Before I got too carried away, I decided to buff/polish the areas where they installed so that I didn't have to work around them when buffing the entire car. Which obviously should be done before any hardware is attached but due to some upcoming events, I'm in accelerated-mode to get as much of the car reassembled before the end of March.
Sven recommended going with a 3 step process called Perfect-It from 3M. I bought 3 bottles of the stuff from the inner-web and did a trial run on the rear valance. Stage 1 is rubbing compound, Stage 2 coarse polish and Stage 3 fine polish. Pretty much idiot proof. Squeeze the stuff onto the matching foam pad and have at it with your D/A. I was very happy with the results. I had a slight tinge of red to the rubbing compound pad which confirmed I was skimming a bit of color off the top - then diminishing color residue in Stages 2 and 3. If the rest of the car comes out as well as the valance, I'll be a happy camper. For a daily driver shot in single stage Dupont Centuri acrylic enamel, I can't ask for too much more.
Once I got the valance buffed/polished, I flipped it over and shot some truck bed liner on it just to protect the inner surface. Got the back-up lights out of storage and dropped them in just for looks. Ended up media blasting the back surfaces and clear coating before installing. I'll get the gaskets installed then mount permanently next time I'm in the shop. Once that's done, the rear valance should be ready to mount. Will be nice to see some sheet metal going on the car rather than coming off of it for a change!!!
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| There's a quarter window track hiding inside that quarter panel ! |
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| Rear valance moving towards completion |
Good to see you are carving out some quality Mustang time RJ! Sounds like the Perfect It system performed as expected. Glad to hear!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to laugh a bit every time I post a comment, when the security function asks me to prove I'm "not a robot". Teehee.....
DeleteYes, with me, you never can be quite sure can you? :) Good call on the polish recommendation Sven. I was stressing a bit on that as I'm not a big paint guy. Despite the internet, most of what is there is 'my uncle used to paint cars for a guy who used pickle juice instead of primer and swore by it'.
DeleteThanks for the tip on the Perfect-It. I'm needing to do some buff-n-polish work on Ol' Rusty this spring. The car's looking good RJ!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I AM a robot. I'm just not going to let Google know...