My C4 Corvette Restoration Project

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 1:58 pm
This is the last of the Paxton SN series blowers, based on the old Paxton McCulloch Supercharger used in the Studebaker Avanti, and Thunderbirds.
It had a self contained (no engine oil) Planetary Ball Drive to step up the Impeller speed.
They have fallen out of favor to the newer gear drive centrifugal blowers people use today. :(

The kits cost about $5000+ back in the late 80's, now you can't give one away. :roll:

I do have a water/alky injection system and have an upgraded impeller and cooling system (gear oil) for the blower.
Puts out about 8 or 9 pounds of boost on the mild ZZ4 engine I have, and is all emission legal in my TaxAchusetts.
All that work for about 400 rear wheel horsepower, and low 12's @ 119 -120 mph in the quarter mile.

Lot of cars come stock with more power than that now, but back in the late 80's early 90's it was pretty quick. :wink:

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:01 pm
Everything is final sanded (with 600), masked and wiped down with prep wash ready for color.
Reprimed and sanded a few burn through and pinhole spots also.
Spent all weekend bagging the garage floor and walls and arranging the parts.
Silly as it sounds, I've been walking around with the spray gun & hose doing dry runs to be sure I can reach everything without bumping pieces with my elbows & butt. :oops:
All I have to do is tape the filters in the windows and bag up the fans in the far door when I get ready to paint.

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Hopefully, going to pick up the base and clear in the morning and maybe paint tomorrow or the next day.
Been waiting for the weather to even out so I know what activator and reducer to get, it was 103 F and humid last week and 60 F and pouring rain today.

Can't help getting nervous about spraying the color now, it's been about a year of work (since I first pulled the old body panels off) to get this far. :shocked:

When I went in to talk to the paint supplier last week, I asked if he had any last minute advise.
He said "it's not to late to hire someone to spray the color for you" :rolleyes:

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:33 pm
Have you sprayed anything with Iwata yet?
It will lay your base and clear real nice if you take the time to practice and get it set up right.
I have the LPH400 Silver cap and I use it for epoxy primer too.
I vote for the Dark Red Metallic. :goodjob:
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:19 pm
I haven't sprayed with it yet, but I've read every post I can find on the net about it.
If I sum up all the opinions the suggested settings would be.

Fan wide open and in about half a turn.
Fluid control 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 turn out.
Pressure 20 to 25 psi at the gun. (although some say 12-16 psi base & 16-20 psi clear)
Air control all the way out.
Hold the gun closer to the surface than other guns (4 to 5 inches)

I think I'll start with.

Fan half turn in from wide open.
Fluid control at 3 turns out.
Pressure at 20 psi @ the gun.
Air control all the way out.

What do you think?

I have a few pieces of sheet metal and the hood from my old lawnmower to play with.
I won't aim the gun at the car until I get it laying down right.

I kid about the paint store guy, but he's been very nice to me.
Best advice he gave is if the paint isn't going down right STOP and come in and talk to him about it, don't paint the whole %$## car.
Even if you lose the paint in the gun, it's better than having to sand down the whole car and start all over again.
I see a lot of new painters on here (like me) posting problems, that should have stopped and asked for help. :shocked:

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:58 pm
20 psi for base, fan about 1/4-1/2 in from full open, fluid 3 1/2 turns out should be pretty close.
I leave everything the same and up the psi to 26-29 for clear and SS paint. I think the guys that spray at 16 psi must be turning the fluid control in a considerable amount to get the paint to atomize properly. This results in a slower painting speed than I naturally lean toward.
If you do spray pattern checks on paper regularly you'll soon find the sweet spot for your gun. Just enough pressure to get it to atomize the way you want and not so much that you defeat the purpose of the gun's design.
The speed of your pass, the overlap and holding the gun perpendicular to the surface you're spraying at all times helps eliminate most newbie problems.
1968 Coronet R/T


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:46 am
Hey SuperL98
Just want to thank you for all the time and energy you're putting into this thread. I'm sure with all the meticulous work you're putting into this car that the final results will be stunning. The garage layout for painting looks really well layed out and I'm sure your dry runs are a great investment of time, much better to realize you've put something in the wrong place before you've started spraying.
Can't wait for the next instalment!

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:37 am
Looks like you are preparing yourself as well as you can. This is good. :goodjob:

One suggestion if you haven't already, on the small pieces sitting on the stand, take a couple pieces of two inch wide tape several inches long and make into a circle and stick these pieces to the part then onto the stand. It will keep the parts from blowing of onto the floor and moving around so much. Hope this makes sense.
Never argue with an idiot, he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:23 pm
Short post.

Taking a break and back out for clear coat three.

It's very hard to get good pictures, I've got so many different types of light going on.
The red is much deeper than it looks in the pictures, not pink.

"PUT THE BASECOAT ON DRY" that's been going in my head all day :happy:

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And two coats of clear

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This Iwata gun is fantastic, covers up my inexperience.
Learned that you have to go real slow with it to get no orange peel.
I started out moving way to fast.

I will post some better pictures tomorrow.

getting very worn out :shocked:

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:22 pm
This Iwata gun is fantastic . . .


Are you trying to say there's a noticeable difference when using a quality gun over the el cheapo models?

Looks like you sprayed the base perfectly and the clear looks pretty nice too :goodjob: .
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:58 pm
OldDupontGuy doesn't think we are listening to him, but some of us are. :bighug:

"Put the base coat down dry” that's all I was thinking spraying the base. :happy:

The Iwata was worth every penny, all I can see is one drip in the clear on the gill side panel, some small trash here and there, and the metallic looks to have laid down nice and even, so I'm pretty happy (until tomorrow).

I'll get some of the parts out in the sun and see how they look, the color is a nice red with a lot more metallic than I expected.

If I had done a few more practice panels, I could have done better.
I did wind up right at the gun settings you recommended, both base and clear, but they do need to be sprayed differently.
It took a few coats with each to get the feel of it.
I could do better the next time.

Only other problems I had is water spit out of the breather in my facemask onto the hood (spraying the base). So I had to stop, let it dry and repair that spot.
:whoops:
And the screen on the door (I had the fans blowing out) plugged up with paint dust, and I lost all my ventilation until I figured out what happened.
:rolleyes:

Going to get some rest and let everything dry good overnight.
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