I'm hoping for lots of first-hand advice on painting my 1983 Formula White (WT) GSL that will result in a professional looking job and save lots of money. I want it to look good, carefully done, but it doesn't need to be perfect.

The big question is where to get the paint and how much to buy. I want to match the original color Formula White as closely as possible, although I'd settle for Dover White (WU, the 84/85 color) as well. Any suggestions for paint type, brand and where to buy?

I like doing things myself and although I don't have a lot of experience with automotive paint, I did do a one-stage black enamel paint job on a 1967 Volvo 122 I used to have that came out pretty well. And I've got the spray gun, compressor and closed area to do the work.

Any advice, links to tutorials or first hand experience is much appreciated!

And I'll post the results on this thread as I go along.

 

Getting ready to paint? Ooooh I'm excited. Will it make it to B3R?

 

Depends on how fast you guys give me advice on how to paint it.

 

I'd look at this.
http://www.tcpglobal.com/Automotive-...utm_creative=p
The flat metallics look really good. I think around $200.00, maybe less. That's what I wanted, wound up with tractor paint.

 

Thanks for the link Andy, I sent them an email asking for recommendations on paint type, product and amount. Looks like a gallon of enamel is right around $200, as you suggested.

I wasn't able to find a paint match for WT or WU, although they do have a dozen or so shades of white, so something must be close.

 

OK, I heard back from tcpglobal, here's what they said. Looks pretty good to me.

Hello,

Thank you for the email, we recommend 1 gallon of paint IN Acrylic urethane is $119.96 and 1 quart of hardener $44.96 plus shipping. Same price for both colors they are white, WT and WU

Thank you.

DAVID VALADEZ
6695 RASHA ST.
SAN DIEGO, CA 92121
(858) 909-2110 EXT. 168
dvaladez@tcpglobal.com

From: me
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2016 11:13 AM
To: Support
Subject: auto paint advice

Hi, I want to paint my 1983 RX-7 its original Formula White (Mazda code WT) or Dover White (an 84/85 Mazda color, code WU). Can you recommend the best product(s) to use for this job and how much paint will be needed? Thanks Ray

 

Use a good respirator with the urethane. I think they recommend a positive pressure fresh-air system (probably overkill). It has isocyanates (sp?) that will turn your brain to mush is short order. In my case, it just kept me up for a few days. I think a half-face is fine with organic vapor cartridges and non-vented goggles, tyvec suit doesn't hurt either since it can be absorbed through skin. Don't spray it in an attached garage if the fam is home....

Any urethane I used required reducer. Are you sourcing that locally (don't see it mentioned in the email). If you can, get it all from the same manufacturer.

I might get chewed up for this by someone that knows what they're talking about, but I think urethane is harder to spray than acrylic enamels so I like to lay it down a little thick, maybe an extra coat, let it cure fully, then cut and polish it to take care of any dust particles that settled it or any orange peel. My first time with urethane I got a ton of orange peel, and thought it was the (hvlp) gun settings, turned out I was too far away from the panel. I closed-in to 6" and it cleared right up and laid down like glass.

Good luck with the project!

 

Ray, forgive if I state the Obvious, but there HAS to be a zillion how-2 videos on Youtube. Worth an evening trolling thru for at least the basics...
best of Luck Sir! My Beloved's in need of paint too, but I will need to save the Shekels for a Pro...

Stu Aull
80GS (w original Sun Rise Red)
Alaska

 

Thanks for the suggestion on videos Stu, I'll use this resource at some point but as you say, there are a zillion of them and sorting through to find the good ones could take some time, so I decided to come here to get the experts' opinion first. And if anyone wants to suggest a good video or tutorial that would be great!

And thanks for the extremely helpful hints Jeremy, I'll take these into careful consideration, especially the safety issues, the need for reducer with urethane and the relative merits of urethane vs. acrylic enamel.

The Volvo 122 I did years ago was with the acrylic enamel and as I recall, it was pretty forgiving and relatively easy, one spray coat, no clear coat, little if any orange peel and very nice high gloss finish.

The only issues were a few runs in the paint here and there that were hard to find on the black paint, but at the time I was in graduate school and just wanting my red volvo to be black, so I wasn't that picky. It was a lot spraying rustoleum from a pressure can, except with a gun.

With the urethane, have I got it right that you put down a coat, then sand and buff to get everything even, then repeat, several times if necessary to get a final coat? Then follow with a clear coat? Sounds like more work but potentially could yield a higher quality finish.

Also what about primer? The current original finish is complete but rough in places, especially the clear coat, so the whole car will need to be sanded smooth before any paint sees it. Should I put down a high quality primer first followed by sanding to get things nice and smooth? Maybe even follow with another coat or two of primer? Or is it sufficient to just work with the original finish by removing all the clear coat and getting down to a suitable painting surface?

Thanks for the help folks.

 

if there's no surface rust or areas that will require sanding back to bare metal, why even bother with primer? save that cost. give it a good sanding and spray it.

 

Thanks Michael, that makes sense to me. The only purpose I can see for the primer is to even things out better, but sanding should serve the same purpose so hopefully that will be sufficient.