Re: [DML] Re graining our car

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxx>]

> You say you do small areas
> at a time do you go back and forthabout four or more
> strokes, or is it one swipe of it in each area?

I hate those typos that change the meaning. I meant to say "Touch & Go".
For the hand sanding technique, use 80 grit on a rubber block meant for
sanding cars. Carefully place the pad on the car without rubbing. Then
press hard and lift off in one short stroke. This process is painfully slow
for large areas. The deeper the scratch you are trying to remove, the more
passes it will take. I only sand in one direction like stroking a cat.
Same with the belt sander. For the bend just above the door molding, I
wrapped the paper around my thumb and did short strokes down the length of
the door. Long strokes are bad because they show up as long wavy lines.
The abrasive particles dig deeper and wider the farther you push it. It is
impossible to get each stroke perfectly straight, but an average of many
short strokes looks great.

I used the belt sander technique on my door after converting my '81 door
lock to an '82 and removing a dent below the trim caused by an OEM window
regulator. I re-grained most of my drivers door using a belt sander, and
the results were excellent. But I would hate to do an entire car this way.
Belt sanders are heavy, and mine was hard to get into even the slightest
curves. The rollers on my belt sander are not perfectly round, so sanding
with these parts put cupping gouges in my test metal. The sponge I used
under the platen was actually self-adhesive foam weather stripping that was
1" wide by 1/2" thick. The thicker the better because this will give you
more clearance to keep the rollers away from the car. I used several
pieces side-by-side. My sander is variable speed, and I prefer an
intermediate setting. Again, practice on some scrap first. Mistakes could
make the stainless very thin very fast. My practice sheet of metal was
stainless steel. If you use regular steel to practice on, then I suggest
switching to a new belt before touching the car. Contaminants might
transfer and rust the stainless. My hood has damage from steel wool done by
a pervious owner. It isn't really obvious except at DeLorean shows where
people know what to look for. It has tiny rust speck stains that got worse
and now seem to be wearing off. I suppose the best way to fix it is to
regrain, but I have too many more vital things to fix on the car.

If you sand close to any of the glass, cut out a piece of cardboard to fit
the window to protect it incase you slip. Also, the abrasive dust that
comes off the sandpaper can scratch the glass. Be careful when you wipe it
off. It is best to use compressed air so you don't rub it in. Also be very
careful of anything that settles on the windshield wipers. If you forget to
remove the dust, then the wipers can scratch the windshield. Don't let any
dust fall between the roll- down window and the exterior glass/wiper gasket.
Underneath stuck inside the door are pieces of velcro fuzz to pad the glass.
If any abrasive sticks in that, it may scratch the side window, too.

Walt