My Yelli Celi Bodywork Project Options

[Coomer]

looks awesome. when are you gonna get the extensions and spoiler on it?

I'll put those on after I buff the whole assembled car and those parts. Hopefully next weekend, but if not, it'll be August because I'll be in Colorado from Tuesday until the end of July.

Oh, and my sunburn is fully recovered. However, I was hospitalized on Saturday while trying to do a backflip on a trampoline and landing on my head and then smashing into the bar. I severely strained my back and neck and it still hurts pretty badly, but painkillers and ibuprofen help a ton and I'm getting better.

This post has been edited by Coomer: Jul 12, 2006 - 4:19 PM

[brianforster]

the shaved sidemarkers really look good

[Jdog1385]

it's back!!

[Coomer]

Day Thirteen

Today I sanded the fenders and part of one door, and then buffed an area of a fender by hand with rubbing compound to see how it'd turn out. Here are a couple pictures for you guys to see the improvement.

Untouched:



Sanded and buffed:



The car should turn out awesome once I'm all done.

[devilsden97]

^oh so shiney.....awsome work

[j0e_p3t]

speechless

[MaskedMan]

oooo wow so nice

[playr158]

awesome chris your car is looking amazing once again...great job and patience with it!

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Chris, once again I gotta say great job with the car! You've greatly inspired me with this project, looks top notch so far.


BTW, thanks for the reply on the last page, can you perhaps steer me in the direction of the brand paint that you used? I would greatly appreciate it. Can't wait to see the car when its done, it'll look sick.

This post has been edited by Silver94CelicaOwner: Jul 14, 2006 - 2:30 AM

[dustin15brown]

Looks AMAZING man. I mean seriously it looks good.

I was hospitalized on Saturday while trying to do a backflip on a trampoline and landing on my head and then smashing into the bar. I severely strained my back and neck

That sucks man.... I can only imagine how big of a dumbass you must have felt like Sad part is..... My brother did this in our pool doing a front flip. He landed on his head into the diving board and has a nice lil scar from it on his noggin. Be careful man

[LewFX]

its like having a new car again

[dustinkemp]

any opinions of rubbing compound?

and is that what you would use to get the orange peel out?

Dustin

[Coomer]

any opinions of rubbing compound?

and is that what you would use to get the orange peel out?

Dustin

I'm using 3M liquid rubbing compound which seems to work well. It sure is hard buffing by hand though.

It doesn't take out orange peel though. You have to sand to remove orange peel. I'm afraid of burning through my paint since it's my first time, so I'm using only 2000 grit sandpaper. Once the surface is perfectly smooth, then you apply the rubbing compound in order to remove the 2000 grit scratches.

I'll take pictures of all the supplies I'm using later today when I go back to Yakima so you have an idea of exactly what I'm using.

[snapshotgt]

Looking awesome Chris! ...so much work! ...and looks like it is coming out really well!

~snap

[CelicaSTX02]

man, this thread is sooo exciting

[NEVERSTOP]

Once agian lookin AWESOME!!! cant wait to see the finished product

[Coomer]

Day Fourteen

Today I spent a good eight hours sanding the car. At the end of the day, my hand was raw in several spots, but the car is ready for buffing.



The car is really ugly now that it's all sanded. It should look good buffed though.

As promised, here are the supplies I'm using:



3M sandpaper - $5.xx per job pack (five sheets.) I have 220, 360, 400, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grits.
Meguiar's soft sanding block - $3.xx



Don't laugh...John Deere synthetic enamel paint rocks. The finish on my old fourth gen. was so durable and hard that I decided to go with the same paint on my Yelli Celi. If you've ever seen the yellow on a wheel of a John Deere tractor, that's what color my car is. It's a non-metallic, non-pearl yellow (easiest for a first-timer to shoot,) but it's very bright and very glossy, especially when cut and buffed.

Western synthetic enamel hardener (pint) - $27
John Deere synthetic enamel paint (gallon) - $40
John Deere paint thinner (quart) - $6
PPG DX330 wax and grease remover - Around $10-15 I think...can't remember
Bondo fiberglass resin (gallon) - $30
USC Half-Time body filler/glazing putty - Can't remember at all

As far as mixing goes, I mixed the thinner 1.5 parts thinner to 10 parts paint, and the hardener is 1 part hardener to 10 parts paint. The paint dried to the point where I could bump into it and not leave marks (I bumped my head into my hanging freshly painted mirrors twice) in about 15 minutes. Full hardness to the point where I couldn't scratch the paint with my fingernail took about 12 hours (in 70-95 degree heat.) I shot the paint in approximately 85-93 degree heat.

Oh, and I used almost the entire gallon (there might be 3-4 ounces left) shooting the car and all the parts. I was worried about running out of paint while finishing up.

[playr158]

nice chris

John Deere RULES! i have 2

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Hahaha. Simply amazing, I had no idea you used tractor paint. That was seriously the last thing I had expected....you have to be sure to go out of your way to tell people you painted it with John Deere paint too, it'll get some good reactions out of people.


For this reason alone, my hat goes off to you. lol

[Coomer]

Day Fifteen

Today I sanded a few spots I missed and then buffed the fenders, hood, and roof. Hand buffing a car is so much work, but I not only don't have a power polisher, but I also would be afraid to burn through my paint since I've never used one before.

The finish turned out pretty well though.



There's the hood and part of a fender.



There's a close-up of the roof.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the rest of the car buffed and put on the sideskirts and extensions and spoiler.