run. IIRC I ended doing like 5 light coats before it started looking right.

The one thing I'm now wondering about is whether I should add a clear coat, and if so, what finish? I have no idea what the original paint was like in pristine condition. Semi-gloss maybe? Or no clearcoat at all?

Anyway, thats it, whaddya think? Only 3 more sides to go, LOL

J

Last couple of pics....

[Stangboy5666]

First of all, let me say it looks phenominal. Im surprised how gorgeous it turned out. Did you have a sprayer? WHat did the SEM paint come in? I guess Im trying to figure out how I can do it, because i dont have a compressor at all, let alone one capable of shooting some paint. I got really good with a rattle can when I did my interior, but I didnt think that that paint would come in a rattle can. Let me know, thanks man

[nykmad]

well i have found so factory colors in the rattle cans wally world has them with the bondo or autozone has it in their paint section and also this thread is awsome but i was wondering if anyone knows something my car has a pearl paint and is there anyway to match the color or am i just hosed thanks