Our 1971 Dodge Demon project car started out as a back-halved roller we found on Craigslist in 2011, and we have been adding power and deleting weight to make it faster, easier on parts, and overall more fun to look at ever since. For giggly speed, JMS Racing Engines helped us with the twin-turbo Hemi. For epic paint, Danny from Elite Restoration added the Blue Fire base, then The Harpoon, from SoCal, added the killer 1960s-era graphics. Mike at Bullet Fab constructed the bumper mounts and fiberglassed them in place, and in the process, drilled some holes in our temporary, silver, rattle-can paint job. Now is the time to fix that. Danny from Elite shows us how.
To get these bumpers to look great and be durable, a two-stage or basecoat-clearcoat paint system was used. The color is Kosmic Krome silver, an effect paint that can be used with other colors or for small jobs like this one as a base.
Like all paint jobs, beauty comes from the proper use of primer and sandpaper. The bumpers were primed with A-Chromatic LV Sealer, then sanded with 320-grit paper, resealed, and sanded again with 400- then 600-grit paper to take out the scratches.
After cleaning the sealer with a tack cloth, the House of Kolor Kosmic Krome Mirror Effect paint was sprayed using a fine tip on a SATA Jet 3000 paint gun. Any scratches left after this stage will appear under the clearcoat.
The clearcoat was applied using an Iwata gun with a clearcoat tip (usually 1.2 or finer). The more clear that’s added, the tougher the finish.
After the clearcoat dried, the bumpers were wet-sanded with 1,500- and 2,000-grit paper to get rid of any orange peel.
Cutting and buffing the clear was the last step. Rubbing compound was applied using a wool pad on a rotary buffer.
The final step was to apply machine polish using a foam polishing pad.
