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one thing I am puzzled by. why are the cutouts on the sides of the trunk brace not matching? they are not mirror of each other while the middle section is. wonder why Packard did that.

Never paid any attention to that. 56 senior is a different outer sheet metal and is slightly different with the openings but still asymmetrical like yours.

henry,

how humid is it ?.. that might be playing apart.

its usually always humid around here. i took the fender i first did and stuck it in my spare room in the house. its getting better and better. i can rub my hand across it now without it sticking. its just taking a very long time to really harden. which is fine. no rush.

last night i cleaned and put linseed on the top of the trunk lid.

its already pretty tacky this morning.

gonna be hitting the triple digits by the end of the week, so should help.

thumbs up....but ignore the white legs and the grandpa brown house shoes and white wife beater A-frame. classy i know!

Hank

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well you guys can forget that trunk lid looking that smooth. it had some runs in it yesterday...so i sprayed another light coat on it and it helped smooth it out. it was tacky to the touch so i figured another coat wouldn't hurt.

well i woke up this morning to what looked like a firework or runs all down the top of the trunk lid. it looks like total shit.

this BLO is flipping pita to spray over any painted surface on this car.

it doesn't soak in for shit and just runs all over the place.

i have my spray gun set to the very lowest setting, so it just must be me or the gun that just super sucks.

if i put it on with a rag it just leaves streak marks, which is unacceptable too.

Stephen, decent idea...but i gotta figure something else out.

and now i gotta figure out how to get all this shitty looking runs off of a product that only comes off with mineral spirits without damaging the painted surface underneath.

i seriously doubt that wet sanding will do it....it'll just clump up like some petroleum rubber product when i rub it.
i may have to wait weeks on end to do it and see what happens.


so i'm moving in a different direction, i'm going to spray only the inner surfaces and let the body man spray all the outside in just clear. fuck it.

for preserving the patina....just get a rag and rub it in super light, i mean so freaking light that you don't even think its even going on. then just spray the inner parts cause nobody will see those. screw spraying it.

i'm about ready to win the lottery and just send this mfer off to someone to finish the whole damn thing.

yup i'm pissy...get over it guys...its a good place to vent besides outward infront of my family.

Hank

Hank -

From many years ago, I recall linseed oil being used by hunters to refinish their gun stocks, but I only recently had opportunity to play around with BLO myself, in a woodworking project. It took several applications to build up a satisfactory gloss to the sanded red oak test piece, but the BLO really brought out the grain. Yet, it didn't appear to work so well over stain, and I ended up using a wipe-on tung oil finish for that project.

Still, I used BLO to dress up the worn wooden handles on some garden tools, and it dried quickly and blended in nicely. However, I made it a point to wipe off any excess after the time specified - that is, that which did not soak in, especially over areas still covered with their original finish. Though I've seen where BLO is recommended as an off-season rust preventative for the iron/steel parts of same tools, I haven't used it in that way myself, but intend to.

I have a good feeling that the properties of linseed oil help it penetrate, bind to, and seal rusty metal, but I don't think it was ever intended, alone, as a topcoat/clearcoat over existing finishes.

Can't reallly offer any advice WRT removal of the BLO without damaging the nitro finish - perhaps a call to the manufacturer will help.

i think my only option is ot wait a couple month for it to really harden and then wet sand it and hope it works. if not i'm screwed on this patina thing.

i wonder if i go light on the mineral spirits if i can succeed in smoothing out the BLO without damaging the paint under it.

talked to TX house of hotrods in mansfield just now.

he says he doesn't think painting over the BLO will be a good idea for long term adhesion.

i'm going to load up a fender i already did and show him the spot that i painted over with clear from a can and we can talk about it more then.

he said he would probably have to soak it really good in hot water and soap and then use degreasers and scuffing to get the BLO ready to be painted over.

i'm giving up and i'm just gonna take the whole car in and have them do the repair work and painting.

he said 1500 for clearing it.....i'm guessing a bit more to fix what i fucked up and clean it all up for paint.

body and paint work is obviously not my thing and i have run out of patience.

i'll update when i know more.

Hank:

Body work and car painting really is an art and takes a lot of time to perfect. Before he undertook doing the body work and painting on his 1969 Alfa Romeo Duetto, my brother practices for several weeks on a junked car fender. He'd rip a gash into the fender, then welded the seam and sanded it until it was smooth to the touch. Then he'd take a hammer a beat a big dent into the fender and learned how to pull it out, fill it, and sand it down. The real fun started when he tried his hand at painting. The same went with me, but I finally gave up. But not James ... he finally got it right and proceeded to spray several coats of Ferrari red lacquer on the Alfa, which looks simply incredible.

My point here is to try to do the best that you can, but realize that anyone who is any good at body work/painting has been doing these things for a long time. While if you take your time and follow the manuals you should be able to rebuild your engine or suspension, manuals are not going to help you one iota when it comes to painting.

While continually beating your head against a wall may eventually result in putting it through to the other side, it will be an extremely unpleasant undertaking. Sometimes you have to acknowledge that you need some help and in the case of body work and painting, you may need to call in the pros.