Typing 2 Ink - by Jim Bryant
Chapter Six: Beauty, No Matter What Color

Imagine your body massaged to the point where every curve is smooth, every angle is sharp.  Sunshine has left the skin warm to the touch.  Loving hands have rubbed the surface to perfection and worked out the kinks.  Magic liquids, applied in the right doses, have soaked in or evaporated accordingly and you're ready to lay down something beautiful to last forever.  Now, get your mind back to your bus.  It's time to apply the color coat.

In the last chapter I gave a few lessons in body preparation, right up to the final stage.  When I got to this point with my '67 deluxe, I was a little leery.  Sure, I could grind, fill, sand, and prime.  But did I have what it takes to go that final step?  My first answer was no.  I wanted this bus to look perfect.  Body shops have the place, materials and techniques to resurrect the sparkle that our German friends applied decades ago, right? If you can find a body shop that will work with you and finish the job you started, so much the better.  After explaining to several shops that I was ready for color coat and wanted a first-rate job, I'm still wondering why they weren't interested in my money.  Maybe they were just too busy with insurance claims.  I went back to my dusty barn and resolved to do it myself.

The whole point of my effort was restoration, not to make a fashion statement. Color choices?  That question was easy for me: Velvet Green and Pearl White. If you want your bus to be original, look behind the right front seat.  VW placed a sticker on the panel that separates the front cab from the rest of the vehicle.  That sticker lists paint codes.  It's a sticker, not a stamped plate, and paint codes start with L.  I have seen them painted over.  I have seen them missing.  If you don't have the sticker, color codes can be determined from the stamped plate also behind the right front seat.  If you want original color and can't find the number(s), take color sample(s) to your paint supplier and compare them to color charts. On one of my excursions to auto show/swap meets I thumbed through boxes of literature and located color chart pages for Volkswagen.  For $4 I came home with samples of VW colors with mixing codes.  Very handy.

With my color codes and lots of cash, the auto paint supplier had no problem meeting my needs.  Back in the barn, I had two gallons of Velvet Green, two gallons of Pearl White, five gallons of reducer, four cans of hardener and a couple of gallons of spray gun cleaner.  I also had dust, bugs, cat hair and leaves.  Recommendation one: contain the vehicle.  I bought a large roll of plastic visqueen and stapled it to the walls.  Remember to staple it to the ceiling too.  Paint fumes kill the spiders up there and they drop right on your freshly painted roof!  Recommendation two: hose down the floor, but avoid puddles.  Any dust in the air will settle on the wet floor and stay there.  Recommendation three: remember you have to breathe.  A good painting mask (NOT just a dust mask) and ventilation on the down wind side of the "booth" are a must.

You have the place.  You have the materials.  I assume you have a compressor and paint gun or you wouldn't be here.  Add plenty of light and as much ventilation around the booth as you can get.  Avoid anything that MIGHT cause combustion.  Don't forget the bus.  Parts that need to be painted fit into two categories: attached and loose.  Save the loose parts (bumpers, window frames, dash tray, etc.) for later.  When I disassembled my bus in the first place, it was obvious what was bolted together when VW painted it in '67.  Besides the basic body, just the doors (minus window frames) and rear hatch were attached.  Make sure they are all are adjusted correctly.  Lengthy articles can be written on door adjustment alone.  Get it right before you paint and your color coat will not be marred by subsequent door adjustment.  That leaves three additional subjects to address before you paint: cleaning, reaching, and masking.

Cleaning?  That's right, cleaning.  One more wipe down with solvent to remove any residue.  One more pass with the tack cloth.  If you did any sand blasting, one more pass with compressed air in the cracks and crevices and then one more pass with the vacuum.  Any sand you don't get out now will show up in your paint.  The worst spots I found were under the dash and in the engine compartment.

Applying the color coat can be particularly troublesome above the rain drip edge.  Whether you have a sunroof or not, a lot of sheet metal up there needs to be reached.  I fashioned a portable walk board about three feet off the floor and about six feet long that I could move around the bus with the paint gun.  Make sure to lay a good coat of paint along the drip channel.  Rust has a tendency to start in that channel if it's not well sealed.  Working from the top down allows you to make the top glisten before you move down to floor level.  It also keeps the compressor hose from damaging surfaces already painted.

My bus was totally gutted so there wasn't much to mask until I started with the second color.  If you are not going take everything out, cover everything up.  Masking is a pain that you might want to hurry through.  Don't be tempted.  It's easier to mask than to remove paint later.  Volkswagen painted the interior and top exterior color first in 1967.  Research of previous years uncovers various painting approaches.  The original masking lines are obvious when weather stripping is removed around the doors. That approach makes masking for the second color a much simpler task, but remember to mask the backside of holes in the body.  The front turn signals, for example, should be masked from the inside so the color you are spraying below the belt line doesn't go through the hole and mess up your interior.  The same is true of openings for door handles.

The best approach to masking is to start with a single strip of masking tape all the way around the belt line with fresh, new masking tape for good adhesion.  I used a flexible body filler spreader to press the tape down firmly along the edge.  Follow the straight lines down each side of the bus so the line is continuous through the body, rear hatch, side doors, and front doors.  After that line is good and straight, use masking paper to cover everything from that line up.

My experience was that two spots were particular problems: door hinges and the front nose. All doors and the rear hatch should be masked separately so they can be opened to paint the jambs.   The top hinges match the color above the belt line.  I masked them so the hinges were operable by covering the "pin" area with masking paper and tape on both sides of the hinge.  That way the door can be opened without ripping off the masking tape.

The second masking problem is the nose.  Use a narrow tape (1/4") that will stretch easily to match the curve of the big "V" on the front of the bus.  That three inch tight curve at the bottom of the "V" is the most difficult.  It's hard to get the tape to make a turn with that small a radius but it can be done.  Stand back and look at it from several feet away to see if both sides match.  If they don't look even, pull one side off and reapply.  There is a crease line in the sheet metal to follow as you mask, but it can be difficult to retain the proper curve.  It will pay off in appearance if you take your time.  After the 1/4" tape is perfect, follow with wider tape and use masking paper from that point up.