Painting my own car questions

[webshot]

I am not sure if this would be considered tech or talk, but hopefully you guys can help. My wife just bought me a killer air compression and air tools setup, so now I have decided to do what I wanted to do for quite some time and that is paint my own car (a 88 GT a donor car so it will make good practice. If it comes out good then I will put it back together). I do not have any experience doing this and I dont want to come across as arrogant but it seems like something I can do with a little push in the right direction.

So my questions are.

What tools are going to be needed? (besides the obvious like a sprayer).

Do you recommend any books or vids on auto painting?

I have a crack in my bumper cover, what can be used to repair fiberglass?

Should I or do I have to remove all panels (like doors, hood, fenders....)

Please feel free to share any inside knowledge or tips. I plan to chronicle my experience here with pictures and of course things I have learned so as to maybe help others that want to do this or be come a resource on how to do it. Sorry if this has been asked and posted. I figure this would be a cool way to give back, as this board has helped me a bunch.




EDIT

Here is what I am starting with. Ill try to get some better shots.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=188f2qz8.bmyvqyfk&x=0&h=1&y=uncu5k

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLa...post_signin=Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Ux=0

 

[87foxstang]

well i did my car by myself, all the body work and painting, so hopefully i can help you out a little. Its easier to paint things off the car but it can be tough putting it all back together without damaging. As for the hood, it would be easier to paint off the car because you will not have to take things off a much. I did the door jams with the doors on and the doors themselves on the car.

To repair fiberglass you can use fiberglass or bondo. Usually the bumper covers are urethane of some sort which requires a flexible bondo, i forget the name of it, but i can have that for you later.

For body work, you can use air tools like a DA, but thats for heavy body work...I did all mine with just hand stuff, like long boards because you can get it flatter. On the body work, just take your time and do it right, dont rush because believe me the finished product will be worth it.

If you have any other questions just ask, as i said i did my car myself and learned al kinds of things on how do do things right. And dont let other people talk you out of this, you can do it right yourself the first time, if i can, you can lol. I hope this helped a little bit.

Good luck

 

[87foxstang]

ohh and as far as painting it, try to do it in a CLEAN area, like your garage if you have one, clean it, hang tarps up and use filters and fans to clean the air.


But the best case scenario is to make friends with an owner of a body shop that will let you use their paint booth for cheap

 

[TrophyHead]

I got my car all ready for paint. The mouldings and everything are off the car, hatch windows. It's sanded and primered. I sprayed the fender reveals, door james, and hatch jams redfire metallic.

650 bucks for me to get all the paint. I figure a paint shop pays around 400 bucks for paint with there discounts. So if I can find a pro to lay the top coats for around 800 I'll go with them.

 

[webshot]

Thanks for the encouragement. If you or anyone could shoot me a shoping list or recommend a book that gives me a shopping list, that would be great. I am going to start it this weekend. I do have a garage, and it is well ventilated with windows and such. I can grab some tarps this weekend as well (good advice).

any ideas on a sprayer? I do have one but I am not sure if it is best suited for auto paint.

More advice and input greatly appreciated so I dont chicken out right as this weekend approaches....lol

 

[91foxbod50]

With a little more info on the car i could help you out a lot more. I am in body work and spend a lot of time in the paint shop. Pictures would help a lot. The basics are obvious If you have paint on the car. Reccomend Red/gray scuff pad located at any auto shop. ( scuff until Shine is gone) If you are going to bondo please dont forget the iceing. Bondo leaves pinholes wich will show up in the paint job. Also if your going to prime Use 2 coats filler primer This will help eliminate minor scratches and pinholes from bondoing.. After all is done and body is clean. You need to base up the car by spraying Two coats liight wich will also help cover primer and bondo spots. (if you can try and use darker colors) Im not saying im a pro but i do this for a living. this is just the first stage. Their are 2 more stages that i can help u with along the way.

 

[webshot]

Great thanks, car is a 88 GT, it does have damage to the passenger side fender and bumper cover (but I already have the pieces to replace those.) I will try to get some preliminary pics today of the car. But I will beginning this weekend. I am serious writing down all advice, so keep it coming. I need the courage to do this. Been wanting to do it for years. And now I have a donor car to do it on.

Actually you hit on something I was just thinking about. Removing the paint, and is it a different process for the sheet metal vs. the urethane pieces?

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Make sure you get a good regulator. You don't need much air pressure to paint. My gun is set up to spray at 40psi. That works for me. A customer of mine called me to try his new gun. He paid over 700 dollars for it and it sprays paint and clear at 15psi!!!!! That is amazing because the compressor rarely turns on, you have almost no overspray in the air, and it saves so much paint and clear. I don't paint enough cars though to spend that kind of dough. I only paint 2-3 cars a year, and sometimes they are not entire jobs. I might just do a front end, or a side panel.

 

[webshot]

Any recommendation on a brand of gun? Also can I get a good gun at like home depot? Or does it have to be a auto paint store? Don't think I will spending 700 for a gun. But if there are some economical ones that would be great. Then one I have now I don't trust for this. Was excellent for around the house. I forget the brand but I think I got it at harbor freight or home depot.

 

[87foxstang]

i forget the name of my spray gun but its an HV LP( high velocity low pressure) its a great gun for about 250 bux. Definitely get a top feeder gun, where the paint tank is on the top because it waists less paint. go to a good paint distributer like car quest or something and theyll fix you up. You will need lots of sand paper like 120 grit, 220, 360, 400, 600, 1000, 1200, 1500. Long boards of paper to get the areas flat, as well as smaller blocks. If your painting it a dark color, primer it with a grey primer. After primer, you dont need to spray on a sealer, some say you should, but you do NOT need it. Just practice painting something before you do it on the car.

 

[webshot]

Good Stuff, I will look into the spray gun this week.

As far as the color I am not totally sure on that. Will the color affect what preparation step and materials I will need? I am leaning towards something vibrant and different. Like this color called "Orange Sherbert", but wont rule out like a black. but I heard black is hard to spray so I dont want my first attempt to be too difficult.

 

[87foxstang]

If you are going with a vibrant color, the primer you should use is yellow. Just talk to a local paint shop and theyll set you in the right direction

yes black is VERY difficult to paint...not the black base but the clear coat, and if you do go black practice alot before hand.

 

[webshot]

Make sure you get a good regulator. You don't need much air pressure to paint. My gun is set up to spray at 40psi...

Is this something in addition to the gun and the gauges that are on the air compressor itself? (btw I have a new 33 gallon compressor 2hp - running and 190psi - will that be sufficient?)

 

[87foxstang]

yea, the regulator will take the water/oil out of the air as well as regulate your pressure

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Is this something in addition to the gun and the gauges that are on the air compressor itself? (btw I have a new 33 gallon compressor 2hp - running and 190psi - will that be sufficient?)

The regulator is seperate. It runs in line. 2hp isn't too big of a motor. The compressor at my work is a Curtis 5HP, 80 gallon 220V. It is huge.

I never paid attention to how much it runs while I paint an entire car...I should next time. You compressor will work for a paint job, but it probably will not shut off. It will constantly run. I would suggest putting it outside while you paint your car....put a fan blowing on it to keep it cool. You don't want to burn it up.

 

[webshot]

aaahhhh...good point on the burning up of the a/c.

Is it possible to paint the car in "pieces" or once you start it is better to just do the whole thing?


Sorry for all the questions, curiosity and excitement has me acting like a kid...lol

 

[91foxbod50]

Painting the car in pieces is a lot of work. And sometimes you can mess up the paint job runs and blemishes mostly.. If you are going to, Invest in metal tie wire and hang the pieces up with tarp divided between each piece so you dont overspray. I would strongly recomend just tapeing up door jams and under the hood. And carefully mask the windows and trim. The hardest part i had with my 5.0 was the mirror. Please be sure you take out the corner windows its very simple and will look more professional. I think it was 3 bolts after i took off the interior cover. after all this is what you need...

Red Scuff Pad
Gray Scuf Pad
D/a Sander
60 80 120 + grit sandpaper (Depending on your bondo skills)
You'll need Bondo located at any pep boys or autozone.
I wouldnt reccomend their iceing. Specially order that
Filler primer
Tape
Spread Sheets
Metal Tie Wire
All in the first stage after that your on the easy street home

 

[87foxstang]

The regulator is seperate. It runs in line. 2hp isn't too big of a motor. The compressor at my work is a Curtis 5HP, 80 gallon 220V. It is huge.

I never paid attention to how much it runs while I paint an entire car...I should next time. You compressor will work for a paint job, but it probably will not shut off. It will constantly run. I would suggest putting it outside while you paint your car....put a fan blowing on it to keep it cool. You don't want to burn it up.

+1 on keeping a fan on it. I over heated my old (2hp i think?) compressor primering my hood, it was old but still.

 

[jeffnoel]

2HP/33Gal is petty small for continous work like painting. What's more important is how much air it delivers at a given PSI like 4.5 scfm @ 90 PSI. Look for that info before you buy any tools or paint guns or you may end up with tools that take more air than your compressor can support.

 

[87_stang]

Your compressor will be fine. Especially since you don't have a gun yet. While looking at paint guns look for the best you can afford and one that runs off the lowers psi possible. This will not only work your compressor less but will also do away with alot of the overspray. One of our guys bought a new gel gun the other day and ran it at 15-20 psi and had literally no overspray. I stood right next to him for a few minutes and literally could not smell/see it. I also run my gun at around 15-20 psi but he has a huge 5mm tip. As far as sand paper goes, you do not need to go clear down to 60-80 grit likke others have said. You can but not necessary and honestly makes more work because of all the huge sanding scratches they leave. Get a decent DA sander, you can get a nice Ingersol Rand for around $100. Start sanding your body filler with 180 on the DA and work your way up. You also don't need to glob the filler on. It just makes more work in the long run. Put on a decent coat and you can sand it in about 10 minutes and then add a little more as needed until you get your shape you are looking for. If you just glob it on really thick thinking you will get it all in one shot you will have alot more to sand at one time plus when sanding that much (taking all the excess off) you tend to get low spot and have to re fill it anyways. Plus only having to sand a little at a time means less stress on your compressor. If you just have real little dings to fill they can usually be done with one coat. Once the body work is all done, like said earlier, just scuff the paint until there are no more shiny spots on it. This can be done with either the scuff pads mentioned earlier or using 500-600 sand paper. Do not use the DA on this as it willl leave marks. (Not always but if you are not experienced don't do it) Just use regular paper and wrap it around a 3M foam sanding pad found at your locat parts store. Once all sanded wipe the whole car, or parts if you take the car apart, with a tack cloth found at a parts store or paint supply store. Or take a clean lint free cloth and get wet with acetone and wipe the whole car down (this is what I use) be sure change rags to make sure its clean. Its pretty easy to do just take your time and don't get in a hurry as the prep work will make or break a paint job. That is 90% of the job right there. i can't say it enough, MAKE SURE THE CAR IS WELL PREPPED AND CLEAN. Good luck with it. If I can help with anything else just ask.