3M blue 1/4" fine line tape for leaving a sharp, clean edge:
Paint and Body Fox Body Painting 101
- Thread starter Davedacarpainter
- Start date
- Dec 19, 2010
- 5,721
- 4,244
- 224
Tah dah!
That really is stunning, Dave. I absolutely love that color, it's gorgeous! Fantastic!
Now, If only I could paint well enough for hecker spies....
Shoot Allen, anyone can come up with a pretty paint job. It's just a matter of time taken on each detail of the process.That really is stunning, Dave. I absolutely love that color, it's gorgeous! Fantastic!
Now, If only I could paint well enough for hecker spies....
Everything I posted earlier in this thread was done on Doby. While going through each step, that's what I was focused on, doing the best on those steps. Really. Trying to do each process completely, as though that's the only part of the job I had to do and I wanted that part to impress the guy doing the next part with how good and thorough it was done. (no split personality, ok? It's not sybildacarpainter!) But it does help to think like the only thing you are doing on the car is what you have in hand at the moment, and nobody will do it better than you.
I know you know this, I just want anyone else out there to know they can do something similar to what I did.
It's spies hecker, btw. TRUTHFULLY, it had a lot to do with the success of this paint job. Because of them wanting to use my car as a demo, they have given me approximately $1400 in JUST the paint. I make good money as a painter, but not that good!
Having said that, I get really pretty paint jobs with really cheap price paint too. It's not just the laying out of the paint job that gives you an excellent paint job. It's every single step of the process. Just like orange peel on a paint job, if your sealer lays out with a lot of orange peel, each consecutive stage of the paint job just dog piles on that and you will have a bad orange peel in your clear coat. So if you decide the bodywork is good enough, accept the paint job will be good enough later on when you have waves in your panels.
I guess this applies to anything you do on your fox, wether it's a paint job, a turbo, the carpeting in the interior. If you short cut the process, there is a price to pay. For the carpet, it may be an annoyance for the result, not so much for the turbo, huh?
For you guys that don't have a paint company giving you their paint, there are cheap paints that can look really choice out there. Just lately I've sprayed Sherwin Williams 740 clear with their 742 hardener (no reducer needed). It cost under $100 per sprayable gallon. I've used this for spraying new panel jambs at work and it lays out real pretty as well. Mind you, not the $325 per sprayable gallon nice as Spies Hecker, but still, very pretty.
One other point, a good buffing job can make a person look like a genius painter as well. I've seen some crap paint jobs looks just beautiful after having a good buff job done afterwards. Don't give up hope because your paint job doesn't look like mine, it practically can if you take your time and rub it properly.
I'm not a special paint guy, I've just been doing it for a long time. Really pay attention to what I just said about buffing though. Take your time buffing and what you think is just an ok paint job can win a car show. I mean that, I've seen some of these paint jobs at shows.
Long reply Allen, I want to keep a teaching phase to this thread and you helped to bring up some points I wanted to make.
For anyone else, I will help you with your paint jobs as much as I can through this forum. I want to go to Birmingham to help @madmike1157 for his Monster. Wish I could Mikey. He has the ability though.
Don't learn how your new paint guns work on your car, btw. I never do this at work. I will always spend the time spraying some junk panels just to understand how the new gun sprays. Every different gun shoots differently. Don't think you can go the same speed painting as you did your last gun, or distance from the panel, or same inlet air pressure, or the same pattern, or the same overlap. Change your spraying habits to your new gun.
I'll start by saying I hate you.
My "get it to 80% and be happy" just got dashed to the floor. Now, little things that may have been marginal are gonna get a magnifying glass put on them. You and Steve,.....You're both gonna hate me back when this is all said and done.
As for you,....Well,...lets just say that you'll be able to make this, your little your goto when you see it's me...
I work till two at that show today. You can count on me walkin through the venue so that when it turns exactly 2PM, I step one foot out of the door. I was thinkin my car is/was close enough to consider masking for primer, and that is the plan. I'd like to talk to you later before I commit to that though.
Look for my IM.
My "get it to 80% and be happy" just got dashed to the floor. Now, little things that may have been marginal are gonna get a magnifying glass put on them. You and Steve,.....You're both gonna hate me back when this is all said and done.
As for you,....Well,...lets just say that you'll be able to make this, your little your goto when you see it's me...
I work till two at that show today. You can count on me walkin through the venue so that when it turns exactly 2PM, I step one foot out of the door. I was thinkin my car is/was close enough to consider masking for primer, and that is the plan. I'd like to talk to you later before I commit to that though.
Look for my IM.
I laughed for quite a while over that opening comment.I'll start by saying I hate you.
My "get it to 80% and be happy" just got dashed to the floor. Now, little things that may have been marginal are gonna get a magnifying glass put on them. You and Steve,.....You're both gonna hate me back when this is all said and done.
As for you,....Well,...lets just say that you'll be able to make this, your little your goto when you see it's me...
I work till two at that show today. You can count on me walkin through the venue so that when it turns exactly 2PM, I step one foot out of the door. I was thinkin my car is/was close enough to consider masking for primer, and that is the plan. I'd like to talk to you later before I commit to that though.
Look for my IM.
Let me know whatever you need help on....See there, isn't it just plain nice to be nice? It's like I can watch the letters of that last sentence just falling and burning on the way to the floor as they got close to you.
I don't have a car at home and it's supposed to rain today, so I guess I'll clean my house. A women's work is never done!
Gonna hop onto a new topic.
The mini tubbing of my car.
While I'm doing this I'll show some cheap and some not so cheap tools to cutting and welding medium to thick metal plating.
We'll talk about seam sealer, under coatings, rust preventative, etc...
I'll show how I weld, which should impress absolutely no one.
There will be modifying of the rear subframe, the rear end itself, specifically where the shocks mount. And, of course, cutting out the inner tub and upper shock mount and moving it in two inches.
It'll be fun, I can't wait, except for my car is down at the shop this weekend. I'll be bringing it home tomorrow night after work.
Next Saturday is one of my granddaughter's birthday party, so I'll get limited done there. I will spend some time completely focused on this though. I want it completely done in two weeks time.
The mini tubbing of my car.
While I'm doing this I'll show some cheap and some not so cheap tools to cutting and welding medium to thick metal plating.
We'll talk about seam sealer, under coatings, rust preventative, etc...
I'll show how I weld, which should impress absolutely no one.
There will be modifying of the rear subframe, the rear end itself, specifically where the shocks mount. And, of course, cutting out the inner tub and upper shock mount and moving it in two inches.
It'll be fun, I can't wait, except for my car is down at the shop this weekend. I'll be bringing it home tomorrow night after work.
Next Saturday is one of my granddaughter's birthday party, so I'll get limited done there. I will spend some time completely focused on this though. I want it completely done in two weeks time.
I've always wondered what some people/shops do when they shoot a car that is not taken apart like yours. I see it a lot where the bumpers, doors and hood are still on the car when they shoot it. I assume they don't use the correct paint for the bumpers and take the risk.
Somewhat, depends on the rigidity of the bumper cover if it'll be any sort of issue.
We normally shoot the customer vehicles with the panels on except for the bumpers. Sometimes we'll shoot them off though. Really is more dependent upon space in the booth and productivity through the shop.
Fox bumpers really aren't terribly flexible, but for my own car I will add flex additive to the clear.
Last edited:
mikestang63
SN Certified Technician
Amazing looking paint Dave.. Simly amazing. How many hours so far do you have in Doby? Has to be 4-500.
You know, I don't really have an idea! I think that would depress me if I came up with a number.
I'm getting ready to do the mini-tub, so it's best not to know.
@Davedacarpainter love the color. Few questions concerning sealer.
First when you apply sealer is there a window in which you are limited to spray over it? Reason being I had faded paint then an engine fire and sanded the entire car (180g, 220g, 320) and sealed it. Plan on taking it back down and repainting it with a single stage paint.
Second for acrylic sealers can you add a flat clear in the mixture to give a matte or semi gloss look instead of painting color similar to Eastwoods Rat Rod black?
First when you apply sealer is there a window in which you are limited to spray over it? Reason being I had faded paint then an engine fire and sanded the entire car (180g, 220g, 320) and sealed it. Plan on taking it back down and repainting it with a single stage paint.
Second for acrylic sealers can you add a flat clear in the mixture to give a matte or semi gloss look instead of painting color similar to Eastwoods Rat Rod black?
First question: It sounds as if you used the sealer to protect your panels as opposed to part of a paint system. In order to finish the refinish process, if the sealer has sat longer than just a few hours, you will need to resand the surface to have the next step adhere. The time varies between paint manufacturers, but I don't know of any that allow more than 24 hours to complete the painting process once you have begun with laying out the sealer.
It's no big deal if you had it on longer, you'll just need to sand it before going back to spraying.
Second question. Just spray the matte or semi-gloss clear over the top of it. I wouldn't mix any form of clear coat into the sealer unless you have a manufacturers recommendation to do that. The sealer has a different catalyst than the clear coat, and in the end will either make the material not harden properly and/or just have no durability whatsoever.
I would have had to spend an extra couple hours cleaning, plus the paint would peel on the interior unless I sanded it.
Mainly a cleanliness thing for the outer panels though.
So, starting to mini-tub a fox body with a homemade kit. Let's use my car for an example.
Why do a homemade kit when you can buy a kit fairly cheap (under $150)? Couple reasons for me, one: The kits you get usually require you to use coilovers (ok, with me). But you have to move them to the inboard side of the frame. This also requires a bar to be welded in between the frame rails to attach the coilovers upper attachment, big deal, right? two: I want to keep my spare tire well though, it's got to go to fit that bar. I'll be driving my car to the east coast next spring for some of the big shows out there, my luck dictates a spare tire.
Plus, for handling, it's good to have the coilovers further outboard if you intend any sort of spirited curvy handling that is.
What do you need to do this, you might ask? Materials wise, not much for me since I could scrounge some really nice metal from a frame that was swapped out from a Tahoe. I bought one sheet of metal, 24"x12" that still needs to be cut into four 2.5" strips for the inner tub extension.
The metal I got for the frame will be used to box the frame to allow the coilovers to mount in the stock (albeit moved in 2") upper shock mount. I will be notching the frame in this latest procedure on my car.
So, sit back and watch as I go through this. Use what you want for your own mini-tubbing, ridicule me for what you don't use, You won't hurt my feelings.....much......
Two picture of what I've done so far, not very impressive, but necessary.
Drop the rear end out completely, you don't really have to I guess, but holy crap what a pain in the ass if you don't.
I used a yellow crayon and a ruler to mark where I'll cut the floor, see the picture.
And, I started cutting a little bit of the stuff in the way. I'll cover this in detail tomorrow night, I only did a little cutting tonight, just enough to put me in the point of no return phase.
Talk to you more tomorrow night.
BTW, I have given myself two weeks to do this, so it shouldn't bore everyone too much. I'll include lots of pictures for the picture whores among us:
First, my daughter's crayons to mark where I will cut the floor
Stuff to cut out
I cut into some of it to ensure I don't back out
One thing to modify that you will see in the lower left corner of the last picture, below the spring perch, is the seat belt mount. I want to use the rear seats for my grandkids and other miscreants. So, I'll cut out a couple inches of the mount , beat the hell out of the floor in that area to fit it's new location, and reweld it into it's new place.
Why do a homemade kit when you can buy a kit fairly cheap (under $150)? Couple reasons for me, one: The kits you get usually require you to use coilovers (ok, with me). But you have to move them to the inboard side of the frame. This also requires a bar to be welded in between the frame rails to attach the coilovers upper attachment, big deal, right? two: I want to keep my spare tire well though, it's got to go to fit that bar. I'll be driving my car to the east coast next spring for some of the big shows out there, my luck dictates a spare tire.
Plus, for handling, it's good to have the coilovers further outboard if you intend any sort of spirited curvy handling that is.
What do you need to do this, you might ask? Materials wise, not much for me since I could scrounge some really nice metal from a frame that was swapped out from a Tahoe. I bought one sheet of metal, 24"x12" that still needs to be cut into four 2.5" strips for the inner tub extension.
The metal I got for the frame will be used to box the frame to allow the coilovers to mount in the stock (albeit moved in 2") upper shock mount. I will be notching the frame in this latest procedure on my car.
So, sit back and watch as I go through this. Use what you want for your own mini-tubbing, ridicule me for what you don't use, You won't hurt my feelings.....much......
Two picture of what I've done so far, not very impressive, but necessary.
Drop the rear end out completely, you don't really have to I guess, but holy crap what a pain in the ass if you don't.
I used a yellow crayon and a ruler to mark where I'll cut the floor, see the picture.
And, I started cutting a little bit of the stuff in the way. I'll cover this in detail tomorrow night, I only did a little cutting tonight, just enough to put me in the point of no return phase.
Talk to you more tomorrow night.
BTW, I have given myself two weeks to do this, so it shouldn't bore everyone too much. I'll include lots of pictures for the picture whores among us:
First, my daughter's crayons to mark where I will cut the floor
Stuff to cut out
I cut into some of it to ensure I don't back out
One thing to modify that you will see in the lower left corner of the last picture, below the spring perch, is the seat belt mount. I want to use the rear seats for my grandkids and other miscreants. So, I'll cut out a couple inches of the mount , beat the hell out of the floor in that area to fit it's new location, and reweld it into it's new place.
Last edited:
alot of reading and good info. Looking at you sig "rebuilt stock block-.030 over. GT40x heads, Edelbrock RPM performer intake, Quickfuel carb. TrickFlow Stage 2 cam, BBK long tube headers and h-pipe", I did the same exact engine parts build on my last mustang down to the quickfuel carb. great progress and incredible painting
Similar threads
- Sticky
