Wellll. This one is 58 and the other one is 43...so theres also an 80 page thread? haha. Once you get to the end of the 43 page one it says it's continued and gives a link to this thread, so thats how I followed along.

Son of a Seadog! This puppy just keeps on growing! Well, here's my story. I lived in Guadalajara, Mexico back in the mid-nineties and bought a mint 1979 Fairmont Squire (woodie). My wife is Mexican; I'm a Canuck. We moved back to Canada in 1999 with the car and a new 1.5 ton commercially-built steel Utility trailer (Lots of Panels to test on).

I blew the engine (5.0L with AC) and decided to drop a fresh 200 ci, Inline 6 cyl. I got a Canadian 1978 Fairmont 2 door, rusted with a professionally rebuilt engine and trans, new exhaust, written off because some drunk backed into it in a Parking lot! Go figure?!

Anyway, the engine is in, after changing the from K-Member, steering, brakes, struts, etc. And! I have to change all the wiring in mine to use the Electronic Distributor, Cruise Control, and eliminate the AC. Well, my car is still, as Rust Free as most southern, mid-west cars. My floor boards still have the original primer under the carpets, and there's no structural rust anywhere.

Even my carpets are like new, but faded. I'm restoring the woodie panels and trim, after I do the paint job, via this method. I hang out at the FordSix.com forum site, and got here, from there, where the topic is lovingly, but dubiously called the '50 dollar paint job'.

I downloaded all of 69Charger's and Exit1965's and RickLandia's comments and photos, and many of the comments and critiques of other members that offered alternate materials, tips, and Serpent Warrior's hilarious tale of painting in an HD parkade. That's the most hilarious story I've ever read. I've done road side and parking lot fixes, but he told it so 'straight faced' that my ribs still hurt, two days later!

Now, I'm not a noobie to Chryco rides. My dad and I built 392- Hemi-powered fuellers in the late 60's, and when our funny-car bread-wagon wasn't allowed in the last NHRA races (they can blow into the next lane or the fans with a 3 mph cross-wind at 160 mph), we put the 700 hp beast into a 1965 Monaco (red with a new white top) - we had to trim the A-frames by 3/8" to get it in.

But this Fairmont wagon is so sweet and served so well, that I figured at 40 mpg (CDN Gallons), I can justify giving her a full refresher.

We started a new small business and I wasn't going to drop the $7,000 the shops wanted to do what I can with this method.

Thanks to all of the skeptics and willing champions for their perseverance and continuity. You guys rule!

I sold my Monaco in the Ottawa Valley, so it may still be around. Anyway, the engine was from a 1966 Imperial, and we drove all the way down to Florida, and searched the yards in Alabama and Mississpi and even around New Orleans for the D300 Heads and Dual Carb setup (Solid Lifters) and cam. It was hot in the Imperial, but it was a screamer in the Monaco. My dad got $1,800 worth of tickets in two weeks after we finished it, and he knew all of the police, as a Junk Yard owner. He didn't know they were training new rookies.

He sold me his half of the car to pay the fines! I sold it, to buy a new Valiant 2 door.

The effort in this post, by the key players and the skeptics is what convinced me, along with the results.

Well done!

I should add that we're in the coldest, snowiest part of our Prairie winter. It's also the driest time of year, for us. So I'll be tweaking the paint/spirits mixture to get it right. We also have more average daily sunlight than Miami, FL. Heck we even have a Miami, Manitoba! But no where as warm. I won't get to the body paint until April, but we can still get snow and cold even through early June.

I don't figure anybody on this Mopar site is fixing up any Town And Country Chrysler wagons,(I had a 1975 440 Chrysler wagon - 6 mpg on the Canadian Gallon ) but there is a Ford member who did redo his Wood Trim and panels with his wife at this link:

http://www.rickwrench.com/wood.html

And 3M or J.C. Whitney have the right panel stock. 3M's seems to have a better range of colours. It's in their Signage product line.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Graphics/Scotchprint/Solutions/Di-NocFilm

Somebody on the first 43 pages was asking about adding metal flakes to the Tremclad/Rustoleum, and I recall that we used to add actual fish scales to do some Mother Of Pearl finishes on our cars. Some show cars would add brass or bronze flakes just to get a different 'metallic' finish. I think you have to visit a machine shop to get some and sift it for the fine stuff. My car has a Ford Mexico finish which is close to the GM Tiger Eye metallic, but I think a Solid Dark Brown or a medium Gray is what we'll do. The car has a Gold/Tan Interior and there aren't many paint colours that would show well with that.

Great story Norman. I guess I should fess up and tell ya that when I was a young lad, my dad owned a 1955 Ford Wagon with the fake wood on the sides. One day he decided to paint it and since we couldn't afford a fancy spray paint job, he painted it with a brush and some light blue paint. He painted over the fake wood and all. Not having the benefit of the internet to guide him, it may have been a "30 foot paint job," but no less lol.

Correction, it was a 1958 Imperial, not a 1966. We had a 1966 that we drove down in. The 1958 had a factory "Porcelan" finish. You did not chip that car or there'd be hell to pay. It was a Toronto car, 69Charger, too.

Here's a picture of the floor pan from the 1978 Fairmont. The whole floorpan perimeter shows daylight. The carpets were holding the car together! The owner was a retired Political groupie of 65 years of age, and he was pouring in money into it with new exhaust, new motor and trans, new battery, electrics, but never paid attention to the weakest link - the Flintstone floor!

Smyrna, my dad had a new 55 4 door and then a 58 ranch wagon with a 390. The funny thing was that dad was the Shipping Manager for GM at the Oshawa plant. We picked up both cars at the Oakville, Ontario Ford Plant. Two weeks after dad got the 1958, GM asked him to sell it or he was fired. He quit and started his own business. Never looked back either.

It seems that the Ford production line made a mistake with his car, because he ordered a 289 V8 and got this T-Bird 390. The shipper at Ford told him to keep mum. It was too much trouble to do the paperwork.

We were lucky back then, because our little town of 8,000 only had one Policeman, who was also the Chief, and a member of my dad's rifle club. Otherwise, my old man would still be paying traffic fines and he passed 4 years ago. He just couldn't resist fast cars and hitting the hammer down.

He really got the bug, when a junkyard customer took him out in his new Hemi-Charger. It scared the hell out of him so much, that he decided to 'confront his fear' with something as fast or better. Before, he was just lead-footed, after that, he was wired for FASTER! We graduated together in University as Engineers, and did everything except ... together. I'm sure he's still looking for a competitor, wherever he is.

I mentioned earlier that I downloaded what I considered the key comments and pictures. I put them into Word 2000 format on the first file of nearly 80 megs. Part 2 is only 8 megs.

I went scouring the major Polisher manufactures and found a lot of comments on tool forums. 69Charger is right. The 10" is the right tool. Noisy and everything, the pricier ones, except the really expensive Cyclo unit or one from England at a whopping 16 pounds, all have issues for this Painting technique. When I think of dropping $200 or $300 for a polisher or even a Sander/Polisher for this rough, dusty task, it doesn't make sense.

We have both Princess Auto and ToolTown Canada (The US ToolTown is not related and sells namebrands) who sell the cheaper, Asian ones. The nice thing about these big hulks of 6 pounds or more is that they do the pressure work, not you. And if they burn out the bearings, so what! The Cyclo is way out of my league for a polisher. If I owned a Porsche, well ok, but they were made for Aircraft:

The English Pro machine (circa $600):
http://www.orbitalpolisher.com/index.html

The Cyclo twin head the Beemer guys buy:
http://www.cyclotoolmakers.com/products/prodcomp.html

Or this Antique aircraft guy:
http://www.russellw.com/planes/ryan/polishing.htm

The 90 degree ones (look like grinders) mean you're doing all the weight bearing, pressing down. As Danny Glover used to say, "I'm getting to old for this sh*t!". I can see me trying to reach to the centre of my wagon's roof or hood and watch the machine, press down and direct it for even 20 minutes. Let the noisy fatboy do it. If it dies, you can always get another without using the diaper money.

Some tool forums argued about the Porter Cable units. MeGuiars gives a Lifetime guarantee, but PC doesn't. Others argued about how they couldn't reach small crevices and dips in body contours, but this paint job isn't the same. We aren't working around the ornaments - they should be off, for the most part.

Even the Chinese Ryobi 10" polisher is better for this job. I make fine furniture as a hobby and I use specialized European high-end tools and I even have some no-namers for the real crud tasks. When its all done, I may blow my brains out on a Cyclo to keep the Mirror Finish, but the cheapies are good grunt-work machines. How much dust is there from polishing the family Porsches?

Norman - I have this guy but its not random orbital, although its variable speed. I am not to the polishing stage yet with my paint (only a few more weeks). It came with a sort of synthetic wool bonnet and one that is terry cloth. I am not sure if I should buy some better ones for it. I tried it out on my trunk with the Turtle Wax polishing compound, but it doesn't break down nicely like the stuff they show on the mguires demo of the PC, so I am not sure when to stop.



I also noticed that my local walmart has both a small ryobi (6"0 for $14.95) and the 10" ($22) you refer to at give-away prices. It sounds like you would recommend the 10". Both are random orbitals.

HF polisher/sander

Yeah, I saw that one too, on their site. I've used that type before, and I found it can run away on you. One distraction, and you're back to square one. I saw one guy in a Tool Forum saying that he bought a 7" Makita Vertical ($180 USD) and put a 9" buffer pad on it, but that would stress the machine.

The Ryobi 10" is about $40 here, so your US price sounds about right. The only variable speed machines (10-inchers like 69Charger recommended) are the expensive ones or the 7" units. I'm a Bosch Tools freak, and they don't make anything past a 7" unit, even in Germany. I like their tools because you can get them repaired fairly quickly, here in the Prairies. We like to buy once, just like everyone else, but tool repairs can be a bear, here.

Do you have to press down a lot? When I was a kid, we had an old Navy Sawfiler board with us. He helped us refinish drywall and the old fart used to be on my case with "Put the Stuff to It!" when I was sanding the walls. We had wooden blocks then. Well, now that I build furniture, I always thank the old guy for telling me that. I saw some of the types like you have where they can put the screw-in handle on top, as well as either side. These big round 10" guys just do it. I suppose a guy could get a couple pounds of lead and weight them down, but they don't enough amps to take extra weight. 6 pounds, bearing straight down or maybe 2 pounds of the type you have, since you're holding the motor and most of the tool's weight in your hand. I'd think the big guy would get the orange peel down faster.

Variable speed units would be nice, but then we're back into frills again that cost bigger dollars. And then what do you do with it when you're done? Another paint job? The wife nagging about the $200 you spent on a machine you'll never use again.

Even Sears doesn't offer their own brand of 10", probably because they're just too simple (nice feature for this task) and the imports compete well. At least you know that you can get the bonnets in all the different qualities (finer) and you're not limited as to who you can buy from. There's some that have made it so you have to get replacement bonnets from them, nobody else makes them. I went on 3M's abrasives page, and saw that they only go to 9-3/4" bonnets. They make 8" and 8-3/4" as well as 3, 4, 5 and 6. No 7" except in sanding discs.

I'd say get a polisher that does the heavy job, like these 10" units, and save your money, get supplies anywhere for a lot less, and save your arm muscles. You might even save a few scratches, if the wife or the kids run in with a panic or you get caught in the cord.

Here's a post from Aussie Driver. Follow that down to about a third of the page. My bathroom mirror should be so lucky!

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rue#Post3071064

I think he's using a smaller diameter machine, because he mentions that he needs more heat for the Anti-Swirl treatment. But to get the Orange Peel and initial sags and scratches out, you don't want heat, you want weight.

Smyrna, I found another Aussie Driver comment on this polisher machine issue. About 5 posts down. His results from the first link I posted speak louder than words about the potential we can achieve, but this one addresses the machines.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...art=39&vc=1

The one thing that I have personally enjoyed about this thread is when folks share their pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words and I believe those pictures help inspire people to at least consider the 'roller paint' as a viable and cheap way to go about getting a decent paint job.

Everytime I return here I love reading the new stories... but the new pics are what I really enjoy.

Nuff said. Just thought I would take the opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to share their pics with us.

And I really think that everyone who is going to consider the 'roller paint' method for their car SHOULD read the entire thread.

A synopsis of this thread will not prepare you for all the variables that might enter into a 'roller job'. But if you have read the entire thread you will be better equipped to adapt to those variable and be confident that you are not the first person who has had a glitch while doing it. The answers are here.

But probably the best reason to read this entire thread from start to finish... is that it is almost like some act of initiation into a fraternal order of paint rollers. Only by going through the entire thread will you know and appreciate your fellow members of this brotherhood of cheap paint job artist

Ciao

Marq

.

Yeah! I'm sure we'd wear it with pride.

Marq or anyone else w/ a 7424, does your 7424 make a crunching sound when on?

Mine is pretty noisy, like if the counter weights are bouncing against the inside wall of it.

Is this how it's suppose to sound? Thanks.

So has anyone used this stuff?

http://www.paintforcars.com/

Interesting that the catalyst is optional, so it sorta sounds like it's half-way to being a more typical single-stage auto paint. I'm sorta assuming that it would do well rolled, but maybe I shouldn't assume.

Welcome to the thread Stormin Norman, I am also right near you in St Andrews Manitoba and have posted on here and follow this thread , have spoken to Charger and have done a bit of experimenting with this method of painting. It still amazes me the results some of you guys are getting...........C38coupe ps years ago in Winnipeg my family knew a guy named Stormin Norm M. from St Boniface would that be you

Hi C38Coupe! Yeah, I saw your posts and figured I'd look you up, when I made more progress (AKA When it gets warmer than -30C

I just remembered that I picked up an old dual head hoover polisher a couple of years ago, and I'm gonna try tweaking that beast into a buffer/polisher for this job!

I'm not convinced that the lighter ones can do the job well, and the big guys typically don't have many amps or variable speed controls.

I've got a nice Bosch EVS 2 HP router, but its not Random Orbital, now is it!

But the hoover twin-head has a big enough base (The handle comes off) that I could wire a VS switch and then return it to its normal state.

Its either that or convert a paint mixer shaft into a swizzle-stick and attack a buffer wheel to it!