Bodyprep Kirkham - How hard is the sanding ???

[RodKnock]

I have to laugh. Picturing Mr. Ellison actually talking with the DMV clerk behind the counter seems, I don't know, twilight zone-ish.

[KM480]

Well I don't doubt that the craftsmen at Kirkham would accomplish the job quicker and better than I could ever hope, everything I have seen of their operation is top notch...but unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on your perspective) I don't see clients or patients to earn my money... Just a blue collar fireman that scrimped and saved his lunch money to make his dream come true and own the most amazing, beautiful and finely crafted automobile he could imagine. (I'm still scraping together the cash to get my stainless sidepipes)
So I plan on taking my time and enjoying the process...I didn't expect to own an aluminum Cobra until retirement IF EVER...and since retirement is 20+ years away, I have the time.

[David Kirkham]

KM480,

You might be surprised at how well you can do. Like I said above, Pat Buckley's car surprised us and helped us to raise the bar.

NOTHING wrong with being a fireman scraping pennies. We (well, most of us) have all been there. Sometimes I wonder if I am STILL there!

David

[franklin]

KM480,
David is right it can be done and it does take a lot of time. I am currently in the process of polishing one of their cars and I believe I have been working on it since May or June can't really remember when I began. I also haven't kept track of my time. Anyway it does take a lot of time and a lot of patience. If you can supply both of those and if you are picky I think you can do it. I live here close to the Kirkhams and that has helped in getting verbal help when it has been needed. I have made some mistakes and have also found some very minor flaws, but being close to them has helped in those situations. If you have someone who can help you in those situations then I would say go for it. You can look in my gallery of pictures to see different sanding stages I have been through. You are welcome to email me if you have any other questions.
Todd (aka "the tin man")

[xlr8or]

The easiest way to find the time and patients to do it is have your mother in law move in with you. You will have no problem finding time to spend in the garage becoming the "Tin Man"

[Blu427]

Hi,

I have looked through the information on the Kirkham website and the detail explains using the hand method with 80 grit then 120 grit to achive the grain finish .Then using a DA rotory/wobble use 320 ,600,800,1000 grit to a mirror finish . Five steps in total.
The question is can you use the DA from the start because I would want the polished finish? This would take a lot of manual hand work out with the 80 and 120 grit .

Cheers

[Joe@KMS]

Blu427,

If you want to get to the polished look you use machine sanding (6" DA) and the buffer. You may want to manually sand the door, trunk and engine bay jams.

To polish you will start with 120 grit and then progress through 220, 320, 400, 600 and 800. Then you will start with the wool buffing pad on a rotary buffer and the polishing compound. I believe the pad is 8". You should get a buffer that you can vary the speed on from somewhere around or below 1,000 rpm on up.

We used Mothers Aluminum and Mag polish in the past but we have changed to Nuvite. The stuff works much better. You start with F9, then F7 and then S grades of Nuvite. Make sure that everything is absolutely clean between each step.

For a brushed finish you start with 120, then move through 220 and 320 with the DA and then start the manual sanding to give it the brushed look.

Let me know if you need more info.

Joe

[nmayes]

Joe

We are also in the process of polishing our car. Where do you buy the Nuvite polish? What steps do you go through in polishing your stainless side-pipes.

Neil

[Joe@KMS]

Neil,

www.perfectpolish.com for Nuvite.

For the side pipes we use a big buffing wheel and polishing rouge.

Joe

[trs900]

IMO... it would be a shame to paint a Kirkham as they have such a unique look that is unbeatable with most other cars..I like the brushed with polished stripes

[RodKnock]

Joe,

if you just wanted to touch up the polished finish every now and then, would you just buy the micro fiber towels and the Nuvite fine polish and rub by hand?

[Joe@KMS]

RodKnock,

If you get light scratches you can use the Nuvite S polish and a soft cotton towel and buff it by hand. The microfiber towels tend to leave a pattern that you can see when used with the polish. For light dusting and cleanup you can use the microfiber towels.

For cleaning bug splats, oil and grime off the polished finish you can use Nu-Image found at the bottom of this page:

http://www.perfectpolish.com/Nuvite.htm

Joe

[brettco]

I could do it for a lot less than $8000.00. I could paint one for less than $8000.00. Anyone want to bring their kirkham to Ia?

[Blu427]

Joe ,

Thanks for the very useful information . I am sure a lot of the guy's see the time involved as a the major issue. When using this method would it take the full 300 hours as I was not clear on what stages take most of the time?

Six steps with grit 120,220,320 ,400,600 & 800

Three steps :Buffing compound with Nuvite, F9 ,F7 & S

STAND BACK AND ADMIRE YOUR HARD WORK!!!

Cheers

[franklin]

I'm polishing/building my own, but If I wasn't as close as I am to the Kirkhams then I would probably pay to have them do it. It has been time consuming, and I am still working on it, but I hope to have the polishing done early this spring to start into the build process.

[Joe@KMS]

Blu427,

Sounds pretty easy when you break it down into the 9 simple steps eh???

It is mostly just a lot of time. The first grit of sandpaper is the most important. This is where you remove all of the file marks from the body and you can not rush this step. The 120 grit is aggressive enough that you can do some damage to your car in a hurry if you are not paying attention. (Nothing ruins your day like grinding a hole in your new aluminum body) The reason it takes most guys so much time is that they do not have the experience with bodywork/aluminum finishing. They get through with the first couple of grits and think they are making headway and THEN they start to see deep scratches that should have been taken out with the 120 and they have to go back over these areas and progress up through the steps of paper again. Once you get the big scratches out, with each progressive step of paper you just have to remove the "scratches" from the previous grit of paper. The other thing to keep in mind is that you are not just removing the scratches, that would be easy. If you were just getting rid of the scratches you can tip the sander up on edge and just blend them in. You have to be very careful to "feather" the scratch out into the panel so that you do not end up with a big wavy mirror.

Is it doable by someone who is conscientious and has the time? Yes. Have we had half finished projects come back to Provo for repair and completion? Yes.

Brettco,

Yes, you could do it for less and we have had customers do it for the cost of materials and their time. I have polished and brushed several cars and after paying for materials, electricity, shop space, taxes and then paying yourself and paying more taxes, I think it would be a tough way to make a living.

[RodKnock]

If you have talent and time, then do it yourself. However, if you don't have talent or the time, or in my case you don't have both, then let the Kirkhams do it.

Also, I remember installing insulation in my house. If sanding aluminum is anything like installing insulation, think particles everywhere, then that's another reason to have the Kirkhams do it.

[big-boss]

I did it, I do not think it is as hard as I was told it was. I hit it with an Air DA w/ 80 grit then 180 then I knocked off the little fins with 500 grit and got what I wanted. It was not bad.

[PatBuckley]

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

KM480,

You might be surprised at how well you can do. Like I said above, Pat Buckley's car surprised us and helped us to raise the bar.

NOTHING wrong with being a fireman scraping pennies. We (well, most of us) have all been there. Sometimes I wonder if I am STILL there!

David

Thank you for the kind comments.

It took a lot of work and, unfortunately, very few people had done this before so it was learn as I went kind of proposition.

One thing I can't recall anyone saying is that the final sanding steps - from maybe 800 through 1500 - should be done wet.

[Bill Wallace]

I tool delivery of kmp 557 in late February. I had Kirkham sand it to the 320 grit level. I removed the lights, windshield, hood trunk doors and hardware in around 8 hours with normal hand tools (This was fortunate as I found a handful of bolts had not been thoroughly tightened). I then took it through 600/800/1000 grit steps with a DA sander in about 32 hours. Joe recommended a fairly healthy compressor for that step but I used my old Sears Craftsman 2.5 hp with a 20 gal. tank and it survived the ordeal with no apparent damage.

Last Sunday I spent around 4 hours with the buffer and f9 grade of Nuvite that Joe recommends to polish over half the body. It was much easier to achieve a mirror finish with just one pass of the buffer than I thought it would be.

Before starting the sanding steps I briefly played around with fine scotch brite and found that it is very easy to achieve the brushed look with only light effort. The hardest part of this, as Kirkham's site suggests, is to keep the hand sanding strokes straight as your arm and wrist tends to move in an arc towards the end of a sanding stroke.