One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards

In the last episode our auto body metal man had just finished spraying on a beautiful semi-gloss black topcoat over the hood. It was a sight to behold as he rode off into the sunset. Everyone had tears in their eyes.

The reason for painting the hood black was that BooJack, my professional painter suggested putting a black coat over the yellow sanding primer. This way it would not take as many coats of the final metallic blue color coat to cover the yellow. So I did.

A few days later when Dr. Culpepper was making his rounds, you know checking up on his neighborhood automotive patients - I proudly told him what I had accomplished.

He calmly stated in his Dalearian manner that I shouldn’t have done that. Okay Doc, what is the problem, BooJack said to put on black? He explained that the black paint I used was a topcoat and my pretty metallic blue topcoat paint would have a bad reaction if I sprayed it over the black paint.

I did get a second opinion and the guys that sell the paint agreed that my hood would go into anaphylactic shock if I mixed my topcoats. They also stated that having the yellow under the metallic blue base coat would give the final blue color a deeper luster. There is a lesson here, something about knowing what you are doing.

So, back to the beginning once again. It took most of a day to sand off the black paint, spray on the YELLOW sanding primer, and block sand it smooth. I have to admit though, the hood is perfect and will look beautiful with the blue topcoat.

Now the underside of the hood is another story. Plain old black topcoat is a perfectly fine color for the engine compartment. I am getting to be a better painter, but spray painting it the Hillbilly garage has its challenges. I am an expert at pulling bugs out of the wet paint, but water drops leaking from my gun onto the paint was a new experience.

I decided to upgrade my shop and purchased a huge ass air compressor. It is bigger than my wife and is guaranteed to pump out more air than congress. I might have just become a redneck shop.

Can’t wait to see the body parts with the metallic blue final coat.