Any DIY Painters out there?

[71_resurrection]

So, I will be moving into a house soon with a two car garage, my dream since I have been an adult. Now I will have a place to work on my car without having to put it all back together at the end to drive it home from the hobby shop on base. I really want my exterior to look nice. Living in SoCal is frustrating because body and paint guys are soooo damn expensive here and I will not take my car to Tijuana to have it painted for cheap. Now that I will have a garage, I am thinking of painting it in the garage. I will build an interior frame and use 6 mil plastic to cover the whole thing, then add air filters and box fans for negative air system, add lights and make sure it all air tight for no dust. The area I am running blank on is type of paint, the better guns, and filtration from my compressor to the gun. Is it necessary to have a different gun for the three stages of paint...primer, base, clear. How much paint is needed to paint a 71 Mustang? Where is the best place to buy paint supplies? What brand of paint is best, are some better than others? I live in California so is a water based paint best for me here? Is single stage paint any good, or is a clear on top of a base the way to go? I want to paint her a modified grabber lime metallic with gloss black on the hood and a modified mach one stripe down the side. Should I paint the black first and then mask it off, paint the lime, and then clear; or lime, black, then clear? I know its a lot of questions, and I have been a google tech all day with this and still dont have any clear answers other than the technical info. So what have you guys used? This will be my first paint and body experience. I know the paint job is nothing without clean body work, so I will take my time with prep. Anyone else tackled this in their garage? Thanks guys!!!

 

[sdstang]

I feel your pain. im in North San Diego and all the bids I got where in the 10k range. That was with me doing the cab, trunk, undercarriage, engine bay, and aprons. Good luck with your setup!

Jim

 

[matrixx]

Air compressor, plastic, paint gun, $40 and friends at paint store

=



It's not pro but its only one coat and I did it. $50 paint job heh...I'm not rolling in cash here haha.


1yr earlier when I started working on it.

 

[71_resurrection]

Thanks guys, I have been on Eastwood's site for the last hour looking at supplies, gun, prep chemicals, safety stuff, paint, masking materials. So far the cart is at $806, the only thing is that I am guessing on the paint.

 

[caspianwendell]

There are different grades for each manufacture of paint. for example DuPont has Hot Hues, Chroma base, Nason, Standox, and spies hecker. These can range in price a great deal depending on color, and brand. Nason being on the bottom of the line, chroma base in the middle, and hot hues on top. I have sprayed all of these and for the money I like Chroma base just fine. Nason base was fine but don't like the clear, Hot Hues is just too pricey but damn it looks great. Some painters like siphon feed, and others gravity. I use siphon for primer and gravity feed for base and clear, moisture trap and inline drier. Always regulate your pressure at the gun for best results. A 14 cfm at 90 lb compressor is minimum for sustained pressure. I know a guy that sprays near perfect finish but shoots at 60 lbs and 18 in fan...my bum can't move that fast so I shoot around 40 lbs and 12-14 in fan depending on material. Any gun, compressor combo you get will have a "sweet spot" that you will have to find using test pattern...you want a consistent pattern from top to bottom of the fan with a short burst. If you have questions there are several guys on the site who will help you so just ask

 

[jeff8877]

Here is a link to some great basic info on painting, prep work and paint types. Give it a look...

http://www.refinishnetwork.com/car-painting-how-to/item/309-how-to-paint-a-car-yourself

Jeff

 

[Don65Stang]

Be careful ordering stuff you don't really need. Been there, done that.

Read everything you can from Scott (qcode351mach). Do a search for his posts and you can't go wrong. There are others on here that also offer GREAT advice but Scott tends to only make new threads that are always on topic about bodywork, painting, tools, restoring parts, etc.

Check out this post he made:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-great-deal-on-spray-gun

 

[turtle5353]

Depends on your budget. You can go all out or whatever you want. I painted my nephews car 2 winters ago in my little 2 stall garage and it turned out nice for a driver. Did have a few spots in it here and there from dust and a stray bug. But most of it cam out when i wet sanded it and buffed. First time i ever tried this type of work and we were pleased how well it turn out. Dont be afraifd to tackle it yourself. We used the Summit Brand paint, because thats all the budget allowed for but it was a decent product. I wouldnt reconmend it for your car if you want a factory nice color, but for a 16 year old kids first car it was fine! He just had his senoir pics taken with his car. He loves it.

Here's a link to a few pics of it and a video.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-1974-mustang-ii-on-youtube

Another post

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-done-with-the-paint-on-74-mustang-more-pics

 

[tempestairbrush]

Before you jump directly into painting your car, get some sheet metal panels and practice first on them. Its a lot cheaper to learn and mess up on of them then have a cars worth of materials wasted and have to sand down an entire car. You can also practice building a smaller paint area around just the sheet metal before plastic wrapping up your whole garage. You can even paint both sides of the panels so even less is wasted.

 

[Go Time]

"Is it necessary to have a different gun for the three stages of paint...primer, base, clear?"

in my opinion its best not to spray clear thru a gun that had paint or primer run through it, its not a good feeling when your spraying your clear on a nice white base and blobs of grey primer that was lurking around the inside of your gun comes out to say"hello" in the middle of your hood. As Don has stated the link Q put in for guns from harbor freight are great guns for primer. Harbor freight does have a step up for a "professional" kit for 49.00. I have both have used both they arent bad but they are not the quality of a 480.00 devilbiss or sata. But if your not going to use them every day then I say fine. The eastwood evolution gun looks interesting to me but I have no first hand info on it. the better grade HF guns come with different tips so you should be covered there.

Im wondering if you will have problems getting any other type of paint besides waterborn in California. Spraying waterborn in a home garage may bring a new set of challenges. I have never sprayed waterborn but I do know air movement is pretty important for proper drying. I think its great you want to do it yourself, If you can get something other than waterborn you may want to go that route. If I were going to spray a car in my garage (I have a booth available to me so I wont) I would do it in Base clear solvent type. For this reason. If you get some dirt in the base you can nib it out very very carefully before you spray the clear. But Im back to My original thought can you even get non waterborne stuff sent to california.

I would spray the lime first then the black then the clear. This would be another reason to do it in base clear solvent type. If you cant create enough airflow around the car in waterborn it may not dry correctly and putting stripes on after the main color could be a problem cause of tape tracks for the stripes. But at this point anything I say about waterborn is me talking outta my ... well you know. Im like Shultz from Hogans hero's when it comes to waterborn " I KNOW NOTHING"

Keep this in mind I don't post a lot but there are a lot of other guys on here that do and were all here for you. If painting the car is something you desire to do, we have your back.

 

[Don65Stang]

Oh yeah one more very important item.

Turn OFF all gas lines and extinguish any pilot lights...water heater, gas dryer, stove, gas logs.

May not be an issue with water borne paint but you never know. No need to blow up the house.

 

[imusa76]

Have you ever painted a car before? will this be your first large painting project?

if you have never painted a car, and this is your first time, then I would highly recomend going to a junk yard, and getting a door, or hood, and practice, get used to the how the paint gun reacts, you can pickup the "Dupli-color" premixed stuff for $20 @ Autozone and play with it, once you feel like your ready, get the better paints, and go for it.

Good luck.

 

[midlife]

I'd just hire Wolverine to do your painting. *G*

 

[71_resurrection]

Excellent advice everybody! I do have to find out if anything other than Water base is available to me, I was on Eastwood and they sale Low VOC Urethane paints, so I need to check to see if they are. I fortunately have a stock hood that I can use as my test panel because I will be adding a Ram Air hood to the final project. I am also lucky in that there is gas nothing at the house I am moving into, but I will double check! Q is always a source that I utilize as a subject matter expert on everything for our cars. The order of paint was pretty much a given for me as far as lime, black, then clear, but had to make sure. I have seen the Autozone paint and have considered testing technique with it, so I will definitely take that onboard. The gun is my last decision to make, guess it sounds like I will be going with three cheaper guns, not cheap but cheaper, for the different stages. Thanks!

 

[Austin Vert]

I hope good fortune is on your side,

because by God you're gonna need it!

Greg

 

[Totalled]

If you're using urethane paints, beware of the isocyanides that are in the hardeners. Be sure you have a respirator rated for them and can properly get it fitted, and use it! Also, I wouldn't shoot in an attached garage. Those fumes will get into the house and effect everyone in it.

 

[Obsidian11]

Practice, practice, practice! And then when you think your good enough to paint a whole car, practice some more. I've been a painter for 15 years and I'm still learning! Q is definitely a great go to source and feel free to bounce any questions my way as well, I'd be glad to steer you in the right direction!

Good luck...and oh yeah, practice

P.S. if your garage is attached, building a plastic room will still not be enough to keep the fumes out of the house, guess how I know this get a big industrial exhaust fan and cut it into a wall, box fans won't clear it fast enough unless you have about 30 of 'em. Guess how I know this as well

 

[matrixx]

I did mine myself and it's in no way professional, however it makes me happier to see it look somewhat presentable until i finish the boat loads of stuff i need to do and if i scratch it doing underbody work, interior work, or even mechanical work i wont be so mad. I'm going to have someone more experienced repaint mine when I'm at the stage of being "almost done". After that it can be just a few odds and ends here and there.

 

[MeZapU]

Spraying is the easy and fun part. Its the rest of the body work that is the hard part. Sanding, sanding, and more sanding.