Getting a Little Ahead but....Painting

[Joe Flanagan]

I've been thinking about this painting-the-car-myself thing, God help me. I would like to try to paint it in disassembled pieces and then put it all back together. The reason I want to do this is because the garage I have the car in is very small and I have to roll the car out any time I work on it and then push it back in when I'm done. If I'm doing this with an entire painted car I'm going to ding it up. If I have the fenders, hood, door, and trunk removed and stored somewhere, I think I would be OK. So here's my question:

Wouldn't the area where the door hinges meet the jambs look funny if not all painted at the same time (ie, with the doors on)? Also, to get the doors on, you really have to muscle the things around and exert a lot of force with the hinge screws and this would ding things up and you'd have to retouch it, which I'd rather not do. Unless retouching the jambs and hinges isn't really a big deal. I'd really appreciate any advice from anyone who's done this.

[steveplym]

I did it on a old chevy truck. I plan on doing it on my P-15 this summer too.

The reason I painted it apart was the fact that I didn't have a booth and I usually got dry spots on the first panels I painted by the time I got to the final panels. I painted the cab in sections and painted the rest of the pieces one or two pieces at a time. Depending on the size of course.

Works really well if you are shooting a solid color. I tried to do this with a metallic paint and it did not match very well.

Sure I ran into a few problems with reassembly, but I was able to detail and paint a lot more areas without a lot masking. I just touched up the areas with a matchstick. Most places I touched up you can't even tell. I used a lot of towels and other soft objects to make sure I didn't scratch the paint when reassembling.

In my opinion painting it in pieces is the best way to go for the hobbist painter. Especially if they don't have a booth.

[Allan Faust]

Joe,

Most painters (from what I`ve read and seen in shows etc) will paint the cars in parts... ie body, doors, fenders, etc.... The main thing to remember when doing so is to use the same number of coats, and treat each panel the same..... ie 5 coats on one panel, 5 coats on another, color sand one, color sand all....

Allan

[JerseyHarold]

Another point to remember is to mix all your individual paint cans together for color uniformity.

[Joe Flanagan]

OK. That's what I need to know. I really would like to try this. I do plan on shooting a solid color: Kitchener Green, if I can get it. Steveplym, the method you followed is exactly the way I planned to do it. I can shoot paint, basically. I'm not experienced in doing any touch-up, but I guess I can learn. I recently bought an HVLP gun. I shot epoxy primer with the junky paint gun that came with my Campbell Hausfeld compressor and killed it. Killed the next one right after that too. The roof, roof pillars, and firewall are in epoxy right now. Have been for about six years. I'm concerned about the doors because I think the bottoms of some of them are pretty well gone. We shall see. Thanks, as always, for the advice.

[Allan Faust]

Another thing about shooting is that if you are doing any primer, use the bigger tips, smaller tips for the color and clear coats (or single stage where the color and clear are mixed). My buddies, when they paint, use the cheapo HVLP or LVHP guns with the big tips for the primer, then they ditch the gun since even if they clean em, it seems they no longer work well... and rather ruin a cheapo then your high end color gun.... never shoot primer and color with the same gun is what I`ve always heard, and it doesn`t matter about the tips.... the final product is what you put into it.... if you paint, use guide coats, sand, and take your time, even though it may take you 3 x as long, you can do the same job as a pro, with just more elbow grease, because you have to sand out your defects.

Allan

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, Allan. I think my HVLP came with a 1.5 tip. I know that after shooting epoxy primer, those ultra cheapo guns I had were never the same. Didn't matter how much I cleaned them. I'm hoping the new one I got is better. The body on this car is pretty straight, so I don't anticipate anything way over my head. If I wind up welding in new door bottoms, that might be a challenge to do it so it's invisible after paint.

[Allan Faust]

Thanks, Allan. I think my HVLP came with a 1.5 tip. I know that after shooting epoxy primer, those ultra cheapo guns I had were never the same. Didn't matter how much I cleaned them. I'm hoping the new one I got is better. The body on this car is pretty straight, so I don't anticipate anything way over my head. If I wind up welding in new door bottoms, that might be a challenge to do it so it's invisible after paint.

Epoxy primer will dry out the seals, which is why my buddies purchased the cheapo guns.... doesn`t matter what you use, which is why they never seem the same.

As for welding in the door bottoms, are you talking about skins, or the whole kit n kaboodle? because just the skins shouldn`t cause too much of a problem

Allan

[Young Ed]

Hmmm we've used the same harbor frieght hvlp gun for many primer and paint jobs. No issues yet

[Joe Flanagan]

The guns that failed on me were not HVLP. They were the cheap kind that you can get with a Campbell Hausfeld compressor. They're kind of primitive. They're not gravity fed but have a canister under the gun. The HVLP gun I got is made by a company called Astro, I think.

[daddyo23]

Astro is a little step up. The 1.5 tip will be good for primer but you would want to go a little smaller for color.

[Joe Flanagan]

The Astro was billed as an inexpensive paint gun. When I bought it I thought I'd just be shooting primer and then handing the car over to a paint shop. Now that I'm thinking about doing it myself, I guess I'll try to make the Astro work for the whole job.

[Allan Faust]

Like Daddyo mentioned, get a smaller tip for the color coats... 1.2 would probably be best.... the 1.5 would be good if you are doing flake....

Allan

[Guest rockabillybassman]

I painted this in my shed. Used the same gun for the whole car, including the flake. I used acrylic laquer, about six coats colour, then about eight coats clear. The flake on the roof had twelve coats clear. When you install the doors etc, make sure you've got three or four people doing each door, that way there's little likelyhood of scratching.

[Joe Flanagan]

Man, I like that car. Good to know someone has done it and came out with results that good. That's what makes me think I might be able to pull it off.