I've Moved To VanagonForever.com

This will be the last post to vanagonforever.blogspot.com. Come check out the new blog at www.vanagonforever.com!

The New VanagonForever.com

I learned something a bit shocking the other day. It turns out that there are people out there who actually read this blog. I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Up until now I’ve viewed this more as my digital notebook that I’ve been using to try to remember my ideas and the things I’ve done with my Vanagon. That’s great and all but now that I know people are actually looking at it I realize that it could be a bit more. I don’t know about you guys but I spend a great deal of time surfing the web looking for interesting information on all sorts of topics. One of my big vices is information on Vanagons – specifically things that people have done to/with their Vanagons. While there are a few real gems out there, I haven’t found that one site that offers me the sort of information that I’m looking for. So I’ve decided to give making that site myself a shot. You folks will have to bear with me while I work out the kinks but my sincere hope is that I’ll end up with something that other people will look to when they need their Vanagon itch scratched.

What will all of this mean you ask? My first order of business is to establish a posting rhythm. Personally, I like a site that updates regularly enough to keep me interested but doesn’t overwhelm me with information. This site will now be updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I may stick in a few additional updates here and there but you can be promised that there will be new stuff here at least three days a week. Second, I’ve ditched the blogspot.com domain and actually registered www.vanagonforever.com as the name for this site. The old name will still work for a little while but vanagonforever.com should now be considered the official address for the site.

Over the next few weeks I will be evolving the content on the site to include more than just blog entries. This week I’m introducing the first of that new content by rolling out a HowTo section. This new section will feature tutorials that will be targeted towards people just starting out. There is a ton of great information out there but a lot of it expects you to already know a lot about working on cars. I’m certainly no master mechanic but at this point I’ve had to figure quite a few things out and yet I still retain that beginner’s mind. I’m hoping my HowTos will address a lot of the newer mechanic’s concerns while still providing actually useful information.

Which brings me to my next point: I’d love to hear your feedback. I’ve created the email address stuart “at” vanagonforever.com. Sorry for not spelling it out but I’d rather not get spam at my brand new address – to send me an email just replace the “at” above with the @ symbol and remove the spaces. If you’ve got comments on this new direction, ideas for future content, or just want to say hello then please drop me a line. I’ll do my best to get back to you promptly.

Well, I think that about covers it. Here is to new beginnings! Today is the first day of the new and improved VanagonForever.com. I hope you all enjoy it!

New Year, New Site

Yesterday I decided to spiff up the site a bit in honor of the new year. Now that my Vanagon is a different color I figured the blog might as well change too. The only downside is that I learned that the blog no longer shows up correctly in Firefox or Safari browsers. I'm trying to get to the bottom of that now.

Since it is a new year I suppose I should announce a few Vanagon related resolutions for 2009. The first one is that I want to do a much better job of posting pictures along with my posts. I have appreciated the photos of other people's projects so much through the years that I feel like it is pretty selfish of me to not photograph my own projects. My second resolution is to spend more weekends using the Vanagon than I spend working on the Vanagon. These old cars are fun to work on and all but it is all too easy to get so wrapped up in smoothing out every little kink that I forget why I own the thing in the first place. I think 2009 needs to involve a lot more adventure and a lot fewer projects. Finally, I'd like for 2009 to be the year of finished tasks. It is far too easy to start projects and far too hard to complete them. While I intend to have fewer projects this year, I plan to do a much better job of bringing the ones I already have underway to completion. The birth of my first child is just a few weeks away. This year should introduce a dramatic reduction in free time so I've got to make the time that I do have really count.

Now that I've publicly announced goals I suppose I am going to have to actually accomplish them. Here's to achieving your goals, whatever they may be in 2009! Happy New Year!

Christmas Time...

New paint
Originally uploaded by stuart_jeffx

When I walked out of my house this morning the light was too good to not take a picture of my Vanagon. Like I said, the paint job isn't finished but is at least good enough to appear finished from a few feet away. I don't expect anyone to consider this as "proof" that the roller paint job can work since I'm not even finished but I do think it is an excellent example of how deceptive a photograph can be. The van does look good from a distance but the closer you get the more flaws you notice. Once the weather improves I'll have to do something about those flaws and finally finish my never ending project.

Oh and this photo is taken after I believe six coats. The van HAS NOT been sanded in the past two coats and the last time I did sand it I used 800. My plan is to sand it with 1500 and then only paint panels which have issues. One other thing is that I still have not completely repaired my seam rust. I just loaded it up with rust converter, primed, and painted it. I did not put any body filler on it but was just trying to slow down the rust until I can do a panel replacement.

One last thing, if it isn't obvious, you should be able to click on the image to get a higher resolution. It was shot with a camera phone though so if you are hunting for flaws I doubt you'll be able to see them from this distance with the crappy phone. Enjoy!

Electrical Challenges

My latest puzzle is figuring out what is wrong with my second battery. I bought a proper Go Westy auxillary battery kit a few months ago because I was never quite happy with my original setup. Basically I wanted a proper isolator and I wanted to have the radio and interior lights moved over to the second battery. The Go Westy kit would make all of that easy so I picked one up. Thanks to my painting project I didn't get around to installing it until a week or two ago. As usual the instructions were well written and easy to follow but I somehow managed to screw things up. My first problem was that my main battery was draining with the engine off. In fact it discharged so much that in a single day it dropped to just under 4 volts. As you can probably guess that killed my original battery and I had to pick up a replacement. Now I haven't had a chance to really figure out what is going on so I've just been disconnecting the ground whenever I'm not driving so I don't damage the new battery. I really would like to get to the bottom of this issue but winter and the rest of my life are getting in the way. I'll get to it eventually.

Just to warn you guys, things may slow down over the next few months. A combination of sub-freezing temps, salty Maryland roads, and my first child due in a couple of months should result in the Vanagon finding itself on the back burner for a while. My only real regret at this point with it is not finishing the paint job before the cold weather hit. Even if I had the time I can't get that last coat on there. Maybe there will be an unseasonably warm weekend at some point and I can get things wrapped up. Until then it is just going to have to wait - its so close to being nice.

Vanagon Bong

IMAG0416.jpg
Originally uploaded by stuart_jeffx

I have built my own "Libby Bong" thanks to advice from the Samba and a very awesome reader of my blog - thanks Ron! This brilliant little contraption makes it possible to bleed my coolant system from the comfort of my own street without having to jack up the front of my van. A little while ago I replaced my temp II sensor and my temp sender in the thermostat housing of the Vanagon. This went just fine but since I couldn't raise my van high enough to follow the procedure outlined in the Bentley manual I was concerned that I had left air bubbles in my coolant system. I found the details of how to build it over on www.thesamba.com. A guy by the name of Libby devised a simple contraption from a couple of parts available at the Home Depot that artificially raises the level of the expansion tank which allows you to just use gravity to force all of the air into the bleeding column in the radiator. It is just a section of 2" PVC pipe with a 2" to 1.5" "PlumbQuik" connector that clamps to the top of the coolant expansion tank. The brilliant part is the 1/2" OD plastic tubing that inserts just above connector, goes into the expansion tank, and is attached to the top of the PVC pipe. Once you bleed the coolant system you then detach tube from the top, insert it into a coolant jug, and lower it below the expansion tank. That causes all of the coolant remaining in the PVC column to empty back into the coolant jug. Once all of the coolant is out of the column you top off the expansion tank with coolant, replace the expansion cap, and drive off without any air in your coolant system.

The other news from this weekend is that it looks like I've finally solved my freaking out temperature gauge. Thanks to a reader comment from this blog (thanks Jed!) I decided to remove the sensor from the expansion tank and check it for corrosion. Sure enough the probes were covered in some nastiness. I used my trusty wire brush to get them looking nice and shiny again. Now my coolant light no longer blinks! I didn't even have to replace any parts.

Waiting For The Mail

I've noticed that I never want to drive my Vanagon more than when it is undrivable. It has been parked in front of my house all week just taunting me. My replacement fuel pressure regulator just can't seem to get here fast enough. I really wish that GoWesty had one in stock - those guys are super fast. I ended up buying one from Van-Cafe. They are generally awesome and send cookies along with every order but the UPS ground only option from California does make delivery times take a lot longer than I would like. I should finally get it on Monday. At least they are faster than Bus Depot. I ordered some POR-15 and a replacement panel for my rusty kitchen rocker like weeks ago and still have yet to hear from them. Maybe they didn't actually have the panel in stock? It doesn't really matter though because I'm not ready to cut that bad metal out right this minute anyway.

I do have a tiny bit of a paint job update. It may be my imagination but I swear my Vanagon is getting darker as the paint settles and breathes. This is really good because I actually wanted it to be a darker color than it was right after I applied the paint. I really do need one more coat of paint on too but I may just go ahead and do a 1500 pass and buff it out for the winter. I can always go back next spring when it warms up and do a few more coats. I don't mind thin spots as much as the heavy orange peel that I've got now. I may end up doing that wet sanding this weekend. Who knows - I might even post some pictures...

One More Thing About Headlights

I realized that I didn't do a very good job of explaining what I did to my headlights. Basically I just bought the power boosting kit from www.gowesty.com along with some new higher wattage halogen bulbs. The instructions that came with the kit were top notch and made the install very very easy. Just be sure to actually have a crimping tool if you are going to do the kit install yourself. I have since driven the Vanagon at night and in the rain and I am amazed at how much better the visibility is. I strongly suggest you do this upgrade yourself.

Back To The Engine!

This weekend was filled with rain, wind, and cold weather. It was not the time for doing more work on the paint so I decided instead to focus on a few mechanical issues that I've been having lately. First off I don't feel like my engine has been running as smoothly since I replaced my exhaust system. I don't think this is a result of the exhaust system per say but that was around the time that I stopped driving the Vanagon regularly. If I've learned anything from owning a Vanagon it is that old vehicles like to be driven. Anyway, I had a bit of a rough idle and I'm seeing condensation and white smoke out of my exhaust when I start up the van. Something is not right.

My first action was to replace my O2 sensor again a few weeks ago. This helped a lot with the sound of the engine but it did not fix all of my problems. I'm confident that the O2 sensor that I put in when I replaced my exhaust was faulty but that was not the entire story. So rather than properly diagnosing the problem I decided to just keep throwing parts at my issue. Fortunately the parts I decided to throw were really cheap. This weekend I replaced the two temp sensors on my thermostat housing in an attempt to further smooth out my engine.

This leads me to the other issue that I have seen lately. Typically when I start the van my temperature warning light starts blinking immediately and my temperature gauge immediately rockets all the way to the right. My first action was to check my coolant level to make sure that my engine had enough coolant. I was able to verify that the coolant was fine and that was not the reason the warning light was coming on. A strange thing I noticed about the indicator light was that at times the gauge functioned normally and then at times it would freak out, blink, and rocket all the way to the right. This leads me to believe that I have an electrical problem or the sensor itself is broken. Since the part is cheap I went ahead and replaced the sensor at the thermostat housing. I also noticed that the wire attached to that sensor was worn and it looked like the connector was about to fall off. I went ahead and snipped the wire to expose some fresh wire and added a new connector. I also replaced the temp II sensor since all of the message boards so to just replace the thing if it even might be broken. I believe that the second sensor provides information to the fuel injection system which and that if it is not functioning properly your engine will run rough. While I was dumping coolant in the street I figured I might as well replace mine as well.

When I fired up the van again to bleed the coolant system and to verify that everything was put back together soundly I was impressed with how smooth the engine sounded. I then we back to watch the engine run and to rev the engine I noticed that my fuel pressure regularly was dripping something. Since I don't know what else a fuel pressure regulator could be dripping other than fuel I became concerned. I turned off the engine and went in the house to get a bunch of clean paper towels. Looking at the fuel pressure regulator it did not look like any of the fuel lines going into it were having problems but I wanted to be sure. I wrapped a paper towel around each of the lines at the point where they connected with the fuel pressure regulator and then another under the regulator itself. I fired up the engine again and waited for a minute. After I started seeing the liquid on the paper towel I turned the engine off and inspected my experiment. I should also add that when I filled up on Friday I noticed that my miles per gallon had dropped to 16 from 20 so I was already concerned about a potential fuel leak. Sure enough the fuel pressure regulator itself was seeping fuel right from the seam in the center. I don't know if this is a common problem but I certainly can't drive the Vanagon until I have this problem sorted out.

Later I was telling my Dad about what I had seen and he mentioned that in his experience with Volvos that often before the fuel pressure regulator fails it tends to flood the engine with fuel - I wonder if this is the same type of issue that I am seeing. Regardless, I don't think it will be a good idea to drive the Vanagon again until I get myself a new fuel pressure regulator.

Lunchtime Upgrade

Today during my lunch break I finally got around to upgrading the wiring for my headlight and replaced the bulbs with a higher wattage bulb. It really wasn't too bad of a job but hooking in the new wiring was super cramped. It is hard to access the back of the fuse panel. After I checked that my new wiring worked I also went ahead and replaced the headlights. Total time was around an hour. I can't wait for it to get dark so I can see how much of a difference it makes. I was really getting tired of not being able to see at night.

I Learned Something

This past weekend I ended up getting a lot more done on the Vanagon than I was anticipating. I sanded and painted my rear bumper and I solved a major problem with my window seals. On Saturday I hurriedly painted the rear bumper and I am not very happy with it at all. There was some fairly serious surface rust on it and I didn't have a grind wheel in good enough condition to really clean it up. I ended up using a wire wheel which is good at getting out all the rust but it leaves the metal riddled with pits where the rust used to be. I thought a high build rattle can auto primer that I have been using would be enough to clean it up but I was wrong. Sadly the pits show through the final satin black paint so I think I'm going to have to strip it down again and use some filler to get it all sorted out.

The better news though is that I figured out how to fix up my window rubbers. Early on in the painting process I masked them all off and left the tape on for a week. It was really hot that week (wow I have been at this stupid paint job for a long time) and the adhesive from the masking tape kind of melded with the rubber in the window seals. That left me with tape that I simply could not peel off. I ignored it for a while but it has gotten to the point where that tape was starting to really annoy me. My general approach to restoration is to just fix whatever is annoying me the most at that time so this weekend I decided to do something about it.

My first plan was to use some Goo Gone and a rag to scrub off that adhesive. That did pretty much nothing. Next I tried using a plastic pot scrubber - nothing. Then I tried some steel wool - nothing. Next I tried a small wire brush - that was just scratching the hell out of my rubbers so I quickly ditched that idea. Finally I decided to try some sand paper and kind of wet sand with Goo Gone instead of water. That was working but it took a really long time on the places where there was a lot of tape left. However I noticed that the sand paper left the rubber looking nice and new and it was able to easily remove the overspray from my previous owners horrible paint job and the few places here and there where I got paint on the rubbers. The trouble was keeping the sand paper off of the body since I didn't want to scratch the paint. That was when I noticed the small dry wall putty knife that I had in the tool box. It is a 1" knife that I noticed I could easily slide under the edge of the rubber and then could go to town on rubber lip with the sand paper and really clean it up. I also noticed that the blade had enough flex to it that I could use it to scrape up the bulk of the old masking tape without harming the rubbers. So in the end my process was to use the putty knife to scrape as much of the masking tape off as possible and then use it to lift the lip while I sanded the rubber down a bit with 120 grit sand paper. Once I had taken a layer off of the window rubber I used some 303 Aerospace Protectant to reseal the rubber and protect it from UV damage. This left my rubbers looking like new!

I've gone too long without posting

I forgot to update after last weekend's work. I got in two days of painting on the van and am now ready for another 800 wet sanding pass. I still don't have complete opacity so it looks like I'm going to have to do some more painting passes. The van looks to be one color from a distance but when you get closer you can certainly see some issues. I have really grown a strong dislike for whoever painted this thing blue in the first place. Soo... much... work... This weekend we're having some family in town so I probably won't get in much time on the Vanagon. Plus the weather has been terrible here for paint this past week so I really don't mind giving the paint another week of drying time before I get in there and knock it back again.

One important bit of advice I can offer is to never leave your masking tape on your window rubbers for longer than you have to. I left some tape on for a week and the adhesive sort of melded with the rubbers. Now I've got masking trash all over my window rubbers and it is a real pain to clean off. I haven't gotten out the Goo Gone yet but I'm hoping that will make all the difference. If that doesn't work then I'm considering trying to sand the rubbers. Who knows if that will work but it seemed like something worth trying.

Starting to Look Good

Over the weekend I was able to get my fifth coat of paint on the Vanagon. This was the first time that I painted over an 800 grit wet sand pass and wow am I impressed. The surface is certainly not perfect but at this point it at least looks really glossy and reflective. The reflection is slightly distorted but that is to be expected without any sanding. The bad news is that I'm still not at a point where the paint is completely opaque. I don't know how many more coats will be needed but I'm hoping for around two. I am certainly going to need to make at least two more sanding passes before I turn to the buffer but I am pleased with the progress so far. At this point the van is really close to looking nice and I'm really excited to continue moving along on the project. I just hope the weather holds out so I can get this work done before winter really sets in.

Progress Update

I've got the Vanagon about 80% wet sanded with 800 at this point. I was really happy to see that the color remained relatively intact during this last round of sanding. My plan is to do another three coats and then either do one more 800 pass followed by a final coat or just cutting directly to 1600. Once I've done the 1600 pass it will be time to use rubbing compound and a buffer to get the final finish. This last 800 pass has really got my confidence up though. The Vanagon looks like it may actually look quite nice when I finish this insanely long process. Still no pictures though so you'll just have to wait.

My biggest issue now is that the weather has finally caught up with me. It is getting pretty chilly here early in the mornings and the evenings so I've got to try a new painting strategy for this next round. I'm going to try painting in the middle of the day this weekend but I'm going to do the painting in a parking garage at my office to avoid direct sun. The biggest problem I see with this is that I just don't know how many coats I can get on in the near future. I've got to get this thing done before the temps drop too far below 50 if I want a good finish on the paint. I'm not sure how I can possibly get more than a coat or two on during the weekend since I like to wait at least 24 hours between coats. I would just do a coat a week but if I am looking at four more coats to go then that puts me towards the end of November before I finished - that is dangerously close to bad weather.

I'm also thinking that I'm going to try to get at least the sliding door body work done before the winter as well now. There is a huge dent in it with about a gallon of bondo in it. I was originally thinking that I would just replace the door but now I'm thinking I may try to actually fix it. My plan is to grind out all the Bondo, then get my buddy to weld nails to the dent, use a puller to pull the nails out, grind off the nails, apply filler, and repaint it. This would be by far my most ambitious body work to date but I'd save a pretty big chunk of change if I can do it successfully.

As far as the engine goes, I've suspected that my O2 sensor was faulty right out of the box ever since I replaced my exhaust system. The engine was smelling rich and seemed to be chugging a lot harder than it was before I replaced the exhaust. I bought a replacement sensor and installed it on the van a few nights ago. I still haven't really driven the van but just turning it on in the street and giving the engine a good workout made me think that I've fixed the issue. The engine sounds a lot smoother now and does not seem to be running as rich.

Next up with the mechanical stuff is to replace my temp 2 sensor and thermostat. The heater isn't working in the van and I believe my thermostat is stuck open. I can get hot air to blow in the summer but not the winter and I've read online that the thermostat just needs to be replaced every few years or you'll end up with a problem similar to mine. I hope to tackle this job before it gets too cold. I'm a little bit intimidated with the cooling system mostly because I really don't want to dump antifreeze all over the place. I've read online about using a shop-vac to drain the system so I suppose I should just jump in there and give it a shot. I don't know what I'm so worried about - antifreeze is a lot nicer liquid than gas and I've done plenty of work on the fuel system at this point.

I painted my front bumper and some other stuff

So I went rattle can crazy over the past few days and painted my wiper arms, door handles, and front bumper with Rustoleum Semi-Gloss Black. Who knows if the paint will last but man they look really nice right now. I sanded them all down with 220 and then used some rattle can automotive primer. After that I laid down around four coats of black taking 30 minutes between each coat. In the case of the handles I left them to dry in the sun for 48 hours, wet sanded them with 400, and then put another three coats on. I'm worried that I've lost the hot summer weather that my drying times are going to go through the roof on these painting projects - on the plus side the paint seems to be going on a lot better.

Anyway I put all of that stuff back on the van and I'm getting impressed. The paint job still needs a ton of work on the van but its starting to look good. I've got three coats of paint on the van right now and its time for more wet sanding. The side that gets direct sun has a ton of orange peel to it (funny how much direct sun will impact paint) so I need to take the time to knock it all down with some 800. This may be a bit premature but I believe that after I sand and get another three coats on I'll be ready to do a 1600 wet sand and then buff with rubbing compound to get it finished up. My expectation is that the large flat areas will look just as good as they would have if I had taken the van to be painted at a shop. The real test though will be all of the hard to reach areas and areas around the windows. You just can't do a good job if you're leaving the windows in the van. I think I'm going to have to end up rattle canning parts here and there to get decent coverage in some of the seams and what not.

Guess What I'm Doing!

Still painting...

This morning I got the third coat of paint on all of the flat panels on the bus. I still haven't reached the point where the paint is opaque but I am making progress. I've made another slight modification to my painting technique over the past few days that has helped me get even closer to a mirror like finish without using any sand paper. I purchased a second 4" roller that I leave dry and use it to pop bubbles/evenly spread paint. Now my system is to use the paint roller that has been soaking to push the paint over an entire panel. I work quickly but now that the bus is getting smooth I can't press hard or I will slide. I then stick that roller back in the paint to soak while I use my second dry roller to smooth out the paint and get rid of any bubbles. I've also noticed that the side that remains in the shade almost all day has turned out dramatically better than the side that catches the sun. From here on I will only be painting in the shade. This isn't really a problem provided I get started nice and early. I have reached the point on most of the bus where it really doesn't make sense to keep painting until I can wet sand the stuff I've done already. The build up is starting to approach bumpy so I think it is time to knock it down. I'm planning to go with 800 for this next round of sanding in the hopes that I can keep as much paint on the van as possible.

In addition I've also been painting a few trim items. I painted the rear air vents to match my front vents with the subtly textured black plastic paint and they look really nice. I also painted the door handles last night and am going to add the wiper arms either tonight or tomorrow. I need to decide what I'm going to do with my side mirrors as well. I've got some cheap replacements that I may put on there or I might just try to stick with the stock ones that I've got and paint a few bits of them. Finally, I think I'm going to do a quick rattle can job on my bumpers just to complete the newish feel.

I've still got a really long way to go on my paint job. I can't stress how much work this job is requiring. It is the kind of work that offers a lot of satisfaction but its work none the less. I am super confident that I can make the flat panels look absolutely amazing now but I am still doubtful of the harder to reach areas. I've been trying different small brushes in the hope that I can find something that offers a finish similar to the roller. It is really hard to get a smooth finish on the areas that are difficult to sand and paint. I am guessing that I will finish the main body panels long before I finish the smaller trim details.

Finally, I'm at 95% positive that I'm going to give my bus the "GoWesty black out treatment". Basically I will be painting the lower 15% of the Vanagon with truck bed liner painted gloss black. It should give a kind of rugged off-road look and will help to protect against road rash and salt. I want to do the entire undercoat but its not going to be an easy job to try to do in the street.

Once I get all this exterior painting done I'm going to turn my attention back to the interior and focus on getting the Vanagon trip ready for next Spring. Allison and I will be having our first baby next February and I want to be ready to start showing him the world in our little mobile home soon afterwards.

Site Revamp?

Now that my Vanagon is no longer the blue color you see at the top of the screen I think I'm going to have to revamp the site shortly. Maybe once I finish the paint job I'll post the pics and do a grand unveiling.

More Painting...

I developed a refinement to my painting technique that seems to be doing an amazing job. It allows me to put the paint on really thin and almost perfectly smooth. I've created virtually zero orange peel since I started using this method. What I am doing is using a good deal more mineral spirits than I was using previously. I mix the spirits with the paint in the paint tray using a paint stirrer. To mix the paint and spirits I'm using a side to side motion with the stick kept at an angle to kind of force the paint on the bottom to rise to the top where the spirits are. I never move it fast enough to generate bubbles. After that I let the roller soak until it is completely saturated. I then roll it out on the tray until there is no dripping. With my roller full of paint I target an entire panel at once and work very quickly applying pressure to the roller to push the paint side to side all over the entire panel. Once I have coverage I typically have a relatively empty paint roller and I use it to very very gently pop the bubbles in the paint working from bottom to top with vertical movements. The bubbles should pop almost instantly if you've used enough mineral spirits but the trick is to continue working the paint for a few minutes. Just use gentle motions and try to be very soft and continuous. Your goal at this point is to softly work out the orange peel while the paint is settling up. Ideally you would look at the panel from an angle where you can really see the gloss on the surface. You can literally see the orange peel setting up. That is when you need to carefully take your roller in there and knock it down. Keep doing this until the paint starts to get sticky. At that point it will basically be set up and you will have dramatically reduced the orange peel that you have to sand off later. The key is to do an entire panel at once to avoid seems, work very quickly initially to get the paint on there, and then very delicately to smooth the orange peel.

So I've Been Painting...

I've been painting for one month, five days, seven hours, fifty one minutes, and twenty three seconds. That's bad enough but the really depressing part is that I haven't even gotten one whole coat on the van. This process is TIME CONSUMING people. When the people who write up their experiences with the $50 paint job on message boards notice that several months pass between posts. This isn't because they are lazy - it is because it takes an insane amount of time. I just want to prepare the people who are considering this route that it takes a while. Now that I've made that clear here is what I've learned so far.

My first step was to sand the front of the van using 60 grit. In hindsight I think this was far too aggressive. I knew I had wavy panels but 60 is a little bit intense and requires a whole lot more sanding to get back to smooth. I then moved on to 120 grit dry. This is more reasonable but I still think it is too intense. Finally I went to 320 grit. This is a little too light for that first pass. I've read that you need to use at least 320 or lower to give the new paint something to key into but 320 is pretty slow going if you are starting with a really bad wavy job. I ended up settling on 220 to do the entire body first pass and I think it is the way to go if you are starting with a crappy paint job. If you are starting with a better job (and seriously you may want to reconsider your approach if you've got a decent job) then use something closer to 300.

Back to my story though. So after I sanded the front for the third time I decided to give body work a try. I got the best body filler I could find (which was still quite crappy Bondo brand professional filler) and decided to just give it a shot. I used the angle grinder to get down to metal on any dents I could feel or any spots of bubbling paint. I then hit up the four spots that I identified as needing work with the filler and I was surprised at how difficult it was to apply evenly before the hardener kicked in. I think either the weather made it difficult (it was hot) or I am just too inexperienced but it was a lot harder than I was expecting. After a few coats and way too much Bondo in the trash can I got some results I could live with. Once the filler dried I sanded it with 120 and then 320 until it couldn't be felt. I can't stress how important patience is with body work. In hindsight I wish I would have taken more time myself. I'll get into patience more in a bit.

With my body work sanded and ready for primer I decided to go with Rustoleum rusty metal primer. I used a 4" high density foam roller to apply it unthinned. It went on looking relatively smooth and gave me surprising coverage. Since I used nothing to cut it, I decided to give the primer almost two weeks to dry before I touched it again. When I returned to the van the primer was good and hard but horrible orange peely and down right cratered. It really didn't look so hot but I decided to forge on and start wet sanding. I wet sanded using 400 I believe. This was my first time wet sanding and I really didn't do the greatest job on it. With wet sanding you need that paper to have soaked for a full day if you want it to be easy to work with. You also need your sanding blocks pre-selected to fit in every space that you need sanded before you start working. I didn't have either and honestly didn't use enough water but I did manage to hit every square inch of the paint with sand paper.

Finally the moment I've been waiting for. Time to hit the car with the actual paint I wanted to use. I selected an almond Rustoleum professional grade oil paint and I thinned it around 15% using odorless mineral spirits. I soaked my roller just like everyone on the Internet said I should and I went to work. The second my roller hit the car I was dumbfounded by how utterly hopeless my cause appeared to become. Instead of nice lovely self-levelling paint I was greeted by a billion air bubbles and drips. I frantically ran my roller over all the bubbles hoping that everything would get better but honestly it didn't help much at all. I then remembered the advice of one online painter that the first coat will give you serious doubts as to the utility of this method and I resolved to press on. And press on I did, covering the entire front of the van in this bubbly concoction. Towards the end I was getting really sloppy and just trying to get paint on the surface. By the time I finished I was beginning to seriously doubt this whole adventure. The van looked worse than ever and I really had no idea what I was going to do about it.

After a few more hours past I decided that I could just sit there looking at this fiasco so I grabbed my roller again and decided to put on a second coat. The second time through went a little bit better. I learned more about how to work the paint to get the bubbles out and I did a much better job of applying the paint smoothly. When all was said and done I had a brutally orange peeling but single color cab. Just having a solid color of paint on my van gave me some hope and I left it to dry for a week.

This brings us to weekend before last when it was time to try to correct my bumpy van with elbow grease, sand paper, and a lot of water. Nature decided to give my wet sanding a hand and rain all day on Saturday. Undeterred, I pressed on and grabbed my trusty 400 grit wet sand paper and literally stood in the rain wet sanding all day. The surface was so riddled that it took me eight hours to wet sand the driver's, passenger's door, and front of the van. The labor involved was a bit overwhelming but I ended up with the smoothest van 400 grit paper could possibly provide. The sad part is that I ended up sanding through a ton of the work I had done. There were dozens of places where I not only sanded back down to the blue paint but made it all the way to the OG primer. I even hit metal in a couple of spots. It was during this process that I realized just how sensitive body work is. If you really want a level surface on a vehicle that has been abused for 24 years then it is going to take a whole lot of work.

The next morning I woke up and decided I'd learned enough - time to jump in with both feet and tackle the entire van. If I continued in a piece meal fashion then it would take me six or seven months of weekends to do the entire thing. I decided to dry sand the entire untouched portion of the van with 220. This was the dawn of a new strategy. My new strategy would be to make the van all one color at any cost forgetting about the body work here and there. My thinking is that if I can at least get my van looking semi-decent again I will have the patience to do the body work that is needed. This will end up creating more work for me in the long run but right now I just want my van to look semi-normal once more so I'm going to see where this strategy takes me. I did grind all of the paint bubbles just to get rid of the obvious surface rust but I didn't worry at all about dents or dings. Right now I am just painting.

This brings us up to the past weekend. I began the weekend with a "prepped" van. I say prepped in quotes because I was obviously ignoring several spots on the body that will need more work to look nice. Like I said though, the new strategy is to just get the van all one solid color. I also did some more research and gave the paint thinning and mixing process a lot more attention this time around. I used a lot more mineral spirits and put a ton of time into avoiding air bubbles introduced during the missing process. I spent probably 30 minutes just mixing up a tray of paint slowly stirring it to avoid air. Finally the time came for another coat. I decided to start with the area that I lovingly wet sanded in the rain last weekend. This time, for the first time, I finally grasped how this process is supposed to work. I soaked my roller and very carefully rolled out the excess. I then applied it very gently to the metal and quickly worked to spread out the paint. I used around 20-30% mineral spirits this time and could instantly see the paint self-level without running down the side of the van. This time there were far fewer bubbles thanks to my extended mixing session but the ones that did appear popped quickly or could be gently rolled out with my roller. For the first time I was truly seeing a very smooth finish on the van and started to believe that this insane idea just might work. Finally the van was looking like it might one day look like a normal vehicle once again!

The down side is that I was painting painfully slowly. You get paint on and then you spend a good deal of time slowly working what you've applied ever so gently trying to get a smooth mirror-like finish. It is tedious and slow but I now believe in the method. I'll do anything to avoid another marathon wet sanding session that ends up destroying most of the paint that I spent hours applying. I can already tell though that this time I'm going to be able to jump up to something like 800 grit paper and I'm going to be able to keep most of this paint intact.

This brings us to the present. My plan going forward is to apply two complete coats of paint and then wet sand using 600-800 grit wet. While wet sanding I will also be washing the car to avoid any buildup. This is important because the resulting dust will be do fine that unless washed off it will almost adhere to the surface and will hurt the smoothness. I am estimating four coats until 90% of the surface has complete coverage. Alternating one weekend of sanding followed by one weekend of two painting coats I am looking at another month of work to get to a surface that may be ready for buffing and polishing. Man this job takes a long time...

The only other detail that I've left out is that I am contemplating a paint switch for the final few layers. There is a beautiful single stage polyurethane paint designed to be rolled on boat hulls called Interlux Brightside that I may switch to. This paint is designed to be salt and UV resistant and has amazing self-levelling properties. The catch is that it is more expensive than Rustoleum and I hear that it is also softer. So I'm thinking that I'll get a solid base done with the cheaper Rustoleum paint and then top it off with the Brightside. That will give me a very hard base that I can get nice and level that I can then top off with a beautiful UV resistant paint. I haven't made up my mind about that part yet though.

Finally one last thought, if you are doing this in the street in the city then prepare yourself for almost constant humiliation. When you see this job in process it looks like the person executing it is completely and totally insane. Looking at the paint go on it doesn't look like there is any hope what so ever of it every working out well. The van looks like a complete disaster and you're sitting out there painting a car with a roller. Basically you will look like an idiot and people will constantly call you out on it. I've just taken to telling people that I am applying a primer. Seriously you will look like you have no idea what you are doing and you will draw attention to yourself. Just be ready and hope that one day it will all come together and your van will once again look like a regular vehicle. Until that day just press on while quietly chewing on your humble pie.

I'm painting!

Yesterday I finally got in a full days work on the van for the first time in several weeks. I was able to finish sanding down the paint and did four different body repairs. It was my first time using body filler and I think I still have a lot to learn. Most of the filler I mixed ended up in the trash because I couldn't quite get the amount of hardener needed correct. Maybe this is just how it is supposed to be but I would get maybe a minute of usable filler. Anyway, I wouldn't say my panels are perfect but they are better than they were.

The most exciting news to me though is that I got primer rolled on the cab portion of the van. I decided against thinning it and just rolled it on straight from the can. I think it went fairly well but it is hard to tell until I wet sand it. If nothing else it was a really good learning experience and got me comfortable with the small high density foam roller and foam brush. I'm going to hold off on pictures a bit until I've got more of the work done but it is exciting to finally see some primer on my bus.