Prepping And Painting Your Mustang

Our '66 hardtop is shown here (about three months after painting) with the interior completed and all the glass installed. We ordered a set of Styled Steel wheels from Specialty Wheels and new Hoosier RS Radials to wrap around them. Nothing sets off a '65-'66 like a set of Styled Steels and these are perfect!

Learning to weld is one thing, and learning to rebuild an engine is another. But actually completing the final shaping and sanding of a car's body, then applying a glistening coat of your favorite color to it takes some real time, investment, talent, and a bit of luck. There's a lot to be said for applying your own paint. In today's world of the do-it-fast-and-push-it-out-the-door mentality, it's becoming harder and harder to find a paint shop that will either paint an entire car or paint over someone else's bodywork. You can call any local shop that has a decent reputation and usually the folks there will flat-out tell you they don't do all-over paint jobs. Actually, they make more money on insurance work, or they'll estimate the job so high, you'd be crazy to accept it.

Now before you start sending in the hate mail, I know you can still find a great shop out there that works on restoration projects, show cars, and the like, and you should be happy you can. But for most of our readers, it's becoming increasingly harder to do what you are now taking for granted.

So what's the next logical step, you ask? Well, if you're a hands-on restorer and have stripped the body yourself and maybe even replaced some of the metal with reproduction panels with a little 110-volt MIG welder by your side, moving up to the next step of finish work and paint is a natural progression. But how and where do you start? We suggest-well in advance of actually needing to apply your paint job-you take some trade school courses on paint and bodywork. If you're a member of a Mustang club (you'd better be!), talk to some of the members. Often times, there are a few experienced members who have painted cars during the "lacquer days," and though paint materials have changed, application and preparation have changed little. Sometimes you can even borrow equipment from these same people or locate some used tools (pawnshops are great for these) or rent them from a tool rental facility to minimize costs, especially if this is the only car you ever plan to paint.

1 We didn't deal with PPG corporate and neither will you. PPG's jobber network is where people like you and me go for paint and supplies. Our local jobber, C.A.R.S., helped us immensely during our project. Here, C.A.R.S. Technical Advisor Keith Anger inputs our color formulas into C.A.R.S.' computer for custom mixing. C.A.R.S. will mix and ship custom paints, but please don't call them with technical questions.

As for the paint type, you're fairly limited these days to polyurethane enamel, acrylic urethane, and basecoat/clearcoat finishes. Depending upon your local regulations, you may be unable to purchase certain types of paint without a license, so check with a local jobber first. Of course, there's more to a paint job than just the topcoat selection. Today everything works as a system, so the primers, the sealers, the hardeners, the reducers, and so forth need to be compatible with the topcoat you plan to use. In the case of our Project '66, we decided to work with PPG finishes and its Deltron Concept line of base and clear paints.

The reason we chose PPG is two-fold. First, its PPG Color Library [(440) 572-6100] has a vast system of paint chips and color codes dating back to the '50s for more than 280,000 colors. Obtaining a modern basecoat/clearcoat finish in the correct mix to match a 36-year-old lacquer color is a cinch with PPG's Prophet computer system and color scanners (for more on this, see the sidebar Anniversary What?). Second, we wanted to work with PPG because it has been an OE supplier to Ford for interior and exterior paints for decades. Let's face it, what better company to obtain an old Mustang color from than the one that originally produced it, right? So without further ramblings, we're going to give you the grand tour of painting our Project '66, from selecting the paint type to rubbing the paint out to that show-stopping shine.

2 All custom paint colors are mixed from these base colors. This mixing rack ensures that the paints are mixed daily to prevent settling and separation.	3 When a custom mix order is filled, the mix formula states (in order) how many parts of each color to add. Here Anger mixes up a small sample of one of the two Anniversary Gold formulas (for us to determine which one we will use). The scale will show "100" when the cumulative parts have been added.	4 C.A.R.S., like most any jobber, has a complete line of automotive paint refinishing supplies on its shelves. From masking tape (don't use the cheap stuff from an office supply store) to HVLP spray systems, you can purchase everything you need.
5 As hindsight is 20/20, we should have installed our new suspension after our paintwork, but editorial deadlines necessitated that we work on other parts of the project before the paintwork. If you have anything on your paint project that you don't want to get layered in sanding dust, primer, and base color overspray, use the old aluminum foil trick: Tightly wrap the items in aluminum foil and tape the seam shut. This trick works great every time.	6 Using a high-quality seam sealer from 3M or Wurth, brush the sealer into any panel joints that require it, such as where panels were replaced. Notice the inside of the trunk is sealed as well.	7 The floorpans are completely seam-sealed too. We laid down a couple of coats of rattle can primer to clean up the floor.
8 Here's a great tip while you still have the seam sealer out. Carefully brush seam sealer between the dashpanel and the cowl top until the gap is closed with the seam sealer to prevent hidden water leaks that may mimic a leaking cowl.	9 On to the body prep! Since we had so many new panels installed, most of our bodywork is a matter of taking care of a few shipping dings. But our roof panel had some major problems. There were dents, rust, old bodywork, and "oil canning" problems. To locate our problem areas, we began sanding the roof with 180-grit sandpaper on a sanding board. The dark spots you see here are the low areas that need to be repaired. Make sure you have quality shop lighting for all areas of your project.	10 One way to bring these low areas back into place is with normal body hammer work. Notice the body dolly in the left hand while the right hand carefully works the metal back into place.
11 Taking care of high spots can be accomplished with a hammer and a dolly too, but a slapper can work wonders on high spots with just a few quick slaps of the tool. Many of these tools can be found at Sears, in catalogs, and through paint jobbers, such as C.A.R.S.	12 A large 40-grit sanding disc is utilized--once the major high and low spots are taken care of--to remove all surface rust and paint from the hardtop's roof panel.	13-a If you have a problem with oil canning on a panel (where the metal easily pops back and forth), which we had with our roof, you can repair it by carefully heating the area, then quenching the heat with a cool, wet rag.