Can You Help Me Out? -- I Need A Paint Job

[Dutafox!]

I'm on the hunt for a 91-93 LX. The problem is i don't know what to look for?

I want the car to end up being vibrant red. Since i'm going to have it painted, does it matter what color car I buy? any automotive painters please chime in!

I know they are not the best manufactured cars, but I would like the look of stock from the dealer.

Here is the debatable subjective clarification i'm looking for.... what is Stock?

I'm assuming there is all original stock and restored stock.

If i'm not mistaken there are no OEM products for the fox body. All aftermarket correct?

Would you buy a car mint or for half the price, buy one that needs restoration? but the restoration will have all aftermarket parts. Is that an issue with fox body enthusiasts. I like the idea with so many molested fox bodies, to have one completely original. May not be the best drive, but i like the uniqueness and the nostalgia.

 

[95BlueStallion]

There are plenty of factory parts still out there to be had. Unless you find a car with extremely low original miles, being factory stock doesnt always guarantee that it hasnt been molested. A low mile all original car is going to cost between $10k and $15k. Since you are open to repainting and restoring, I would find the closest to stock and cleanest one you can afford, and just go from there making it what you want.

 

[General karthief]

What are your skills in the automotive arena?
Paint/body work
Mechanical

 

[90sickfox]

Check strut towers....a little rust is a lot more in the inside. Check the door hinge areas, the floors at the front corners where they bend to the firewall, the rear of the floors where the front seats bolt in, the front seat mount front bolts for cracked mounting points, rear control arm mounting points at the body, the cowl area deep in the corners.

Those are some of the most important places to check. There are good cards still itty there but be prepared to travel for them. They are getting far and few between.

 

[nelzfoxes]

Don't ask me, I ended up buying a car rusted in all the places described in the previous post.

 

[Mustang5L5]

You sure you want to do a total repaint? That's going to kill value if you go out and buy a nice, clean stock low-mileage fox and then repaint it a different shade.

Just to do it right will require pulling the motor and doing a total repaint and then reassembly. After all said and done you just spent $10k to make a $12k fox into an $8k fox.

It would be cheaper to hold out for a vibrant red LX


As for perceived value with quality of parts, it makes a difference to me. It's one of the reasons I go out and search for NOS parts for things I replace on my car.

If you had two identical cars, but one was maintained/modified with cheap Chinese aftermarket parts, and one maintained with NOS/OEM parts, I would value the latter higher.


All the above is my opinion of course

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Don't ask me, I ended up buying a car rusted in all the places described in the previous post.

I think I can understand that

 

[nelzfoxes]

I think I can understand that

There is a back-story. I drove like 3 hours to see an all original 1986 lx v8. It was 100% original. Even the exhaust all the way back was stock. But I could see daylight through the strut towers on both sides. I walked away with my $2000 which was the asking price. I couldn’t get over how stock it was, but the next day it was “deleted by author”.
Less than 2 weeks later due to buyer’s remorse I once again drove 4 hours away and this time purchased my rusted out 1993 lx. What got me was the intake airbox and silencer were intact, so I ignored the rusted out floor. Woe is me.

 

[Dutafox!]

@ mustang5L5

I would love to do what you stated. But what are the odds of me finding a vibrant red LX that doesn't need to be repainted?

Yes I plan to pull the motor to have it rebuilt to stock form.

I'm thinking 5K for original car with 100k miles ro so - 5K for paint - 5 K for motor rebuild. Does that sound correct?

All other work over time.

What does NOS mean?

 

[BlakeusMaximus]

New Old Stock. Original OEM parts.

 

[Dutafox!]

Oh ok.

So do you guys buy these oem parts at junkyards or online and refurbish the part? are the parts even able to be refurbished.

 

[Dutafox!]

@90sickfox - thank you. I've read that as well. I am on the hunt for a good body and look specifically at the things you mentioned.

That's why i asked about painting, i'm more concerned about the undercarriage and rust than color. I'm planning to probably find the right body with wrong color - maybe i'm wrong.

 

[BlakeusMaximus]

Oh ok.

So do you guys buy these oem parts at junkyards or online and refurbish the part? are the parts even able to be refurbished.

Check Ebay. Sometimes Ford will have what you need, but unlikely. Ebay is your best bet. NOS or OEM don't need to be refurbish because they are new parts just never installed. You can however get OEM used parts, but I like to use those for anything other than mechanical or electrical if possible.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

@ mustang5L5

I would love to do what you stated. But what are the odds of me finding a vibrant red LX that doesn't need to be repainted?

Yes I plan to pull the motor to have it rebuilt to stock form.

I'm thinking 5K for original car with 100k miles ro so - 5K for paint - 5 K for motor rebuild. Does that sound correct?

All other work over time.

What does NOS mean?

$5k for the stock rebuild would be about right, unless you do it yourself.

$5k for a paint job? Yes and no. If you are not doing a color change and the body is in decent shape, that should get you a nice job for that roughly. Maybe a little more depending on what you’re expecting.

If you are wanting to change colors though, you’ll push closer to $10k. All the panels have to come off and be painted in the jambs as well. Since you’re talking of pulling the engine for a rebuild that’ll save you some money for the engine bay painting. Color changes are a very involved process.

If you are talking a restoration style paint job though, you’ll pay through the nose for that.

Prices will vary depending on how much work you will be doing. If you can disassemble the car and reassemble it, that will save you a chunk of change. Though that takes a bit of care in panel fitment.

Some NOS parts may not be the way to go just due to there age and deterioration. Obviously hard panels like fenders and doors will be ok.

 

[BlakeusMaximus]

I second that, I grew up in a body shop. It is a lot of work for a color change, that's why shops charge a lot of money, and materials are pricey. I would stick with the original color or find the color of car you want that's in good shape but it seems that's getting hard to do with these cars lately.

 

[Dutafox!]

I'm going to start a new thread on paint jobs.

 

[BlakeusMaximus]

You can search out a lot of threads on here about paint jobs. Davedacarpainter, has a ton of info on it, among others.

 

[Dutafox!]

So I planned on searching for any color LX to purchase and restore including new paint. I was budgeting 5K to tear down and paint my future lx.

My main focus was to find a somewhat rust free car with good undercarriage. Color was not a concern as wanted to paint the car vibrant red. But in my other post, i got some feedback that changing the color correctly would be out of budget.

The odds of finding a vibrant red lx that is somewhat rust free with good undercarriage AND does not need to be repainted is low.

What about a different shade of red? is that the same amount of work as say black, blue or green?

Should i be looking for a certain color to keep my paint job costs down? white or strawberry red?

 

[BlakeusMaximus]

All paint jobs are going to be expensive, pearls and candies will cost more. A lot of the costs are going to be in the teardown, bodywork that needs to be done, and prep work. More if there is rust that needs to be dealt with. There will probably be parts/moldings that wont survive the removal because of the age of them and will have to be replaced. Think about it, the whole car has to come apart to do it correctly. Then, you might want to replace some aged parts like headlamps, taillamps, moldings, glass to really make the car look good. You wouldn't want to put some yellowed out, faded headlamps back on a car that has been repainted, would you? Materials like sand paper, sealers, primers, basecoats, clear coats, body fillers will run about $2500 at least. Its a big undertaking. I would try to find a car that has decent paint on it and go from there.

 

[billison]

What’s you’re total budget ? Is that 5k total or 5k plus the car?

There are lots of good clean red mustangs out there. If you have a specific car you want, find it.

But for a good paimt job that will last and not be total garbage, I’d guess at least 3-5k for the paint alone. Now if you get another shade of red and skip the jambs, that’ll make it a little easier.