Trunk Painting and Detail

[71vert340]

 This is for my 74 Charger Rallye I'm getting ready to paint. This is a driver, not a restoration. I'm wet sanding the trunk floor, wheel wells, etc. to get it ready for painting. How much would you guys do in preparation work for this car. I see many show cars where the trunk area is perfect but covered with a trunk mat. The spot welds are rough and sharp. The original paint in there was not the best job from the factory and the seam sealer is dripped all over. We probably won't show this car except locally for my grandson who is helping with it. B5 blue. I've wet sanded the body to 500 but can only see doing this to 250. This is the worst place to prep as I hate crawling into and sanding in the trunk. There's no rust, just scratches and chipped paint. I'm thinking of using single stage acrylic enamel in there instead of the base/clear I'm using on the body. I'm open to suggestions, recommendations and insights. Thanks.
Terry

[Mrbill426]

I am no body and paint guy but as you said it's not for show and will be covered by a mat.  I would focus on being sure it is well and permanently sealed from the outside and prep the surface as  recommended by your single stage paint's manufacture.  If you are wet sanding be dang sure it is bone dry first.

This is for my 74 Charger Rallye I'm getting ready to paint. This is a driver, not a restoration. I'm wet sanding the trunk floor, wheel wells, etc. to get it ready for painting. How much would you guys do in preparation work for this car. I see many show cars where the trunk area is perfect but covered with a trunk mat. The spot welds are rough and sharp. The original paint in there was not the best job from the factory and the seam sealer is dripped all over. We probably won't show this car except locally for my grandson who is helping with it. B5 blue. I've wet sanded the body to 500 but can only see doing this to 250. This is the worst place to prep as I hate crawling into and sanding in the trunk. There's no rust, just scratches and chipped paint. I'm thinking of using single stage acrylic enamel in there instead of the base/clear I'm using on the body. I'm open to suggestions, recommendations and insights. Thanks.
Terry

[71vert340]

  If my 14 year old grandson was home this week instead of at his father's house, he'd be doing the sanding. He is looking forward to driving this car when he gets his license. I'm going on 68 years old and too old to be climbing in and out of a trunk. It's raining today and I'm really bored so I thought I'd tackle it.
Terry

[71vert340]

 All sanded.
Terry

[Shane Kelley]

I found this idea really made life better priming and painting in the trunk. For people who have painted inside the trunk know everything blows back at you and it's really hard to see what your doing. I used a piece of cardboard and made a baffle then taped in place. Cut a hole and taped in a piece of 12" flex duct and ran it to the exhaust system in the booth. Some type of fan would work as well.

[anlauto]

Wow Shane, that's beautiful    NOT overkill at all...

[Mrbill426]

I like it! 

Wow Shane, that's beautiful    NOT overkill at all...

[71vert340]

 Well Shane, that trunk is certainly painted better than the cars ever came from the factory with. I do have a fan setup like yours I could use. It moves 1650 cfm and uses a 12" duct hose. When I paint a whole car, I usually set up one as a supply fan and another at the other end as an exhaust fan.  Interesting.
Thanks.
Terry

[7E-Bodies]

Great idea, Shane! I have just the setup to do that myself. That'll definitely make it a nicer job, and with a little ingenuity, the cardboard panel could be reversed for painting the cockpit.

Kevin 

[Mopar5]

I found this idea really made life better priming and painting in the trunk. For people who have painted inside the trunk know everything blows back at you and it's really hard to see what your doing. I used a piece of cardboard and made a baffle then taped in place. Cut a hole and taped in a piece of 12" flex duct and ran it to the exhaust system in the booth. Some type of fan would work as well.

Awesome ! I did exactly the same thing made painting a lot easier. Mike

[Mopar5]

I just don't have the luxury of a booth so I hooked up 12 inch flex duct to a 2000 CFM negative air machine that is typically used for  abatement

[dodj]

I found this idea really made life better priming and painting in the trunk. For people who have painted inside the trunk know everything blows back at you and it's really hard to see what your doing. I used a piece of cardboard and made a baffle then taped in place. Cut a hole and taped in a piece of 12" flex duct and ran it to the exhaust system in the booth. Some type of fan would work as well.

Wow...just wow. 
Not gonna cover that up with a mat are you? Maybe buy a clear poly-carbonate trunk lid?

[headejm]

I now have a bad case of trunk envy. 

[Mr Lee]

Thats a driver?!  You could eat off that floor.  Looks awesome.


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[71vert340]

 Well, here's the end result. It took about an hour to spray 2 color coats and two clear coats in the trunk and the panel behind the bumper on the Charger. I only had about 3 pieces of grit blow out from crevices in to the clear so, not too bad. My 14 year old grandson really wanted to shoot the bc/cc. I had him practice on an old hood I had prepped to show him the technique. He was in a hurry to start on the car. He asked me to start it so I shot half the trunk in about 5 minutes. He then took over and was way too slow for the settings I had the gun at. He did okay for a first timer. Yes, he got a few runs and sags, but hey, it's the trunk and I fixed them. He found it very hard to wear the cartridge respirator, the Tyvek suit and hood and eye protection. I had my exhaust fan sucking the air out of the trunk. He was soaked in sweat by the time we finished. I asked if he was going to help with the whole car at a later date. No answer. He learned how intensive it is. See the pics.