RPO Joe

Before and after color-sanding-and-buffing pix from my passenger-side door. I took these pix laying on my back out in my garage this afternoon, looking up at the door. The first shot shows a portion of the door just beneath the beltline, showing the factory orange peel, and some minor surface scratches...




...and this pic shows the area just above the beltline after color sanding and buffing:



The difference is remarkable, in my opinion. In the "after" pic you can clearly see the garage door opener up on the ceiling, for example, and even the reflection of the tiny pull chains on several of my shop lights.

One thing I noticed while taking these pix this afternoon is a little residual orange peel as you get closer and closer to the beltline - compare the quality of the reflection of the far-left shop light vs. the one on the far right. I'm old enough and stiff enough that even taking these pix was a chore, so getting down this close to the ground and doing a proper job sanding and buffing the paint clear coat is physically challenging.

ColaBear

Yeah, the original paint has a lot of orange-peel. Not sure how much is in the paint vs in the clear coat. What grit are to finishing up with before buffing?

RPO Joe

It's all in the clear coat. I'm starting with 1500 grit, GENTLY, just enough to knock down the orange peel but no more. Then, an even gentler sanding session with 2000, finished off with an even gentler session with 3000.

Then, I'm using a Griot's Garage 6" orbital buffer with several different pad textures and several different compounds to polish the paint.

@gcthree offered up some great advice earlier in the thread:

gcthree

Okay. Level with us. How do you get the engine compartment THAT presentatble? My car was just 'driven' by the previous owner. Not abused...just driven...and along with that came the dust, dirt and expected detrius in the engine compartment. I worked hard on it, but couldn't get it to that level. Tell us!
Thanks!
Bob

ColaBear

Hello gcthree,

I’ll tell you up front, it’s a lot of work and takes a long time.

Since I was changing all the bushings and ball joints at the time.

I first put the car up on jack stands and get it as high as I can.

I pull off what I can to get more access to the motor.

Remove the injector covers, the air intake and rubber accordion duct.

Pull the tires off and lower front plastic wheel well panels.

Remove the disc brakes and upper and lower control arms.

(I did this to replace all the bushings and ball joints.)

Start cleaning everything. I use an assortment of brushes from paint brushes,

parts cleaning brushes, tooth brushes, plastic handle brushes, conical cone brushes,

long and short handle brushes. A ton of microfiber towels.

You can wrap the towels around different types of brushes to aid in cleaning.

Depending on how dirty the parts are, I clean the metal parts with brake parts cleaner.

If they are not too bad, I just use the garden spray bottle with Dawn liquid soap and water.

I use a garden spray bottle with Dawn liquid soap and water for the plastic and on the

fiber compound springs. (Do not use chemicals on the fiber springs)

Then it’s just spray, brush, clean and wipe dry.

This is also for the entire engine bay and hood.

Once the metal parts are clean, I use 0000 steel wool to give them a slightly polished look.

Now I use Stones more trim shine on the plastic parts. I don’t leave the spray on though.

I wipe it all off to have a nice black color but not sticky or messy. I do the same for all the

Plastic and rubber parts in the engine bay and the inside of the hood.

After all of this, it’s time to put it back together after cleaning and dressing the wheels and tires.

Then I clean the rest of the car.

Once it this clean, then it’s just regular cleaning with the soap and water and brushes and towels.

pedricd

Didn’t want to clog up your thread, so here you go:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1606982767

96GS#007

Looks to be in phenomenal shape! Congrats on the purchase!

RPO Joe

Outstanding reply, ColaBear, thanks for taking the time! One of these days, when I get my paint to a happy place, I'll begin getting after the engine compartment, along the lines as you have done. Thanks for the inspiration.

RPO Joe

Hey, no worries about "clogging" my thread, amigo, it's all good! I checked out your pix, great job! How cool that you got to do this event with your son and your dad!!

RPO Joe

Thank you, much appreciated!

RPO Joe

Some pix from a local cruise-in/car show yesterday:







Great little small-town down-home car show, much cooler temps (), super-friendly folks and tons of hot rods. About as much fun as you can have with your clothes on!

RPO Joe

Randy W's sweet '71 350 4-speed Roadster

RPO Joe

Larry R's '73 350 4-speed Roadster

RPO Joe

Rex C's 2019 Grand Sport. Wow!

RPO Joe

Don C's '81 Coupe. Don bought this car as a rolling chassis, sans motor and trans, and with some blood, sweat and tear$ got her back on the road. Well done.

RPO Joe

Some more pix from yesterday:


Alan F's 2013 Grand Sport Coupe in Inferno Orange. This car is stunning.







Robert B's '82 Collector's Edition "3C"

RPO Joe

The paint on Jack and Donna C's breathtaking '69 Camaro was a reflection of absolute perfection

RPO Joe

I removed the front license plate filler today to clean out all the bug jerky packed around the sides of it - the grasshoppers around these parts seem to have an uncanny knack for smashing headlong into the front of my car, and then instantly flash-drying into a substance second only to diamonds on the Rockwell scale.


Correcting the clearcoat on this piece will make a great dog-days-of-winter project

I discovered a couple of cool things on the backside:

I love the fact it was signed off by an inspector - "B.J., 1st shift" is my interpretation...



...and I really dig the "Chevrolet Corvette - Made in the USA" crossed-flags logo, what a classy touch, especially for such a minor part on the car.



All cleaned up and ready to be reinstalled

RPO Joe

More pix from last Saturday's car show:


Bruce and Sheila B's '69 Chev Custom/10 Stepside


I've always had a soft spot for short-bed stepside p/u's:

We sold this cute little original-paint '98 GMC C1500 last year when we cashed in our home and moved to the Midwest - this was Mrs. RPO JOE's ride - ...



...(and we also offed this sweet '04 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail - heavy sigh...).



Dan M's Pro Street '54 Chev Bel Air. Dan told me the color is a custom blend, but to my eye it sure looks awful similar to Polo Green Metallic:

RPO Joe

Denim Pink ( ) C5 spotted in the wild a few moments ago