Sanding a Cadet

[PAUL G]

First a bit of background. I used this forum a few years ago when I had a Farmall Cub and still continue to monitor the site because I find it very interesting and informative. In 2003 I took the Cub to Florida Flywheelers show and a collector bought it. Since then from same show I purchased a Cub Cadet 122 (Sept 66) and in Feb an Original (May 61) both in good, running, working condition.
Im restoring the 122 first, and Ive dismantled fenders, front, seat supports, tower and want to sand & prep them before proceeding further.

Im sure I will have more questions as I progress, but for now what grit of sandpaper would you start with, would you only wet sand on final prime, and is there a supplier that sells sandpaper in bulk. I see paper in ebay but I think I need 180 to 240 and most ebayers dont seem to have that.
Thank you for your input PAUL

 

[Paul B]

Unless you have a lot of rust to sand off, I use 320 wet or dry, and use it wet. You can use a 220 or 150 aluminum oxide, dry, in a palm sander to get heavy rust or paint chips, but you will have to do a lot of sanding with finer paper to get the scratches out of both metal and any remaining paint.