Lacquer Question

[Tom S]

How did they spray the jams with lacquer back in the day? Did they sand and buff, leave it dull or is there some other trick. I just did the inside inside of my trunk lid with it off the car and that was hard enough, it would be harder to do the jams with the doors on the car.

Tom S

[Len]

Tom
If you use a slow thinner and don't mix the material too thin you should end up with a gloss something like enamel. Allow a time for the coating to dry inbetween coats.

[Tom S]

Len,

What size tip should I be using with a gravity feed HVLP for the body and the jams?

Tom

[Phil V]

I'm not Len but a 1.3 or 1.4 should work fine with lacquer as long as you don't mix it to the consistency of molasses.

[Henry]

My autobody mentor had a shop where I had to visit every single day. One day I stopped and he said he got all the cars from 3 funeral homes and the job was to change all this iron from black to white LACQUER. What a pain this was.
Anyway, what he decided for all the jambs was to use white Centari AE. Yeah we had to be careful but it sure came out looking good. Did the same for one of the flower cars a Ford Ranchero. Bed paint with the AE and lac for the remainder. We sanded and buffed all the vehicles although lightly.
Learned tons of things from this guy. No air tools either. If you worked with him you learned by hand first; then some air tools.

[Tom S]

If you do the jams in enamel, wouldn't the lacquer have an adverse reaction where the lacquer met the enamel?

Tom

P.S. When I asked Len the second question I did not mean to exclude anyone else's answers, especially Phil V who has always given me great advise in the past.

[Phil V]

Tom, if acrylic enamel was used in the jambs etc it would work OK as long as the enamel had the hardener additive and was left to dry for at least a week.
Thinner won't readily eat into acrylic enamel if the enamel had the hardener added.

[Henry]

what he wants to do using lacquer?
I think if we were still in the lac days I would use the lacquer. The funeral cars we painted did come out great the way we did them though. Just curious. Thanks. Henry

[Tom S]

I am using lacquer because it is a '69 Pontiac that is a very bright red. Lacquer has a differant look in my opinion that I like better. The car is always in a heated garage and never out unless it is a nice day and then it's only for short periods of time so durability is not an issue.


Tom

[Len]

Lacquer is classified as a "trapped solvent" coating. When you spray this solvent rich material the surface dries quickly trapping the solvents below. This causes two adverse reactions that can be side stepped if you have the time to apply the materials properly.

1. Trapped solvents will eventually work themselves out of the paint and cause the paint to dull over and over again.

2. As the solvents escape over time it will also cause the surface tension to increase which can cause the lacquer to crack.

Since the lacquer is thin it's applied in several coats one after another until you have enough coverage to allow sanding and polishing. If you apply a couple of coats and allow it to dry then apply more material, allow to dry then apply more etc. etc. this will allow the solvents to escape without trapping as much in the deeper coats.

We usually apply three coats, allow to dry overnight then sand with 600 wet, apply three more coats a week later, allow to dry overnight then sand with 600 again, wait another week and apply three more coats, sand with 600 then allow it to dry for about two weeks to a month depending on the temperature. This results in a much more stable coating that doesn't dull back as much and isn't as likely to crack from increased surface tension.

[Tom S]

Thanks Len, you answered a question right before I asked it. I knew that I should not try and build to thick a film. I was alittle thin in one spot and did not know what grit to sand with before laying a few more coats.

If I decide to clear it with lacquer (which I might not do since it might not give the look I'm trying for) what grit on the last coat of color?

Tom

[Kustomdog]

You cant PILE it on.Ive seen beutiful lacquer jobs that held up for yearsbut they were done right.I worked on a 55 chevy black lac 3 coats let dry 3 days then wet- sand 600 grit 3 more coats let dry 5 days wet sand 600 grit etc did this till 12 coats were applied then let dry for a month.WE wet- sanded with 600 grit(thats the finest they had back in the 60s and buffed out with compound.That guy drove that 55 summer months only for 20 years and no cracking or die- back .But today i use only urethanes there pretty close to lacquer gloss and much less work,plus today i think the lacquer is lead-free so i think its chancey.mike