Repainting my van's hood

tuscarora dave

tuscarora dave

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OK so since the project that I had in mind for today fell through the cracks I decided to paint the hood of my van instead. I paid $500 for the van so I'm not concerned with perfection so I thought I'd just go the rattle can method. Of course I'll do the best job that I can do. Anyway.. Here's a few pics of what I have going on so far and I'll update this thread as I go.

Here's the hood in question.

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The first thing I did was to use a magic marker to make a reference mark so that I can get the hood aligned back up once I'm done.

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I intend to grind the rust off of the inner lip of the hood but I am not going to paint anything more than the lip on the underside.

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Next order of things was to clean it up before stripping the old paint off.

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And of course my trusty helper is always by my side.

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All cleaned up and ready to be stripped of the old paint.

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Here's the products that I'll be working with.

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First up is the stripper. I've already scraped the burgundy striping off and sprayed the paint stripper on the hood and it is dwelling as I type this.

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OK, that's all I have for now. I'll update my progress in a few hours.
 
Just keep in mind you should really do a bit of sanding on the bare metal to give the paint something to stick to.

And also remember the Astro's hood is aluminum, not steel. Paint adhesion is always more challenging when working with that material.
 
tuscarora dave said:
And of course my trusty helper is always by my side.

010-25.jpg
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Jack looks like she could use a pair of Ray Bans... either that or she's PO'd.

Lots of threads online where folks have used Rustoleum with rattlecans, foam brushes, rollers... you name it. After cut, buff n polish many rivaled the OEM finish! Finishing oughta give the 1-Pads a good test.

TL
 
And also remember the Astro's hood is aluminum, not steel. Paint adhesion is always more challenging when working with that material.
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I've had others tell me this too but this hood is all steel.


Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Just keep in mind you should really do a bit of sanding on the bare metal to give the paint something to stick to.
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The stripper didn't do anything so I'm sanding to the bare metal with 50 grit on the rotary. I'll surface it with 320 and primer using my DA then finish the primer down to 500 grit before spraying the white paint.
 
OK, Now I have this baby stripped. Here's what I used.

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My PPE, I look like a madman!!

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And here's what the hood looks like now.

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Next up is a wipedown with the Prep-all to remove any oils before spraying a few coats of primer. I'll shoot 2 coats of primer and after they dry I'll hit it with 320 grit on my DA. The primer will fill all of the heavier scratches from the 50 grit and the 320 will sand back down to metal and the scratches should be filled at that point. To be sure, what I'll do is pre clean it one more time before spraying another coat of primer and then block sand it with 500 grit. If there are any low spots or unfilled scratches at that point they will be a darker (unsanded) color and I'll repeat the process if necessary. For those who don't know, this is called primer surfacing.

Once I have all the scratches filled and the hood sanded with 500 grit, I'll do another pre clean and then shoot my white paint. I don't have a tack cloth to wipe down before spraying the white paint so I'll surely have a few specks of dust to wet sand down before buffing. The wet sanding will be done next weekend so the paint has a good week to dry.

Be back with more pics in a few hours.
 
It looks better already. :)

I would be worried that the primer and paint might not be able to dry properly today due to the cool temperatures outside. Being as cool as it is, it might take so long for everything to fully dry that it may just be too soft to do any sanding today.

I hope everything works out though. I look forward to seeing your progress.

:xyxthumbs:
 
tuscarora dave said:
I've had others tell me this too but this hood is all steel.
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Interesting.... both Astro vans I had (which, granted, were an '87 and a '94 -- both before they re-designed the front clip in '95) were equipped with aluminum hoods and were a real pain to keep paint on.

tuscarora dave said:
She's PO'd because I was making her go inside while I sprayed the 2 cans of useless paint stripper.
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Dave, you know why that stuff didn't work, right? You weren't giving it the right mood music!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TBrh259zig&feature=related]YouTube - Stripper - David Rose[/video]

:dblthumb2:
 
Mister B said:
It looks better already. :)

I would be worried that the primer and paint might not be able to dry properly today due to the cool temperatures outside. Being as cool as it is, it might take so long for everything to fully dry that it may just be too soft to do any sanding today.

I hope everything works out though. I look forward to seeing your progress.

:xyxthumbs:
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Yeah it is a bit cool and windy today so I decided to get a coat of primer or 2 on today and continue this job throughout the week as it's supposed to get a lot nicer.

Upon further inspection, I decided that the 50 grit finish was a bit too rough so I sanded the hood a bit further with my DA and 150 grit before getting on to the primer surfacer step.

sohail99 said:
Be sure to check this thread out - Refinishing after $50 paint job *bad idea* - Honda-Tech
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I'll check it out when I get a little time. (after dark) Thanks.
 
OK, I just got through with the primer surfacing steps. Here's a pic of the hood with the first 2 coats of primer.

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I attempted to dry sand the primer with the G110V2 but this is what started to happen which is pretty normal. A razor blade's edge scraped across these stuck on pieces of paint build up took them off quickly. If I would try to continue sanding without scraping them off it would have more of a polishing effect rather than a sanding action.

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Even after scraping them off I was still only able to sand about 4 square inches before getting build up on the paper again so I decided to get a spray bottle of water and keep the paper and the hood wet so the water would carry away the sanding residue. It worked well.

Here's what the hood looks like now after primer surfacing.

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See how the deeper scratches are now filled with primer? The wind has kicked up considerably but I still want to get a coat of primer back on the hood before I call it quits for the day. The next step after a coat of primer will be to block sand the primer to obtain a scratch mark free surface in which to paint.
 
Looking good! Can't wait to see how the final product comes out. Can't go wrong for $500 for the van. How's it run?
 
SeaJay's said:
Looking good! Can't wait to see how the final product comes out. Can't go wrong for $500 for the van. How's it run?
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Thanks the van runs great. I really like the van a lot but it is a bit too small for what i want in a detailing rig. It beats the heck out of the trunk of my Buick though.


OK, to wrap up today's work I got a coat of primer on the hood but while spraying it on there I did notice a few deeper scratch marks still remaining. What I'll do after work tomorrow is block sand the primer that I sprayed today and use nitro stain or spot glazing putty to fill the deeper scratches and hopefully I'll have it ready to paint by Thursday because I hear it's going to be nearly 60 degrees on Thursday.:props:
 
You know, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought it would be Slickooz's...:D
 
To help you in your your sanding proccess you can add whats called a guide coat . That is a lite coat of different color primer on the top. Its really helps you see all the imperfectoions and sanding scratches that you will sand out.
 
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