Dad's unexpected mini-project (07 Focus vs. deer)

It's never fun to get that unexpected phone call from a crying kid. A couple of weeks ago, early on a Thursday morning, my daughter called me, mostly incoherent, but I was able to discern that she had hit a deer, that she was unhurt, and that she was right up the road from the house on her way to school. Went over there, and her 07 Focus was looking pretty bashed up, but driveable, and a good-sized doe laying in the middle of the road. Got the car home, she composed herself and I drove her to school.

This is what we had:

So, the door, fender, headlight and bumper cover are all pretty trashed, and the fender liner was rubbing on the tire, but it did drive OK other than that. Hood was dented but intact. Looks like the deer hit the side and swung into the front.

Disassembly was easier than I thought it would be.

I've been fighting surface rust on the bottom edge of the fender since we bought the car a couple of years ago. As usual, there's more rust that you can't see once you get the part off:

And of course the leading end of the rocker panel wasn't too pretty, either:

Cleaned up the loose rust and hit it with some POR-15:

Oh, deer.

 someone was gonna do it.

Did you have the venison processed?

So, I needed parts. One nice thing about a first-gen Focus is that there's plenty of aftermarket. Places like Amazon, eBay, and Rockauto have new repro body parts for cheap. So I ordered the bumper cover, fender, and fender liner, as well as a new headlight and fog light bracket.

But the door is a different matter. I needed the whole assembly with the mirror, window, motors and electrics, etc. So, that meant a trip to the pick-and-pull. It's been years since I've been to one, honestly. I packed every tool I thought I'd need, loaded it all in the Expedition, and headed out. Found a few good candidate Foci, went to remove the door, and discovered that I'd forgotten the torx bit I needed for one bolt. Went back and forth to the trailer a few times trying to find something that would work before I remembered the cheap little toolkit I keep in the Expedition. Lo and behold, it had the right bit. Door removed and on it's way:

Looks clean, doesn't it? Pretty amazing, as the donor car is an 03 and this is Michigan, after all. Well, guess what? When I got it home and removed the rubber weatherstrip on the bottom, I found this:

Of course. So, I hit that with POR-15 as well.

Next, time for paint!

I've never painted a car before. I've done a ton of rattle-can work, I'm a detailing nerd who actually enjoys buffing and cleaning paint, but I've never actually laid down a coat of paint. Now, this is a cheap car for a high school kid, and the factory paint is less than great at this point, so I decided to do this the cheap/easy way.

First step was prep. For the door, I cleaned it with an APC, wiped it down with mineral spirits, and block-sanded it to rough up the factory paint. Here it is, masked off and ready to go:

Aftermarket bumper cover all prepped:

But what paint? For this job, I chose Duplicolor Paint Shop:

It's cheap, it doesn't require pre-mixing, and I can get it at any auto parts store. Applied with the famous Harbor Freight $15 HVLP purple gun:

I did three coats of color and four of clear. The results were... mixed at best:

Really bad orange peel, as you can see. I think most of that was because I didn't have a proper pressure regulator, so I was using the one built into the gun and basically guessing. Also, it was about 40 degrees, and the paint wants it to be at least 60, but there wasn't much I could do about that. Maybe in the spring I'll try and wetsand it and buff it out some, but I don't know, it might just have to be good enough. At least she doesn't have to drive around with a red door.

As for the paint itself, I'd say you get what you pay for. It's so soft I think I could honestly scratch it with a fingernail. Better than nothing, but I suspect that it's just rattle can paint in a regular can. I wouldn't use it again. by the time you do all the prep and masking, it's not worth it to use cheap paint, IMO.

Finished product. Everything works, the door fits well, so that's all good. The hood gap is quite considerable, as the hood was more tweaked than I thought it was. I did my best to twist it back into shape, but it is what it is. All in, it cost $440, which is not too bad, IMO. I was lucky that there was no structural damage, the car still drives straight, isn't making any weird noises, and the safety structure wasn't compromised. Cosmetically, it's about a 15-footer, but she has about 6 months of high school left, then maybe she'll move up to something nicer. All in all, I'm reasonably pleased with how it worked out, and I learned a lot about painting.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Did you have the venison processed?

By the time I was on my way home from dropping her off at school (maybe an hour after the accident), it was gone. They don't last long around here (semi-rural area).

As I said via text,I think it came out well considering the cold temp, not a proper regulator, black paint and your practice was shooting the parts.  It's a 10 footer and it looks great for the time and money involved.  So, onto spraying the 944 next 

    I have used that same paint gun, works, but the problem is lack of instructions.

       One issue you might have, the front of the gun is not set correctly, those two prongs should be side to side, not top and bottom.   So your spray pattern is wrong, if you do a quick squirt without moving the gun, it should make a veridical pattern.    I had the same issue, but I noticed while doing the primer coat, the primer coat was basically practice and it wasn't going well, until I sorted out the gun issue. 

TED_fiestaHP said:

    I have used that same paint gun, works, but the problem is lack of instructions.

       One issue you might have, the front of the gun is not set correctly, those two prongs should be side to side, not top and bottom.   So your spray pattern is wrong, if you do a quick squirt without moving the gun, it should make a veridical pattern.    I had the same issue, but I noticed while doing the primer coat, the primer coat was basically practice and it wasn't going well, until I sorted out the gun issue. 

 

Yeah, I did have it configured right when I sprayed it. I took the pic after I had cleaned it and it was just laying on the bench. But you're right, the instructions are basically useless. Fortunately, there's always Youtube.

    Ok then I don't know why the paint came out like that,  I have been using a single stage Urethane paint for the last few paint projects.   There is a finish masters store near me.   The first job is expensive, since you have to buy a gallon of reducer, and the small can of hardener / activator will last a long time.

        The only real issue I have had is less then perfect surface to put the final paint on, if the primer coat doesn't look perfect, the shiny color coat won't look better.

   I do have the regulator on the gun, once you get it to work, you don't want to change anything, with the lack of instructions, you might not know why you have it working and don't want anything to change.

    Overall, awesome job getting it all fixed up, paint is a art, so many things can go wrong.

       Every time I paint something, I look to close and see everything that went wrong.

I think my prep work was good, certainly way smoother than the final result. The paint was coming out very "splattery" to coin a term. Like the droplets were too big. I played around with all the adjustments on the gun and was able to partially mitigate the problem, but not completely. Honestly, it's probably 10% the conditions (cold), 20% not having the right equipment, and 70% my own inexperience.

    Sounds like the  paint was to thick?  Is there a way to thin that paint?   It might flow better if it were warmer...

      Also black is the worst color to work with, white or other lighter colors will tend ot hid flaws, black just highlights anything that is wrong.   I just painted the back half of a trunk, after fixing the rusted fenders, I now have to sand the black paint and try again.  It is better than it was, but I like to think I can do better....    You can always sand it down and try again, but often it is best to just leave it as-is and maybe the next project will be different.

Your daughter's safe, and unhurt.   Great Dad, nice job.  As a bonus, you didn't have to dig too deep to fix it.  Bravo!

Gun pressure is going to matter.  I have a gauge that I put right at the gun handle. I open the regulator for that gauge all the way and then with the trigger pulled, adjust the regulator at the compressor so that  I have 22 psi at the gun. At that point I take the regulator off the gun cause it is a big PITA to have hanging off the end of the gun.

The pressure drop between your compressor and the gun is going to be about 20 psi for a 50' hose

I would recommend in the future that you spring for the single stage automotive paint with hardener; makes a lot of difference to how it dries.

Pete

Looks great!

Another option is search on www.car-part.com for the body panels you need.  This online JY listing often gives the car color too.  You're in a major market so the selection should be good on this very popular model.  You might pay a bit more for the parts to get the right color but you might save in the painting cost/time too.  Even a black fender from another of same/similar year might not paint-match perfectly, but it will be no worse of a mismatch, just a different mismatch.  

You did very well .

Next time, stop by your local auto paint guy, and they can mix you a pint of the factory color in single stage urethane for cheap $50 or so, or get a paint kit from ebay. 1 pint Doesn't sound like much paint, but it will be enough for what you did.

Others have suggested some tweaks, I'll just say -best to prop up a big piece of cardboard nearby and spray on that before you paint to get the even pattern you want as you adjust the paint and air flow knobs.

That paint will eventually harden, lacquer is not reaction just evaporation of solvents. Maybe point an electric space heater near the fender/door for a day.

So when 100% dry: lacquer is very hard, that will allow wet sanding to occur, 600, 800 grit, then hit it with a buffer. result will be plenty OK.

   I use that same paint gun, but with different paint, single stage urethane.   What air pressure did you have at the gun, I think I have mine set to about 40 psi.   Maybe more air pressure, and / or thin the paint a little. 

     Next time have a practice panel.  Sometimes you just have to try different settings and try something until it works.

       But still awesome quick fix, I would say you the deer didn't win this time.

John Welsh said:

Looks great!

Another option is search on www.car-part.com for the body panels you need.  This online JY listing often gives the car color too.  You're in a major market so the selection should be good on this very popular model.  You might pay a bit more for the parts to get the right color but you might save in the painting cost/time too.  Even a black fender from another of same/similar year might not paint-match perfectly, but it will be no worse of a mismatch, just a different mismatch.  

That's how I found the door, actually. Funny thing is, the junkyard I went to said they had two, and they were $185 each. When I got there, I found 6 different Foci with usable doors, and they only charged me $100. There was a black one, but it was quite rusty. The fender was $60 on Amazon, the bumper cover was $68 on eBay. I didn't figure I'd do much better than that at a junkyard, and I'd have to pull the parts from cars with no wheels on them in the mud. No thanks, especially for the bumper cover. That thing is a PITA.