1966 Pontiac Lemans Show Car, Full Sanding and Polishing

**imported_JoshVette** · 07-28-2008, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by BoostedMopar

great work! I like working with the M105, its a pretty good all around product.

Again great work

Yes, M105 keeps surprising me, it`s seems to be extremely versitale and solely depends on the type of pad being used.

I find with a wool cutting pad it`s a great heavy cutting compound that finishes down with minimal holograms.

But with a white LC pad I find it`s works about as good as Menz SIP but faster.

I`m very happy with it.

Josh

**imported_JoshVette** · 07-28-2008, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by zoomzoom mazda5

Josh you out did yourself on this stunning write-up and full correction on the Lemans, it must be great to work a fine piece of history and to bring it to a true Autopian way of doing a outstanding job. I`m blow away by looking at your write-up and photo`s. Even my laptop took forever to down load this posting from you, but it was well worth it! BRAVO JOSH!...........:usa

Thanks, I wanted to spend more time on it, but as in most cases there`s a little thing called a budget that most clients have to opperate with so I knew I couldn`t just take my time with it ......

**imported_JoshVette** · 07-28-2008, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by Mid-Life Cruiser

Wow, I can`t believe the difference. The first car I ever bought was a 1966 Tempest. It was a VERY PLAIN 4-door sedan with an overhead cam 6, automatic transmission, am radio, and no carpet (rubber flooring). My paint never looked like that!

Thanks, well a lot of the credit has to go to the painter for doing a great job painting as well as per my instruction sanding it over multiple times to finish it down with little to no orange peel or ripple in the paint.

For a 70 year old painter and sander, it was one of the best paint finishes I`ve worked on.

Josh

**Envious Eric** · 07-28-2008, 05:56 PM

Josh, couple questions....

1 - why not use air sanders on this beast...seems like it would have gone faster had they used one (keep in mind I have only spot sanded, and never sanded an entire car, so I am just curious as to why)

2 - I know you wanted to use the menzerna lubes, but didnt find that out til after you tried it, so how come you didnt try to use two rounds of M105, one straight up, and one mixed with a little OP or the like? I realize you mention PG longer working time, but with a little polish mixed in, maybe a better finish after round one of polishing? or is that not the case?

- "Amazing detail" -

**imported_JoshVette** · 07-28-2008, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by toyotaguy

Josh, couple questions....

1 - why not use air sanders on this beast...seems like it would have gone faster had they used one (keep in mind I have only spot sanded, and never sanded an entire car, so I am just curious as to why)

2 - I know you wanted to use the menzerna lubes, but didnt find that out til after you tried it, so how come you didnt try to use two rounds of M105, one straight up, and one mixed with a little OP or the like? I realize you mention PG longer working time, but with a little polish mixed in, maybe a better finish after round one of polishing? or is that not the case?

- "Amazing detail" -

Good questions.

1 I talked with the owner about using air sanders as he had them in his possesion to use, and he did use one on the hood with 1500 grit to get out some nasty parts, but I don`t think he`s ever used it before on finished paint, only on the primer and such so he didn`t want to take any chances.

The total hand rubbing only took about 24 hours total, and I`m honestly not sure how much faster it would have been with the air sanders.....??

2 The way I saw it was, after testing, I figured either way I was going to have to cut it twice with a heavy cut compound to really get under the sanding marks since just one pass with either was not getting it to the point where I wanted it.

I did a test with two shots of M105 (didn`t write about it since I didn`t think it relavant and can only document so much) and figured since I was going to have to cut it twice anyway I might as well use one that cuts a little deeper and then one that cuts cleaner to finish it off and hope that it would eat up all the sanding marks and leave a nice finish with minimal holograms and it did.

The truth is, there was probably about 3 different combinations I could have used to get it perfect, but I needed the one the cut the deepest and cleanest the fastest as time was a little bit of a factor in this job. Otherwise I could have polished each panel out about 4-5 times to get it where I wanted it, but I found the PG and M105 did that same work in half the time.

Hope that answer your question??

Josh

**somebody** · 07-28-2008, 06:46 PM

Great Job Josh and that guy did a great job on the body work. I may have to look into getting some 105 and trying it out. And I love how he retrofitted a modern day lt1 into the engine bay.

-Brandon

**steck** · 07-28-2008, 06:55 PM

looks great.

seems like a real `kudos` to meguiars 105 (again).

sitting here wondering what #80 woulda looked like (instead of the FPII) !!

regardless, top notch work

**imported_rydawg** · 07-28-2008, 06:59 PM

Superb write up Josh and love the pics! That is an amazing job on an amazing car.

I know it is tough when a person has a budget and you have to put together a process to meet the guidelines. You did an amazing job on doing it all within budget... Bravo!

**imported_Moutee** · 07-28-2008, 07:07 PM

Great writeup, Josh. I found myself writing down your process for working in each of the polishes so I can use it for reference on my next detail. Thank you and keep up the good work!

**imaj** · 07-28-2008, 07:19 PM

Josh...Incredible work! I would love to swing by one day and see how you work that Makita. Let me know if that is something you would entertain. Yes, I am the same imaj from 6 speed.

**imported_Dave1** · 07-28-2008, 07:22 PM

Awesome stuff Josh......:xyxthumbs

Your story book threads with pictures and instruction are top of the line. The product side by sides were very informative and my favorite....

Total professional service.......

Maybe next time, with that much correction and documentation, see if you can get some paint thickness readings as you go along. It would be interesting to know how many mills a correction like that will remove......

Again, great work.....Keep it up......:xyxthumbs

**Scottwax** · 07-28-2008, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by JoshVette

However the lubes in the M105 hide them just a tiny bit as well, since I reinspected the trunk lid the following day to find significant holograms that I could not see directly after polishing it the day before under the hologens.

I`ve found a couple things regarding that. First, the sun is absolutely the best hologram finder and two, the sun also does a good job evaporating the polishing oils, especially this time of year. A few months ago, I was using DACP on a black car and it looked perfect right after polishing. 5 minutes later, the polishing oils were gone and I could see the light holograms left behind.

**imported_JoshVette** · 07-28-2008, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by lt1_man

Great Job Josh and that guy did a great job on the body work. I may have to look into getting some 105 and trying it out. And I love how he retrofitted a modern day lt1 into the engine bay.

-Brandon

Thanks, he was going to put an LS1 in there but he`d have to change and motor mounts so he stuck with the LT1 since it fit better....

**imported_JoshVette** · 07-28-2008, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by steck

looks great.

seems like a real `kudos` to meguiars 105 (again).

sitting here wondering what #80 woulda looked like (instead of the FPII) !!

regardless, top notch work

Thanks, yea like I said there is probably about 3-5 different combos` that would have worked on this car, but I had to get it done quick and use what I have.

Thanks again for the kind words.

Josh

**imported_JoshVette** · 07-28-2008, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by rydawg

Superb write up Josh and love the pics! That is an amazing job on an amazing car.

I know it is tough when a person has a budget and you have to put together a process to meet the guidelines. You did an amazing job on doing it all within budget... Bravo!

Thanks Ryan. I hate working within a budget, it`s never really spoken, you just kind of know what they`re willing to spend and try to make it work so that everyone is happy.

It did turn out nicely and the owner told me in the 40+ years he`s been painting cars as a hobby he`s never seen a "rub out" done so well or so long. I think he deserves more credit then me though for doing a kick butt sanding job.

Josh