Happy Birthday, Rich!

Thanks Jeff!

Decent cut and buff progress on the left side.

This is the result from sanding + wool pad and heavy cutting compound
And gets me about 90% of what I’m currently capable of doing.

The remaining 10% refinement I can do is from foam and different compounds on the DA polisher.
The fender and door has that and the difference is pretty subtle/doesn’t show up easily in a picture.

For an everyday car it’d be ok to stop right here but I’m aiming a little higher.

Left side of the roof is wet sanded and I’ll buff it out tonight.

It’s coming along.

After cut and buff I’m going to rig a temporary fuel system to get it fired up and moved around.
I’d like to get it outside in the sun and it needs to reclaim it’s hoist potato status to work the lower body and underbody.
I’d started working on getting it running again, got it to crank and got the msd working (multiple things disconnected betweeen
Replacing one inner fender and taking the entire dash out)…..but stopped when I decided to repair the quarter extension seams.
Mechanical and electrical work is something I want to get back to, but can’t rush this process.

Plugging away...

I always finish the buffing process with a waffle pad on the buffer. Never have been able to make the DA buffers work like I want. Everyone has their own methods. Keep the posts coming Rich.

What i have found is that when you are done with one step, you really need to wash the area with soap and water to remove all traces of compound. IF it looks good then proceed to the next step. This helps with swirls because it keeps the cutting compound off the surface and off your polishing pads.

Also what i have found to work well is, after wool and compound. Make one pass with an older foam polishing pad , with your cutting compound, Also the compound you use makes a big difference. 3m 36060 or 36061 is really good and works great for me.

This is silver so honestly you shouldnt need much polishing to make it look good.

I like using a DA with a 6.5" foam pad to final polish and even apply wax. Works nice and smoooth

You've really got something to be proud of their Zippy! Looking back to the beginning of the thread, it's amazing what you've accomplished.

i agree wholeheartedly with Joel.
you have learned a skill you have taught to yourself, and have achieved excellent results anyone would be proud of !

It looks great!

At the dealership years ago we did the cutting with a wool pad, and the polishing part with a black foam pad at a lower speed. The foam polishing pads don't need crazy rpm to do the job.

When buffing I like to put the low stick blue painters tape over the edges and jambs to help prevent burn thru and keep the compound from going back inside and making a mess. Paint on the edges is naturally going to be thinner so it's best to not work those too much. Even if you leave a little mild orange peel near the jamb edges or the tops of the fender edges etc your eye will never catch it outside in the sun.

Hey thanks for chiming in guys, sincerely.

I have to apologize the last few pictures were pretty rough....they are screenshots of a video clip I'll post the link to.

Just like paint and bodywork, it seems no two people do cut and buff exactly the same.

The brand of clear coat I used has a forum just like this one and though I did not register,
I read everything I could, and I am partially/mostly following the process someone had good luck with that posted about it.

A clean surface and tools really is faster, and more efficient....no doubt about it.

The build-up of used up compound and clear is the downfall of the old twisted wool pad....that build up and being too heavy-handed with the rotary seems to be the source of most swirls and holograms.
I've self trained to use the spur on it but it makes a huge mess and doesn't seem to get all the crud out like washing it does. To get around that I just wash it every so often
and I try to use some finesse and a light touch with it/try not to get impatient. 2500 scratches polish up pretty quickly.

Right quarter is sanded 800/1000 (nibs and error correction), and all over with 1500 to just below the "eyebrows".
Right above and right below those "eybrows" take some extra effort to really clean up.

Here's a link to a short video clip... up the volume if you like Eric Johnson.

Roof is about half done.

Nice progress!

Looking good..Most folks have no idea the work involved in taking on a project like this.

how true that statement is !
all the more reason i'm so impressed with the results from a "first timer".

Thanks for following along and reading my gibberish.
Pretty sure I lost quite a few folks from early on, attention spans vary greatly.

This is actually my third paint job ever.

1. painted this car black (lacquer)
2. painted the polara green (2k base/clear)
3. now this one again

I did correction/buffing on the black paint job but it was lacquer/easy to work with and I was able to do it all by hand.
I didn't have any power polishing/buffing tools at all back then.

the second job badly needed the same work but I never did it as I was too disappointed about other errors made.
Now after 17 years mostly spent outdoors that green job is finally starting to fail.

I know just enough to get in trouble but the overall process I'm committed to assumes mistakes will be made, and accepts
the learning opportunities of repairing them.

I don't have enough experience or resources to be 100% outcome based/chasing perfection, and am much better off being process-based/chasing excellence.

Dutchman is about halfway roughed in.

Far/Polished side still has some texture but looks pretty good, I may go over it again.

Near/working side is Sanded to 1500 and remaining visible nibs circled.
Nibs previously sanded 800-1000 but there are always some left that need more.

Why not remove the trunklid?? It would be very easy to buff the trunklid on a stand, and very east to buff the Dutchman panel sitting in the trunk ??

The thought entered my mind, but the trunk lid was the bane of my existence a few different times during my ownership of the car + happened later in the build as well.

Besides the extensive repairs done on it recently, it also fit poorly ever since I owned the car. This last time around,
I had to bend the hinges to adjust it, was a pretty ridiculous procedure...Total gorilla kind of stuff....and at this point I don't want to mess with it any more than I have to.

The trunk lid wasn't part of the last repair, so it still has the first base/clear I put on it from back in July, along with a rough correction that could be refined a little more.

I'm not having a bunch of trouble reaching the center of the dutchman, I have pretty long arms and torso for a guy my height so it isn't too bad.

At this point I think I'd rather put it on a rotisserie than take the trunk lid off LOL. Or go fiberglass trunk lid (I have one kicking around but decided against it).

Sorry , I stand by my earlier comments . I know you had a few painting skills before this one . All aside , with what you have done to this car YOU are doing a very good job !! You are working at your own speed and skill . You still should be very satisfied with those results you have . Really . Gary

I sure appreciate the positivity and kind comments, thanks.

This thread is not for short attention spans....

sometimes my attention span is shorter than my, er, ah, never mind.............

Little bit of progress, Finally got it rotated and back on the hoist.

Need to do a little more re-org and then I can start to prep the new underbody metal + correct a few errors below the character line.

The underbody work shouldn't be super time consuming as I'm doing epoxy, black single stage urethane and some undercoat.

Also got a little daylight on it, enough to get a good preview and mentally string me along so I'll keep working on it.

Trying to plan a few steps ahead, I brought the gas tank down from the loft where it's been for about a year and a half.

Cleaning the shop and figuring out where to put all this stuff I didn't have before this project is going to take up alot of time.
Never thought I'd have a collection of cut/buff/detailing tools and supplies but here we are, now what do we do?
Not feeling super creative at the moment so I'm Pretty sure plastic totes will be involved......
Think I'm also going to offload a few things to make some more space.

That is looking very nice Rich!! I like it!