Adding Color

I took my friend, Victor's advice to sand down the surface rust that is on the Pantera and to seal it with Rustoleum. He suggested that I mix the Rustoleum 50/50 with Lacquer Thiner. This mixture sprayed really well.

I began the day by sanding down the top and rear boot. I want' interested in taking the entire thing down to metal, just wanted to concentrate on the spots that I knew were problem areas (like in the middle of the roof). Here's before shots.

I used 120 grit paper on a Random Orbital sander to take down the primer where it needed to be removed. I was able to easily remove the surface rust and carefully look for any other damaged areas that needed immediate attention. Here's what it looked like sanded.

Then I pulled out my spray gun, hooked her up to the compressor and sprayed a 20oz or so of Black Gloss Rustoleum cut 50/50 with lacquer thinner. The extra paint I had I used to put a quick coat on the inside floor pans and will continue to do this as I tackle additional panels in the near future. What I like about this paint is that I get to see how the Pantera might look in all black - a color I'm thinking I want the final product to be. Here's where I stopped today. 

Nice part about the gloss paint is that you can see the spots that need some additional attention (dents and high spots) that weren't visible in the primer.