Pictures + Video of 1932 Ford Highboy Extreme Makeover
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Autogeek's Car of the Week!
Rick arrived around 8:30am in ...
Rick arrived around 8:30am in his hot rod 1932 Ford Highboy with a blown 502 Big Block Chevy Engine and it sounds great!
The sun was still low in the sky but I was able to get a few pictures that show the overall dull, hazy appearance the clear coat finish has plus the zig-zag pattern of swirls inflicted by a rotary buffer usually called Rotary Buffer Swirls, Holograms or Buffer Trails.
This is the "Finger Focus Trick" for helping your camera to focus on and capture the swirls in the paint by placing your finger onto the surface close to the area you want to photograph and by doing this you'll give your camera something to focus on and as a result you'll capture the swirls too and they'll be in focus. You can also place a quarter, or a piece of tape, or piece of detailing clay on the paint and accomplish the same thing.
The lines you see are the tale-tale sign that a rotary buffer has been improperly used.
Same thing, the vertical lines you see here is the trail or swirl pattern, or hologram that is left in the paint and it reflects the direction the buffer was being moved during the last passes.
Backing the 1932 Ford Highboy into Autogeek's Show Car Garage!
Pretty much every square inch of paint was thrashed, that is it had Tracers, Water Spots, Overspray, Buffer Swirls and Arc Scratches.
Re: Pictures + Video of 1932 Ford Highboy Extreme Makeover
Continued...
First we wiped the car clean using DP Rinseless Wash and then we felt the paint to inspect for above surface bonded contaminants and it pretty much felt like a light grade sandpaper; so we clayed using XMT Speed Clay.
We found that most of the panels had overspray on them including the glass, so Rick clayed the glass too...
If you look closely you can see a tint of purple and that's overspray on the car when components were painted to match the car later down the road after the car was sanded and buffed.
The Flex 3403 with a Griot's Garage 3" Polishing pad comes in so handy for working on thin panels and there were plenty of thin panels on this car to buff out.
Being very careful, it was possible to run the thin, Flex 3403 in-between the side of the grill and the headlight bucket.
We could even work on the hairpins for the front suspension...
Top of the frame rail needs a little amping up of the gloss...
The major panels were buffed using a Makita 9227C Rotary Buffer using a double sided wool cutting pad and XMT Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound. After this step a foam polishing pad with Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover was used to remove the compounding swirls left by the XMT #4 Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound. Note that XMT #4 Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound is a very, very aggressive compound and should only be used for serious correction work.
Jeff and Cory stopped by to help out... here's Jeff polishing the front wheels...
Here's Cory polishing out the rear wheels...
Here's the owner using a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher for the first time, in this picture he's using a 5.5" foam polishing pad with the Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover. After this Wolfgang Finishing Glaze was used to maximize gloss and clarity.
Re: Pictures + Video of 1932 Ford Highboy Extreme Makeover
Continued...
Next up it's time to put the frosting on the cake, that is maximize the gloss and shine while adding a coat of protection, for this we used the XMT Series High Gloss Carnauba Paste Wax.
I tackled the areas that could not be easily machine waxed...
Cory applies the paste wax using a soft blue Lake Country 5.5" foam finishing pad and Jeff uses a microfiber glove to hold the wax and apply it to the face of the foam pad.
We buffed out the hood separately and then after removing the covers off the engine and wiping it clean Rick and Cory re-installed the hood. Rick custom built many of the brackets for the hood and even for the blower and accessories.
Here's most of everything we used to restore the finish, Rick only sprayed 2 coats of clear so we didn't get all the Tracers out but came close, we did remove most if not all the swirls inflicted by the rotary buffer. Note the new 5" rotary buffer backing plate we recently obtained; it uses a fairly pliable foam cushion between the backing plate and the hook and loop attachment material which offers lots of flex for curved panels. I really like this pad for the rotary buffer.
Finished...
The Extreme Makeover Transformation Team
That's me on the left, then Rick the owner followed by Jeff and then Cory - Thanks guys, you all did great work!
Rick inspects the finish using the Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light
Re: Pictures + Video of 1932 Ford Highboy Extreme Makeover
Wow that thing is quick.... impressive!
I still haven't figured out how you aren't burning your hand grabbing the head of the polisher like you do. I know the 3403 doesn't get as hot as a 3401, but it still gets quite warm!
Re: Pictures + Video of 1932 Ford Highboy Extreme Makeover
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny Lil Detlr
I still haven't figured out how you aren't burning your hand grabbing the head of the polisher like you do. I know the 3403 doesn't get as hot as a 3401, but it still gets quite warm!
The head and the body of the 3403 will get quite warm under extended use with a larger pad, but on this project I used it with 3" pads and 5.5" pads. When using the 3" pads all the areas I used it on were small components or thin or small areas to be buffed, so it wasn't like I was running the tool like a person would buff out a major panels like a hood or door.
If you look at the Makita picture you'll see I also removed the Hoop Handle off of it for this project. It's just a personal preference but for most tools I don't use a handle as I prefer to hold the head of the polisher, plus the handle is always out of the way.
Re: Pictures + Video of 1932 Ford Highboy Extreme Makeover
Rick is a very talented machinist, fabricator and welder, he's one of those guys that has more talent in the tip of his pinkie that most people have in their entire person.
That said, he doesn't get on the Internet much and anyone reading this thread right now knows that one of the best ways to stay informed of new products, new pads, new tools is to be a member of a detailing discussion forum.
Suffice to say... I don't think he knew what to expect when he first arrived but like most car guys that go through our classes, after the class the are equipped with head knowledge and hands-on skills for creating a show car finish.
Rick's going to be getting a PC 7424XP, some foam pads and the Wolfgang Twins for some of his other car projects and to maintain the finish on his Highboy.
Just to note, I met Rick while he was displaying his Model A at a local Jupiter Car show just a few weeks ago. He didn't know me from Adam but after a few minutes of "Shop Talk", I invited him to bring his car to our facilities and that's how this Extreme Makeover started out and now has resulted in a happy hotrodder...
All original 1929 Ford Model A
The gentleman that owns this also just built a 1932 Ford Highboy with a 502 Big Block Chevy engine, look for his 32 Highboy in a future Show Car Garage event.
Sign-up for Mike Phillips's Detailing Boot Camp September 29th & 30th 
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