Aaron's 76 Type LT Project

6 minute(s) of a 383 minute read

I got the hood and doors sanded to 1500. I am off tomorrow so I will start on the shell and get all the peel sanded out of that. The clear should sand more quickly since it's only a few days old. That means I need to be more careful. After that I will sand with 2000 and 2500. It was suggested I sand to 3000 but will stop at 2500 for one main - the sandpaper I use only goes to 3000. I use a good adhesive backed sandpaper that helps the job a lot, but they only go through 2500. It should not pose a problem.

I use this sandpaper for anyone interested. I have been very pleased with the quality and lifespan. It sticks VERY well to whatever block you are using.

Hood before sanding



Hood after 1500



Doors after 1500

7-6-2015

I sanded the "top half" of the shell to 1500 today. I didn't make my goal of having the shell, hood and doors completely sanded, but at least I have a lot of the heavy sanding done. I am going to put the shell up on jack stands to do the bottom panels, which should not take as much time as the top panels.

It's exciting seeing these panels even in 1500 as I can envision how they will look once they are polished. Despite all my work I still see some little specs here and there but I am way past being concerned about it.

7-9-2015

Got the hood sanded to 2000 and the doors sanded to 2500 (except the bottom section below the body line). I will finish up the doors and hood tomorrow and move on to the shell. I think I can get a large portion done this weekend. Moving a little closer to buffing!

7-13-2015

Here's my first attempt at buffing. I still have some small sanding marks and swirl marks to buff out, but I am pretty close to having the roof done. I took my time learning the compounds, pads and the buffing tool so other panels should go faster, as you'd expect.

FYI, I decided to use The Chemical Guys "V" line of compounds and polishing products with Hex-Logic pads. They had a good kit that includes a Torx buffing tool that works well.

7-19-2015

I worked on the roof more today and sanded the 1/4s some more and began buffing the pass side 1/4. So far so good. They aren't show car perfect but they look really good....good enough for me anyway

7-21-2015

and thanks for the replies. It's good to see something that looks close to the final product. Even though I decided to sand the other panels to 3000, I see a stray sanding mark here and there that I need to re-sand. It's really annoying and takes as long to do as the actual buffing.

Here is a mini-update. I unexpectedly took yday off as my wife was not feeling well so I wanted to stick around in case she needed to go to the doctor. I took down all the paint booth plastic and supports and got "my" garage re-organized again. I cleaned up the garage we park our cars in. I really needed to do that.

I also have to complete another side project - we have a metal fence in our backyard and I need to weld up and install some "puppy bars" so our little Maltese don't squeeze through (as well as other dogs coming into our yard). I've put if off for too long so I need to get it done now. So I will be doing a ton of welding the next few days. It's nothing more than 16" long, 3/4" square stock welded to a 1" square stock cross bar. Then that will get welded to the fence posts. I will have to paint the fence too.