Bradford68

Hello,
I joined the other day. I have a 68 convertible that I have had since I was a senior in high school(1983)andhave just completedits first everprofessional body restoration.The restorationblewthis andmy next two year restorationbudget. So,I amconsidering painting the car myself at home in my garage. What advice can somebodyhere give me that has painted a car at home in agarage. I figured I would simply research what I need to do and then go out andbuy and rent the tools.After a10K and 6K quote I am ready to paint it myself just so it does not sit in primer mode for two more years until I can afford to have somebody elsedo it.

Howhardcan it really be to paint a car if you do your research, have the tools, space,and time to do the job?

Bradford68

David09sp

Well I have helped paint a 36, to a lime green color. It was a flat, which made it much easier. Unfortunately gloss is gonna take a couple clears.

If you spend the time to do a little research, and buy a couple tools your off. Just mask off a paint booth, buy a mask, a painters kit I think house of colors makes a perfect one, some paint and your off.

TripleHmotosports

Base Coat/ Clear Coat is the easiest to spray. Base Coat goes on flat and the clear makes it shine.Have you priced the paint you want? Depending on the color and brand it can runup $1000.00. Thats alot of money to wash down the drain if you mess up. When you buy the paint and materials get a data sheet and it will detailall the information as far as pressures and temps to spray.

Is there a Vocational or High School near you that has a Body Shop Class? If so they will probably paint it for material cost.

If you decide to paint yourself get you an old door and hood to paint first. The reason for those to pieces is because your are making the paint lay two different ways.To make it look right you have to paint the parts as they fit on the car.

67 evil eleanor

To me, if you can wiggle around and have someone paint it in a booth (maybe as a side job on a Saturday), you will get better results. Maybe some will shoot it if you have all the body work done and in 2k, sanded and set to go. This may reduce your cost to under 1500 for everything. Quiet a bit cheeper than the 6k and 10k quotes you recieved.

Tony R

I hate to tell you this but if you got the body work done you could take it to maaco for a couple hundred bucks. I painted my exploder in my garage and plan to do my mustang as well. Go to your local paint store and ask them for info. You may have to go to a couple to get a place that will work with you. I went to a couple that thought that they were better than me and wouldn't help me paint my car. They thought it should be left up to the professionals.

mortman

I am planing on doing the same thing. should be ready for primer in the next three weeks. 300 for filer, epoxy primer and metal prep. I plan on putting up a tent on the side of my house and sealing it real good, still figuring the ventilation though. Paint and clear i have been quoted 700.00. i have been to 5 or 6 paint shops and only one really wants to work with me. I have painted before and came out real good but i had access to a booth at the time, eaven drove home in the rain after. ventilation and a dust free environment is what your looking for.

THUMPIN455

Just did my 67 Cougar, did a base clear on it in a bright red. It was a bare metal shell not long ago, and I just ordered all the rubber parts for the glass. You need to replace all that when you paint one of these. Anyway, I spent roughly 600 hours working on it, everything from bumping dents, and replacing sections, making parts that I cant get since its a Cougar, primers, fillers, blocking, more primer and blocking, then base and clear coats.

The most arduous part of it was the block sanding and wetsanding the clear coat. It orange peels pretty heavy sometimes and you need to sand it smooth. I sanded through the clear in a couple spots and found I would have to shoot the entire panel again to fix it. That is rough let me tell ya. Patience is the key when doing that work. You cant rush it at all, one panel at a time and make it as good as you can without going overboard.

Paint alone was $330 for the base, clear and activators. All the other stuff like primers, sand paper, fillers, filters, paint cups, stir sticks, thinner for clean up, tack cloth, and all the other attendant stuff will run around $1000 to do an entire car. Best advice is buy bulk in that stuff and get a gallon of paint.

Practice on something like a mail box or an old washing machine to get the painting down if you want to spray it yourself. Runs sags and orange peel are a huge pain in the butt to sand out or repair, the color coat is easy, but the clear can be a bear.

You dont want dust or bugs in the paint, and mosquitos are drawn to clear coat like 18 year olds to Pam Anderson. You need to thnk about that, and painting in an attached garage wont be fun for the whole family unless you all wear respirators until the fumes dissipate. You cant paint without a respirator, you cant even stand to be in the same room as a freshly painted car without one. Also it can be highly illegal to paint a car in your state, I think in California it warrants a summary execution.

Its a huge job with tons of hours working on the car with very little visual progress until the color and clear go on. Then its tedious and time consuming wet sanding and buffing it out. As an added plus the mile deep looking clear will show every spot you missed or didnt get perfectly smooth, each and every time the light passes over it. If you can deal with it having some "character" in the form of bumps and obvious screwups, and nowhere near being a show car, then go for it.

Mine went from this:


To this:



To this in about a year. And the pictures hide the spots where I wasnt so good.
You decide if you want to take on the massive work required.

THUMPIN455

Click the bottom link in my sig if you want to feel good about your Mustang, it cant be as bad as mine was.

zggill04

If your anywhere around Jacksonville NC, I have a place I could shoot it for you. I mean, painting isn't just going in and shooting it. There is a little bit of knowledge and skill that goes into it, but not too bad. Like the adjustments on the gun, the amount of air, the fluid coming out, the fan, but you can adjust the gun to shoot to your preference. I would get a few panels to practice on first like someone else had mentioned. Because you may spray it and it "looks" good but then a few minutes later it starts running. If you do that with your base coat you might as well let it dry and sand it down. The clear you can work the run out through wet sanding.

Bradford68

Thanks guys for the great advice. I am in the Atlanta area zggill04; your offer sounds tempting however I can probably find somebody a little closer with research. I am expecting that once I contact my local area mustang club I will find some local paint help/assistance. I will keep you contact info just in case. I would hate to think how much it would cost to flatbed my car to Jacksonville, NC.
Bradford68