>

I'll put those on after I buff the whole assembled car and those parts. Hopefully next weekend, but if not, it'll be August because I'll be in Colorado from Tuesday until the end of July.

Oh, and my sunburn is fully recovered. However, I was hospitalized on Saturday while trying to do a backflip on a trampoline and landing on my head and then smashing into the bar. I severely strained my back and neck and it still hurts pretty badly, but painkillers and ibuprofen help a ton and I'm getting better.

This post has been edited by Coomer: Jul 12, 2006 - 4:19 PM

the shaved sidemarkers really look good

it's back!!

>>Day Thirteen>>

Today I sanded the fenders and part of one door, and then buffed an area of a fender by hand with rubbing compound to see how it'd turn out. Here are a couple pictures for you guys to see the improvement.

Untouched:



Sanded and buffed:



The car should turn out awesome once I'm all done.

^oh so shiney.....awsome work

speechless

oooo wow so nice

awesome chris your car is looking amazing once again...great job and patience with it!

Chris, once again I gotta say great job with the car! You've greatly inspired me with this project, looks top notch so far.


BTW, thanks for the reply on the last page, can you perhaps steer me in the direction of the brand paint that you used? I would greatly appreciate it. Can't wait to see the car when its done, it'll look sick.

This post has been edited by Silver94CelicaOwner: Jul 14, 2006 - 2:30 AM

Looks AMAZING man. I mean seriously it looks good.
>
That sucks man.... I can only imagine how big of a dumbass you must have felt like Sad part is..... My brother did this in our pool doing a front flip. He landed on his head into the diving board and has a nice lil scar from it on his noggin. Be careful man

its like having a new car again

any opinions of rubbing compound?

and is that what you would use to get the orange peel out?

Dustin

>

I'm using 3M liquid rubbing compound which seems to work well. It sure is hard buffing by hand though.

It doesn't take out orange peel though. You have to sand to remove orange peel. I'm afraid of burning through my paint since it's my first time, so I'm using only 2000 grit sandpaper. Once the surface is perfectly smooth, then you apply the rubbing compound in order to remove the 2000 grit scratches.

I'll take pictures of all the supplies I'm using later today when I go back to Yakima so you have an idea of exactly what I'm using.

Looking awesome Chris! ...so much work! ...and looks like it is coming out really well!

~snap

man, this thread is sooo exciting

Once agian lookin AWESOME!!! cant wait to see the finished product

>>Day Fourteen>>

Today I spent a good eight hours sanding the car. At the end of the day, my hand was raw in several spots, but the car is ready for buffing.



The car is really ugly now that it's all sanded. It should look good buffed though.

As promised, here are the supplies I'm using:



3M sandpaper - $5.xx per job pack (five sheets.) I have 220, 360, 400, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grits.
Meguiar's soft sanding block - $3.xx



Don't laugh...John Deere synthetic enamel paint rocks. The finish on my old fourth gen. was so durable and hard that I decided to go with the same paint on my Yelli Celi. If you've ever seen the yellow on a wheel of a John Deere tractor, that's what color my car is. It's a non-metallic, non-pearl yellow (easiest for a first-timer to shoot,) but it's very bright and very glossy, especially when cut and buffed.

Western synthetic enamel hardener (pint) - $27
John Deere synthetic enamel paint (gallon) - $40
John Deere paint thinner (quart) - $6
PPG DX330 wax and grease remover - Around $10-15 I think...can't remember
Bondo fiberglass resin (gallon) - $30
USC Half-Time body filler/glazing putty - Can't remember at all

As far as mixing goes, I mixed the thinner 1.5 parts thinner to 10 parts paint, and the hardener is 1 part hardener to 10 parts paint. The paint dried to the point where I could bump into it and not leave marks (I bumped my head into my hanging freshly painted mirrors twice) in about 15 minutes. Full hardness to the point where I couldn't scratch the paint with my fingernail took about 12 hours (in 70-95 degree heat.) I shot the paint in approximately 85-93 degree heat.

Oh, and I used almost the entire gallon (there might be 3-4 ounces left) shooting the car and all the parts. I was worried about running out of paint while finishing up.

nice chris

John Deere RULES! i have 2

Hahaha. Simply amazing, I had no idea you used tractor paint. That was seriously the last thing I had expected....you have to be sure to go out of your way to tell people you painted it with John Deere paint too, it'll get some good reactions out of people.


For this reason alone, my hat goes off to you. lol

>>Day Fifteen>>

Today I sanded a few spots I missed and then buffed the fenders, hood, and roof. Hand buffing a car is so much work, but I not only don't have a power polisher, but I also would be afraid to burn through my paint since I've never used one before.

The finish turned out pretty well though.



There's the hood and part of a fender.



There's a close-up of the roof.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the rest of the car buffed and put on the sideskirts and extensions and spoiler.

wow it looks amazing!

Cant wait to see it completely done

shiney....when you finish let me know i'm sending you a john deere bumper sticker

That sucks. I have missed almost all of the progress, looking
like it's ready for a meet soon. Nice work Coomer.

Bloody hell!! You've got some talent there Coomer. God job buddy

Rich

Excellent Work Man!! I'm BodyWorking on my car but i have no job and i need a fender and a bumper so my celi is waiting for that parts, i have a question, what brand of gun are you using? and the compressor?

I'm new so I hadn't known about the vandalism your car went through...it almost brought a tear to my eye to see it. Glad to see that you're making it beautiful again

AMAZING work chris.
this truley shows what a man who is dedicated to a project can do.
truely inspireing!
this definetly is sticky material!!

I should have the car done by the end of the month. I mounted the sideskirts before I left for Colorado, so when I get home I just need to buff some areas of the car, put some polish on the car, mount the extensions and wing, and finish up a couple things.

the return of the yelli Celi!!!

Wow, I just found this thread, and just wow. That's an outstanding job Coomer. Have you made anymore progress on it yet?? What you've done on such a minimal budget is just amazing. It really pays to do it yourself.