Custom Paint Job Need Help plz!
 

A month ago I purchased the car I always dreamed of, a 1994 RX7. I got a good deal on a car that is in amazing condition. The car does have some door dings, etc. I purchased this car instead of buying a new car, my idea is to restore to a factory like condition instead of buying a new car. My FD is black with tan seats. (the rest of interior is black except carpet). I got a few estimates for paint jobs ranging from 4500 to 7000 (bay area, expensive). Anyway I found a reputable shop that will paint same color for 4500 (taking everything off the car, 3 coats of clear coat and all bodywork). To change the color is $1,000 more for a total of $5500. They will paint all visible parts including doors, sunroof area, etc. Under the hood they will paint the inside of hood and up till where the fenders bolt on. I asked him if it would be odd to leave the engine compartment black, he said that custom painted cars do that alot and that black is acceptable. He said any other color would not look right. I have 1 chance and want to do this right. What do you guys think? Is that true that a black engine compartment is ok?

I want it painted YELLOW really bad. If anyone in bay area has a yellow FD I can see in person, please let me know I have only seen pics. Sorry for the long post!

Rotor On!

Yeah, changing colors is expensive. But $4.5k to paint the same color sounds like a big rip off. And yellow does kick ass, you wont regret it.

well with panting you get what you pay for a 500dollar maco paint job is a 500 dollar paint job...

4500 may be steep but if the quality is ther its not bad..i was " 4-6k for a full repaint , but this was from one of the best paint guys ive ever seen..and that was with striping the car to the metal..filling in any imperfections then a full paint up and a shit load of clear coat...

personally i HATE cars that change the color without repanting the engine bay, especially such a drastic change in color but its your car the only person who will see it every day is you..

About 4500 being a rip off, I got quoted 1400 from Miracle (its just like maaco) and I saw the job they do and its no comparison. Things are very expensive in the bay area, it would be 5500 to change color. This is taking out all the moldings and lights and windshield and fixing every single ding and dent. It will look like brand new.

$5500 for change in color is a normal price. I get quotes for $5000 and up in L.A. A very good repaint in the same color should be $3000-3500. $4500 is a bit steep.

i work at a paint shop in maryland, and luckily im gettin my car done basically free, but the boss broke things down for me yesterday, and the job im gettin(w/o any flake or anything) would have run me in excess of 7 grand just for the paint and prep costs( not including shaving the door mouldings and stuff). Lucky i paint huh! anyway, a yellow engine bay might look weird, as long as the black in there is good, it might actually look pretty sick.

I had a friend with a show car (civic) that had a blue car with a black engine bay. It didn't look out of place with that color combo, i actually liked it. His car was featured in superstreet, some could have called it 'ricey', it seems that that is such a buzz word now that it can apply to anything that you do to your car.
Personally I'm thinking of doing the same thing but with the '99 j-spec blue.

It's your car, do what you like. It's a lot cheaper to do it the way you want the first time.

I guess it's okay to have the engine black. Most prototype have black engine area. I personally think it'll bother me though.

If you ever sell the car, it will have a lower resell value being repainted in a different color. If I were you, I would paint it metallic black by using Obsidian Black from Mercedes. My parent's E class looks great. It's relatively easy to keep it clean as far as black goes. I have not seen another black as good looking as that. Not even a Ferrari black.

That Mercedes paint is by Centurion (I believe that is how it is spelled). That IS one of the best paints there is.

This is a really go suggestion. Metallic Black would and should be choice.

Forgot to mention, I will NEVER sell my car. I am REALLY thinking yellow right now.

check out the pics it looks good!

Thanks for the pic, the engine bay does not look bad after all! I can always paint it yellow WHEN my engine goes, LOL.

AS far as interior, I thought about it, the TAN seats (everything else is black) may be *slightly* out of place, but not that bad. To be honest I think they are out of place in my car (since everythign esle is black). If I go with yellow, my plans would be to re-upolster the seats. I would go with Black seats with Yellow inserts, Cool, huh?

Thanks everyone.

repaint
 

I repainted my car obsidian black and it looks great. I did not repaint the engine bay which is still montigo blue. The color contrast is not too bad. I will probably repaint the engine bay when I replace my engine. But if your car is black and you want to paint it yellow, I would repaint the engine compartment. If you can wait, you should do it when you rebuild the engine.

I paid $3500 for my paint job in L.A.

Ya,
I would go with a different black. I think black is sweet. Youre idea about the seats sounds cool. I am going to repaint my car soon, just got my new hood and need a few dents/chips fixed. I wanted a different red. Now that Gordon mentioned how good an FD looks Ferrari red, that is probably the route I take, Thanks Gordon.
See, then we can have two brand new fresh painted FDs in San Leandro. :)(I think there mught be 4 total in the city).

Steve

Oddly enough....I decided on black and I think a deeper jet black. Yellow is in the end a pipe dream I guess. But the black I realize looks so unique cause the tail light are black and that makes it look totally cool.

I have never seen another FD in San Leandro, lol.