Slammed57, No updates. I had a little time before christmas to work on this mess.
I used SPI black base, and SPI universal clear.
For the long story version... When I did the single stage, there were some areas of heavy orange peel that removed too much material to sand out. I broke through to the primer. I called SPI and had a long conversation. He said I would have to respray vs. spotting in and blending the single stage. The rough areas were due to me (f'n novice) not getting the gun close enough. After a long conversation , his opinion is that base/clear is a better choice for novices. Therefore, I decided to start over with base/clear. Some of the reasons being that you can repair and denib the base coat until it is perfect. Black base is blacker due to the higher pigment load.
Neither way is easier. I could not keep the dust and trash out of any coat. Therefore, there are a lot of imperfections. My overall opinion, universal clear was easier to spray than single stage. To get enough coverage to sand it out, I hammered on 5 coats. To my eye, base clear is blacker and has more depth with a 'wet' look, which I prefer. So far I have only cut and buff the cowl panel. Time consuming, but buffed easy. 1000-1500-2000-2500, trizact 3000-8000, sonax cutmax, sonax polish. It is a lot of steps!
Either way, it is a LOT of work, and I'm considering sending the bed out for paint instead of doing it myself. To get back to SS vs. base/clear, IF I ever do it again, I will still do base/clear. I like the way it looks better than single stage. Hope this helps...