1955 Ranch Wagon Cruiser

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Several of the paint forums have bad things to say about the blue tape for use on car stuff. I tried the yellow stuff - it left a residue and didn't stay stuck. The green stuff is the best I have used so far. Nothing ever sat in the sun.

The 60-90 degree thing is the getter. It easily surpassed 100 degrees every day the tape is on. Did you find any tape that works to 110?
 
Glad you brought this up. I've been having the same issues and even remove the tape as soon as the paint begins to setup.
 
Old Iron said:
Glad you brought this up. I've been having the same issues and even remove the tape as soon as the paint begins to setup.
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How do you remove the residue? I didn't want to risk trying acetone or lacquer thinner on the finished primer.

The tailgate was masked on Sunday, expecting to paint on Monday morning. But it rained and I ended up painting on Wednesday. I pulled the tape Wednesday after waiting a couple hours. Mon and Tues it was well below 90 degrees, so the only 100+ exposure it had was a few hours Sunday and Weds.
 
I have used the green tape for years without a residue issue like you are having. But I also never paint in your kind of heat.
I doubt that any standard painters tape is going to be any better.
You might try solvent on a spot that doesn't show to see to see if it affects anything.
Good Luck.
Torchie
 
DJ....I've done body and paint for 40+ yr's and when 3M came out with
the green tape, that's all I ever used..... used the blue for inside/ outside
house..... I do know that if the tape get's some age on it, the sticky
stuff will do funny things..... or if left on for prolong periods of time
or gets wet.... or very warm conditions.....
 
con't..... if that doesn't work you may try some acy. enamel thinner
it is a little more forgiving followed by some wax and grease remover
you were right in not trying the lacquer thinner, would have just
created more problems........I'm assuming you have used a 2 part
primer surfacer?
 
I use tons of the yellow tape on a daily basis at work with no problems. I have also used the green on my own personal vehicles with no problem. must be the heat. How humid is it where you live right now?
 
jott said:
I use tons of the yellow tape on a daily basis at work with no problems. I have also used the green on my own personal vehicles with no problem. must be the heat. How humid is it where you live right now?
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I had a lot of problems with the yellow tape. Sometimes it lifted, sometimes it wouldn't come off. It left residue. A guy at the paint store said it was too hot for the yellow tape; I should use green.

Humidity has been around 50% when it's not raining although now it has dropped to single digit. So it probably is the heat.


I am very superstitious about putting anything on the primer that might contaminate the next coat. WD40 and Goof off might be OK, but I wouldn't risk it.

I used 2K primer so it probably won't be affected by acrylic reducer - I'll give that a try.
 
I did make the decision not to use the sliding tailgate restraints. With the rivets drilled and the brackets mounted, I could see what I needed for springs to hold the lift gate. Turned out I had 2 of these springs just sitting in the drawer. They will probably be a little light when the glass goes in, but for now they work great.

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Here's the first attempt at the supports. Now I won't have to worry about the tailgate getting damaged from dropping down too far.

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The lift gate hinge is pretty sloppy. Looks like I'll need to rebuild some of the rivets and their holes.
 
update

In August or maybe July I blocked the doors and coated them with epoxy, figuring to keep them sealed until I was ready to paint the body. That stuff sanded pretty well when it was fresh, but now it sands like concrete. The 400 grit just loads up and leaves bigger scratches. I ended up wet sanding both doors with 400 and again with 600. What a mess.

At any rate, I'm still prepping. I have to finish the hood, remove all the tape residue and then sand everything to 600 one last time. I gotta admit, I'm not too excited about more sanding.
 
Hang in their brother....
You are finding out why a good paint job costs so much $$$$$ these days.
Your wagon is going to be great,made greater by the fact that you did it all yourself.[cl [cl [cl :cool:
Torchie
 
Torchie said:
Hang in their brother....
Your wagon is going to be great,made greater by the fact that you did it all yourself.[cl [cl [cl :cool:
Torchie
Click to expand...
Unlike me, all of you paint gurus will be able to make that statement :cool:
Drywall and body work are not my favorite things to do. That's why I was so excited when patina became popular :D
 
I was looking for anything that didn't involve aligning panels. These are the hood springs after I blasted them; stretched just far enough to get to the inside. They got a coat of black.

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Until late yesterday I have been stuck getting the driver's side fender to align with the hood. The hood stuck out too far and the profile seemed flatter than the fender.

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Also the fender is tipped out at the bottom so that the gap at the lower edge gets wider.

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Talked to AZforgeman yesterday; he suggested trying to shorten the hood with a ratchet strap. About ten minutes later the hood and the fender matched!

Apparently, storing the hood flat on the bench somehow caused it to flatten out? By tomorrow I might have the panels to an acceptable condition.
 
ratchet straps are a great tool for moving stuff. I was having trouble lining up some of the pillars on my car when i chopped the top when a friend suggested the strap and it worked great
 
zinc plating

I have been goofing around with plating. Decided copper plate wouldn't hold up very well and would oxidize quickly. I wanted a plating process that I could get without ordering a lot of chemicals. Zinc plating seemed like the best and easiest process. Looked at a lot of how-to's on the web and decided on this one. http://mgarestoration.blogspot.com/2012/03/diy-zinc-plating-of-small-parts.html

The bath is vinegar, Epsom salt and Sweet & Low. I used swamp cooler zinc anodes for the zinc. It needs about 1 volt. The Calrad whatever it is will dial the voltage from the battery charger down to .1 volt and up to 5 v. The $6.00 aquarium air pump provides some agitation. A pre-plate dunk in the Muriatic acid removes any previously applied zinc and other contamination. Distilled water removes the acid.




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Here's my second successful plated part. It requires a little ScotchBrite to get it shiny. It actually looks better in person than in the pic.

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