ok, so now that ive finished a few things and shes finally running very well. i thought why not paint her?....myself...yes im crazy. i know somewhat what im doing. i have a compressor and im going to go buy a hvlp gun today after im done tearing her apart. if anyone has any tips let me know

 

nice..good luck and take lots of pics =)

 

are you going with black like you said in your other post

 

yea, that black is what im going for. should look nice with the rims i just bought.

 

do you got any pics of the rims

 

 

you might want to buy a sander when you get the paint gun

 

Just remember you can't spray metalics very well without a high end compressor. You can get away with a HVLP gun & smaller compressor with regular paints though.

 

how high end?

 

 

why wouldnt it be able to spray metalics?

 

yes do tell. i have 2 sanders. that should be enuff. i also wanna get some good masks before I start sanding ive heard enuff bad stories about what happens when u dont wear one. mirrors, hood, fog lights, headlights, fenders, door panels are off. along with some misc stuff.

 

dont' forget to take pictures of everything .... i wanna see you through your progress.....been wanting to do this myself but was too scared to mess something up...and i dont have the tools..yet! :p

 

-.-!

 

grrr!

 

Good luck.

It's ALL in preparation!

get the body SUper smooth and fix every dent or imperfection.

Mask off the interioir,windows,any opening to your radiator(don't want a black one right?)

Make sure to do the door jams at the least.

Are you going to do the engine bay? A little harder to do.

I'm staying black because color changes are expensive and hard.

Also buy good paint AND Primer.
Why spray awesome paint on Krylon spray can primer?

 

From what my uncle explained to me....

Without a larger compressor and having a solid, stable stream of air, that can be fine tuned- its harder to get the metalics to lay the way you want.

Not to mention if you guys are spraying- GET a air dryer!!! Ever drain your compressor? Notice the cup or so of water that comes out (5gal tank)?

Thats being sprayed onto your paint.

I really need to write the basic howto paint your own car.

 

1. NEVER mis match paint brands, unless you want uneven, bubbling, pealing, flaking paint.
2. NEVER use automotive paint ontop of rattle can primer.

Paint strippers, metal cleaners, primers, top coats and clear coats- should ALL be from the same brand or be known to work well with eachother.

I have seen one too many great paint jobs go wrong because the stripper was not compatible with the other paint used.

 

since my compressor is smaller, im taking as much off the car as i can. fenders, hood, doors, etc and doing them seprate. im going to to paint everything minus the engine bay. ill do that this fall when i swap the engine out. ill take lots of pics dont worry . im going to order paint primer and everything tomorrow.

 

The hobbiest & "bulk fleet" spray guns work ok with a decent portable compressor with 8-12CFM, but the top end guns are what you want to spray thick clearcoats & metalics. Those top end guns usually require near 16CFM, and that takes ALLOT of air volume, not PSI.

Now that being said, my neighbor painted his whole car out of a can, and it came out decent. But he was A SANDING FOOL and his right arm is like twice as big as his left

He managed to get it fairly even and it looks decent.

 

i found the gun i wanna buy. its a nice hvlp gun. i think i might rent a bigger compressor tho.

 

As was mentioned above, it's all in the prep work.. I spent about three months prepping mine.. about two weeks shooting it. It is easier to do a color swap with the engine out, and everything off.. mine was red. I don't know what the "Dont' do metalics without a heavy duty compressor" is all about, but I do have a decent sized, 45 gallon, 135 PSI compressor, and I used a gravity fed gun..

One tip for you: Get a primer gun, they'er a special gun that only costs ~20 bucks, but it will make your life a helluva lot easier when you go to spray the primer.. I was having trouble with mine being too thick for the normal gun, but it went on beautifully with the primer gun.

Another trick: If you've never painted before, do extra layers of primer, not because you need it, but because it gives you practice you can always sand down primer cheaply.

One last tip for now: If you did want to go with a metalflake black, you can always do it like I did my green. It was a House Of Color Flake, that is mixed in with the clear coat, so shooting went: primer, basecoat black, (mask area), clearcoat with green flake, clearcoat for entire car.

We're probably going to do the same thing with black metal flake for the whole car for my dad's new 85 GS

Good luck! take your time!

 

currently using 60grit sand paper and an air sander. i will sand till my arm falls off! i got my primer today and the hvlp gravity feed gun i wanted for it. along with some other stuff. im gunna be damn busy this week.

 

man the main thing to painting a car is patience... dont be in a hurry,, when i paint cars i go with 5 coats of paint,,, just mist it each time so there are no runs,,,, and then about 7 coats of clear,,, the more coats of clear coat you put on the better and more shiney it will be


good luck

john


p.s. pm or email me if you need to know anything else about painting it

later

 

thanks man, from what ive read its all in the prep and just being really patient with the paint/clearcoat. after spending the past 4hours sanding my hood I deff want todo this right the first time. ALSO.. to anyone who is going todo this WEAR A MASK i got a good mask at lowes $30 but its worth it. the amount of dust that you create sanding is rediculous and theres no way you want any of that crap in your lungs.