superdavid

Ok, so I'm a 20 year old college student on a budget, and my paint is getting old. I'm considering painting my Stang this summer myself. I have a little experience doing machinery, and I painted my motor bay and engines. Think I can do it myself?
For the actual shooting of the paint I was thinking about setting up a large tentin the shop my dad's company owns. They have compressors and every metal working tool in the world; welders, torches, lathe, mills, grinders,sanders... everything.
I know 90% of the work is in the body, so I would probably spend about 3 full weekends prepping, then stay up as long as necessary the fourth to do the actual paint shooting.
Good idea? Bad idea?
Keep in mind, I can't afford to shell out 3-5 grand for a professional job. When I graduate college and have a decent job, that will be more of an option.

I know black is thehardest, but its really what I want. I saw these pics of the black with flat black stripes and I really like the uniqueness of it. The other main option is silver with stripes, or silver and leave the hood black.

[IMG]local://upfiles/22022/CAD90536C9274619863B47FDFFF2739F.jpg[/IMG]

superdavid

Hang on... the pics won't post... [:@]

109jb

Check out this: http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

superdavid

I've seen that stuff, but people that do that say their car is still a 20 footer...

gothand

If I were you and had intentions of painting in 5 years or so when there was more money available, I wouldn't put too much effort into this 'temp fix' paint job. If I were you, I'd remove every bit of trim that I could and head over to Maaco for their sub $1000 paint job. When you do it 'right' somewhere down the road, you'll be blasting it to metal anyway so the extra Maaco coat isn't going to cause you any extra grief.

This way you'll get a decent looking car with very little cash or sweat outlay.

Good luck!
Jeff

superdavid

Yeah.... but the money is only one part of it. I'd really like to say that I did it myself, if it turns out good. lol.
there isn't a maaco around me, but there is a shop of Mexicans that did my hood, and they did an excellent job with it. I've seen a few of their other cars, and they all turn out nice. They also fixed my Celica after I put it in a guardrail when the roads were icy, and it came out clean. I've thought about using them, I was quoted $1500.

109jb

When I first saw it I had to do a sample panel. I painted part of the old door skin off my stang and buffed it out like that website said. If you can get the whole car to look as good as my door skin came out I would say you would have a 6 incher, not a 20 footer. It's not easy and is quite a bit of work, but it came out real nice on my sample.I'm not going this route because it would seem you are limited to solid colors, no metallics or pearls and the color I want is a blue pearl. If I were going a solid color though I'd have to give it a lot more thought. Think about the benefits. Any repairswould be cake.Take a scrap of steel and try it.Doesn't seem itwould hurt to do a sample, especially if you are on a tight budget.

Starfury

I agree with gothand. It takes a real pro to make black (or any similar dark color)turn out well. You'd have to spend a lot of time making sure the bodywork is absolutely perfect, then hope you don't mess up your first full car paint job. I've taken a paint class, and while it's not impossible to do it yourself, it's hard to make it look good without a lot of experience. There are a lot of factors that go into the mixing and spraying techniques that you aren't going to get right on the first shot. I've seen several students in the paint classes here try to paint their cars and fail miserably. The only ones that turn out well are the ones where the student has lots ofprior experience.

superdavid

hmmm... sounds a lil tricky.... I think if I end up doing it myself, I'll probably end up going silver... what do you think about that black with the flat black stipes? Would that be any harder than normal stripes?

dirtydave289

Good luck whichever way you choose to go

If it helps...I painted and powder coated for an aircraft components shop over the summer and after a little bit of practice the painting was cake[8D]