Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress (2024)

Spent a good part of the week cleaning up the back side of the hood, nice weather & a loll in the work zone , still busy but this construction crew is slower than.......... , well you know, but good for the car, I needed a break & the car needed some serious hours.

most of today was spent starting to strip the fender I stole from the 74, damn all those hours grinding away, the money spent on wheels, discs & wire wheels, epoxy, hi build, I'm thinkin I should have just bought the darn repros, a little hi build, block & shoot!!!!!!!!! may still do it, need em for the 74, might bring them in now & at least do the one I just put the patch on, I really don't wanna strip that down too. Maybe get em here, see how good (or bad) they are & then decide which car gets em, if not both?????
So today was those couple a dabs a putty on the back of the hood & makin a few clean spots on the fender..........

on one good note, there's no sign of rust where I put the patch in Ya, small victory!

after mucho strippin time finally makin some progress on the fender, got the epoxy on & a couple coats z-chrome, puttied up the dents front & rear on the body line & my patch areas.................

today I finished the putty work(I hope) & shot some more z-chrome, an extra coat on the body line & patch areas, will do a rough blocking on this & then shoot the urethane for what I hope will be the final blocking???????????????????????

You can do it!

How many coats of Z Chrome are you putting on? I usually put on three or four full wet coats - the stuff builds very well - with the biggest tip I can use. I find that usually takes care of most of the little bumps and waves and other surface snafus.

You could be putting it on a little heavy, just allow more flash time between coats. If you're currently waiting 2-3 minutes between coats (not enough in my opinion), give it an extra 5 -8 minutes...
Too heavy is not an issue on flatter surfaces like your fender. The problem comes if it's too heavy in the nooks and crevices, like around a recessed marker light area or the bulges of your hood scoops. Those are areas you won't be able to block properly ( and no one would ever see any waves there anyway), so there's no need to put the poly primer in there.

I've done cars where I've used two full gallons of polyester primer, just on the exterior surfaces that needed blocking.
Using a lot of product has never been a concern to me. Not being happy with how something blocks out is. I hate having to re-prime something just because there wasn't enough material on there.
In the end, primers are cheap.

If memory serves, the humidity shouldn't affect cure times much as it's a chemical reaction, rather than "drying" such as with latex house paint.

Glad to see you're keeping after it, Rusty! I really gotta get my ass going on my Challenger, but I can't even walk around it right now. :doh:

RUSTY Cuda said:

wow I'm getting old!

Click to expand...

Still playing catch up, are we?

started blockin out the 3 coats a urethane I got on the other day, getting close, hoping the sides are good, top will need a couple more coats, very small imperfections left, so I need a few more nice days to get this done before it gets too cold to paint!
so far I think I still have a decent body line.........

small spots on the top............

Four coats ought to get you where you need to be.

Wish it was 70* here... trying to finish up the rockers on my son's 2000 Cirrus and the weather ain't co-operating.