I'm thinking of doing it myself and was just wondering how many of you have done your own paint jobs on your RX-7's.
Don't be shy with pics either.

Also any idea of doing an engine bay? Same color as the body? Did you remove everything from the engine bay? ect...

-Error402

 

if your going to do it yourself remove everything, why bother half assing it? the hardest part is finding a place to spray the car so you dont get dirt everywhere, and in the paint

mike

 

I just rattel caned a friends Solo II Chevy Sprint. it actually turned out really nice!

 

painting is pretty easy.. just need a good place to do it, and make sure you prep it correctly.. that is the most important part.. and use GOOD primer..

 

I've been thinking about it,,myself, and so far it seems
that i could do it. i've bought a air compresser and some
air tools, becaues you know,,,air tools are cool. anyway,,
i ve bought a sprayer, a good one !!, so i'm thinking,,
start sanding the old shot out paint on my 7 ,,and prep
it for painting,,the hardest part is what colour to paint it.
If you spray your own car,, don't forget the door jambs,
sun roof/under the roof,under the hood. IMO

 

Comes someone has have some pics of the jobs they have done.



-Error402

 

To stop rust on my car is i used some spray paint.... yup, my car is around 1/4 walmart spray paint.... Dosen't look too bad, but i will do it with my compressor if i ever get any cash.

 

black do it black!!!!! at least i am, funny u asked this because im in the middle of doing it tonight, i wont actually be painting it till christmas when i have time. we started the work tonight.. i removed front bumper and hood and tried to do the fenders and doors but it got to dark. were using "dad's paint remover" from walmart. OMG this stuff works so good it takes the old paint and primer off down to the metal, a little work but well worth it, dont just paint over the old paint. were sanding my whole body down to nothing but metal and gonna prime it a flat black, i have a LOT of fiberglassing to do and lots of bondo work but i want my baby to be smooth. were painting the fenders, hood, bumpers and other small stuff in my friends apt. and when i do the body im gonna rent a big *** storage for a month and do it in there for the concealed enviroment, i would advise you to do the same. also if bugs are a problem be sure to get one of those bug zappers so they are not attracted to the paint and ruin a good finish. thats about all i can say, im painting the whole inside of my car this weekend a glossy black to so the inside will be done and ill start workin on stripping the enine bay down too, anyway hope this helps and good luck to ya

 

This is the sprayer i'm talking about. the can in the picture is small, but i'm waiting for my local napa store
to get the larger can i ordered. the sprayer was like $ 55.00 dollors , and is fully adjustable.

 

Mark Perez that's a kewl sprayer. I'm in the process of picking up an air compressor and all the attachements. *insert Tim the Tool man Taylors grunts* Is that sprayer a certain brand or serial number I could use for reference?

cwsttu I have a two car garage that I would be prepping for the painting process. So, finding a space to do it in won't be a problem. However what are you doing for the engine bay? Are you taking everything out?
Skipping it? Just touching it up?

-Error402

 

i'm rattle can painting a custom nose panel with a big air duct in it for the racecar. think wire mesh right where the white MAZDA sticker is on my avatar. pleanty of air to radiator! second coat goes on tonite, then some clear coat. i'll post a pic when it's done.

prep work is the KEY to a good paint job. 90% of the work is prepping that metal. stripping it down to the metal is a fabulous idea. i did that and sanded the metal with 180 grit sandpaper. then primered it, sanded primer with 400 grit, then 600 grit. then paint.

hope this helps

-bp-

 

It seems the "rattle the can" method is popular one. Of course I'm sure it is just to do minor fixes. I'm looking at more of a entire body paint job. Which I plan on making sure all the prep work is done correctly, I don't want to cut and corners.

-Error402

 

That sprayer is made by CENTRAL # AT 1000 and i bought it at napa. on my compresser it has a valve to control the air output , from 5 lbs to 120 lbs psi . so it acts sorta like an airbrush with this sprayer. pin point to wide.

 

about the engine bay im going to take off everything that touches the side areas and the back area as well as the radiator and other easy things to get off. i am going to cover the engine with a very thick tarp so that overspray doesnt get on it, im gonna have to take lots and lots of pictures b4 i do this lol oh well i cant wait good luck if ya try it too.

 

here is a pic of rx7 that got done in back yard

 

here is a pic of rx7 that got done in back yard, used black primer cans

 

any decent looking hplv paint gun should be fine. when youre a pro get a better one but any half decent one should be fine. you need a regulator at the gun too and also a line cleaner or whatever its called to make sure youre sending clean air through the paint gun. i have all the stuff to do it just havent gotten around to it yet.

 

1genrx7 is seems your pics didnt attach.

 

i did mine in the garge of a weekend, it came out ok the colour was ok but the is a trick to do the clear and i still cant do it!

 

ive done a few of my cars, this was my best effort, it took about 3 months to prep it right.







it was painted in a super dust free garage and i used acrillic paints.
there was 6 coats of colour and 9 coats of clear applied wet on wet. the weather was perfect with the garage temp being around 25oC all that day.

all i can say is get some good books and practice a bit.

 

You mean hvlp?

Don't forget the moisture trap for the air line too. I wouldn't recommend painting a dark color for your first paint job, unless you have LOTS and LOTS of patience. And primer to fog over it if it ends up looking like ***

 

doh typo. i think primer black would look mean on an fb myself

 

Heres my old 80, I painted it myself \

I dont mind painting cars this was my 8th one... But now Im on #16 and this black neon SUCKS *** I having all kinds of problems with it.

Well anyways, its picture time...

 

A couple more

 

me and my brother did the spary job on my car..
it was our very first atempt at doing anything like this..
i did all the beating and prep work... took about 3 months to to because i had to learn as i went along.
my brother did the all the spraying.

for pics of the finished products check out the pics on my page. (too many to post, it shows prep work, spraying and finished product)
MY PAGE, just click on my mazda up the top

we only used a single pac enamal because we didnt have any heat lamps or any other way of baking the 2pac.

and the engine was out of the car when i did the spraying as was the whole inside and just about everything else on the car

im very pleased with the finished car, theres only about 1 run in the paint work thats not even noticable.
if ur got the room and time to do it without rushing it. i would give it a go.