89RsPower!

Do you have any pics of it looking great or even somewhat decent? It looks terrible in the pics you posted.. no offense.. I'm assuming that's not what it looks like now if it looks "great". Also good luck sanding that orange peel out of your third gen, did you do anything to fix that huge dent in the 1/4th? Best of luck.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

I used four coats on mine. Mind you, it was a 1200 dollar car, so I couldn't justify spending lots of cash on paint. I just prepped the original paint with fine sand paper, masked out the car, and sprayed the coats. Minimal peel, and was glossy, but didn't have that 'wet' look like you would have with a true professional paint job, not to mention that its cheap paint. Its faded slightly over the years from the sun and weather, but most of it still looks ok.

89RsPower!

That looks pretty good actually. The trick to it is being good at using spray cans. If you look at the pics of that 73 it looks like the persons first time using a spray paint can ever. It's all blochy and spotted and looks quite honestly horrible.

Thirdgen Ranch

iTrader: (5)

No, I think if you half-*** a half-*** job it would have to be a 3/4 assed job because I think 1/4 assed would be better than half assed so it would be 3/4 assed. Not a completely assed job but almost.

Aviator857

maacos are franchise but my paint job had a 3 year waranty from them, you have to check out the one you are going to be using. If you have your paperwork the chain should back the waranty.

The only problem I have had with the pain is the hood started peeling last year in the exact spot the factory paint pealed so its got to be an issue with the primer there.

Maaco doesn't do anything you don't tell them, they didn't paint anything they were not suppose to. They did get some over spray on a few spots. but it was easy to clean up. I did buff the car after I had it for about 3 months as the enamel they use takes a while to cure. However the paint job was $700 in 1999.

GeeJenn91RSV8

.........I think you are right! Thanks for explaining that to me!

Tpx

lol so much flaming. Yes I should have thinned but I'm confident it will sand well and then I can apply more coats, sand and finally buff/polish. I agree it doesn't look great but it's the FIRST COAT, all those "nice" roller jobs take pictures after 5 to 10 coats of thined paint plus polish. Just wait till you get some pics of my car after another few coats and polish then it should look much better. Oh, and don't forget, IT WAS RAINED ON after a fresh coat lol.

Yes, to whoever was so kind as to point out my rattle can paint on the 73 is horrible, it was my first rattle can job. I'm pleased with it however, and it was only meant to keep rust off the body until I got around to working on it.

deadbird

Just to weigh in... I am not flaming the paint job or, the effort into it.

The problem I have is that so much time is put into the 'after paint' that could have been put into 'before paint',

All the pissed away effort of color sanding in between coats and after and buffing, could have been same time spent in body work to make a very nice foundation for even a mediocre paint job to look very good.

I am not downing a 'poor mans' paint job...

I am downing the materials used to make a **** poor paint job, that requires mountains more work than needed to make a desirable result, for little to no savings on the materials.

I will still say though, I hope it turns out at least decent for you for all the time you have spent on it.

I am not above paint from a can myself.... but this car was on it's death bed at 280k miles (before it got hit in the rear)...

StringRust

iTrader: (2)

Nice work! Im sure once you smooth it out a bit more people will be pleased. haha

89ROC-Z

iTrader: (7)

i woulda said F*** the interior, gauges, and little crap and got a nice DENT FREE/ORANGE PEEL FREE paint job. People dont see the interior when your driving down the road. They will see the winkly faded dented exterior.

But it's YOUR CAR and YOUR MONEY, i really want to see the peels gone after you sand it. I could be surprised!

89RsPower!

Thats just the problem most people are pointing out.. have you ever tried sanding unthinned rustoleum? It doesn't sand to well. Still I wish him the best I hope it turns out good. I still don't understand why he left the dent in the front and left the 1/4th panel smashed in tho.. I honestly think it looked better the way it was... maybe he'll prove us all wrong.

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

did you mean that you spent $2,000 on just the guages or on all those things listed?

gcgarner

OK, you just lost my support for this paint job. That is ridiculous. $2k for gauges and a $50 paint job? No wonder these cars get the stereotype they have.

Unless this is going to be a strip-only car. Then it makes a little bit of sense. But not really.

89ROC-Z

iTrader: (7)

how hard is it to beg and plead with someone to let them borrow you their spray gun? Heck, buy them a pizza for lunch and i'm sure they'd let you borrow it (just don't wreck it!).

And guys i "hope" he ment 2000 on everything he listed. 2k on gauges alone is INSANE.

StringRust

iTrader: (2)

Yea I know what you mean haha. But he seems to have the drive and dedication, if u will, to do it. And I think what he did if I remember from a previous post of his was drill a hole in the dent cause he couldn't hammer it out being that there was support rails in the way, so he can pull it out later.

StringRust

iTrader: (2)

Im gonna dump a gallon of rustoleum over my car just to **** people off. Maybe spread it out with a leaf blower. Dont tempt me!

jak2908

any new pictures?? wanna see how it is going!!! have you wet sanded it yet?

Nub383

I can't wait until this wet-sanding starts. I would definately use a block. I just love these rustoleum paint jobs, they are captivating. These and the Theoretical Street Racing Posts are like soap operas. Its like I am watching this car's life flash before it's eyes. A paint roller. Wow. Why didn't you use an empty Windex Bottle? Or maybe swish it around in your mouth and spit it on there? 600 would take it out. Just kidding man good luck. I hope it turns out good. I always say, black is like a girl wearing spandex. If her body's not perfect, it sure will show!

Tpx

Alright here's an update, and I'll get some pictures later today if I have more time to sand. I have decided when I wet sand the portions that have the minor dents (along the doors) and the large dent, I will fiberglass bondo on them at that time. I personally don't give a damn about minor dents but someone talked sense into me and it won't be much of any extra work and it will make others happy (mainly my girlfriend) so I'll take an hour and fix those before the second coat of 50/50 mix.

The rustoleaum wet sands GREAT! I used a hand block and 600 grit on the rear deck portion where the greatest amount of orange peel was due to the water droplets sitting there. I have it smooth as glass to the touch, highly reflective, but a very minor textured "darker black and lighter black" visual look to it because when you sand it down you loose the gloss layer on top, thus the lighter black look. I also broke through to metal in two tiny spots, so I've decided to lay a 50/50 mixture of rustoleum and mineral spirits on after I have another section to do at the same time. This time, using a 50% thinner mix of paint I should have much less orange peel and enough thickness to sand down glass smooth and achieve no color variation. I hypothesize that if I had used 50/50 from the start I could have probably avoided a whole lot of work. I'm happy to live and have learned, however. It took me around two hours to wet sand the rear deck using 600 grit. It was my first time ever wetsanding though so I believe i've since improved, as well as going out to buy 400, 600, 800 grit for the rest. I believe the 400 will save me lots of time, then the 600 to finish before the second coat. The 800 will be saved until the final coat and I'll use it to sand before the polishing/buffing/wax.

A note for those looking for an easier way to wet sand, I had an orbital high rpm (10,000 + I believe) sander and I used that 600 grit sand paper on it to see if I could be lazy and use electricity.. it gums up the paper in no time and you easily scratch your paint job with very hard "globs" of paint in the sand paper. I assume, however, that if you got a low rpm sander, like around 2000 rpm or so it would not gum up the paint. I wanted to buy a variable speed one but I don't have the cash currently, so hand+elbow grease it is!

As for my plans: For today up until wed. I plan to wet sand the roof and one quarter panel, then on wed. I hope to make that 50/50 mix I was talking about and paint those three sections. Pics will come, don't worry. Tentatively I hope to have the whole sides of the car wet sanded and painted by sunday, and the front clip is just going to be a nightmare so I'll deal with that when it comes.

I WILL NOT spray the car, I considered maaco, spraying, rolling, and rattle can for my paint options. I chose rolling. I wanted a DIY job that had the potential to look great, and from everything I read the more work you put into it the better it can turn out. I am very dedicated in doing it this way so don't suggest spraying it please. It's like falling down a flight of stairs to spray it, and I wanted to use good old muscle and hard work to paint my car. I anticipate 90% of you not understanding that, and that's alright with me! I DO plan on getting a professional paint job in the far future, probably 10-15 years later. I do know how nice pro jobs look and I will have one, just right now this paint job is right for me.

For those making fun of my planned expenditure on gauges, there's no grounds for insulting my preferences. If I want all new gauges then that's my choice. I'm not happy with stock black and white gauges which are highly inaccurate, not the mention NOT full sweep, and only 3 ways of monitoring your car's vitals. Some of you may be happy with stock oil pressure, stock water temp, and an aftermarket tach, I'm not. My water temp's off by 15 degrees, my tach is off 200 rpm, etc. So keep your insults to yourself, you'd be surprised how things add up with you buy quality parts. From Summit: Here's my list so you can justify the $1782.48 final price tag:

Auto Meter Level 1 Digital Pro Shift Light $132.95
Auto Meter ES Series Voltmeter Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $109.95
Auto Meter ES Series Water Temp Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $92.95
Auto Meter ES Series Boost/Vacuum Full Sweep Mechanical Gauge $70.95 Auto Meter ES Series Fuel Level Short Sweep Electrical Gauge $60.95
Auto Meter ES Series Pyrometer Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $176.95
Auto Meter ES Series Oil Pressure Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $199.95
Auto Meter ES Series Oil Temp Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $143.95
Auto Meter ES Series Trans Temp Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $143.95
Auto Meter ES Series Tachometer Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $189.99
Auto Meter ES Series Speedometers Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $269.99 Auto Meter Z Series Fuel Pressure Full Sweep Electrical Gauge $189.95

bitchin_buick

My hats off to ya! For future reference only > rattle cans would have been just as cheap with less finish work... I used rattle cans on my Regal and was done in one day (note: I still had to tape off as if I was spraying the whole car!) Check it out, did all the black... Just an option in the future to save you TIME and money.... Good luck!

kevmann

Well thanks for being brave enough to post this. You are a trooper because you have listened to eveyone's constructive criticism and taken it well. This is one of things you learn from. You may decide after this is over that there is a better way. Or you may be totally satisfied with the results. Either way, you tried something new and you showed your progress, and you did it. If you ever decide to get a more professional job later, they make strippers to take it down to bare metal or you can get some grittier paper and sand it off. Either way, I think a lot can be learned and you shared it with the rest of us.

greatpumpkin_68

i have been following this post for awhile and just wanted to throw in my two cents. it seems like a lot of people think it's a good idea because of the cost issue and "he's just a college student trying to do it on his own". i don't think that people are saying he should take out a loan and spend thousands. what they are trying to say is that he could read about how to paint it with an actual paint gun with automotive paint and still do it cheap with borrowed equipment and off brand materials.. and get a WAY more professional job..and actually do some "learning" in the process... because doing it this way, he isn't learning anything. believe me.. i do not have a lot of money to throw away at a paint job either, and i totally respect wanting to do it yourself. i just think you are going about it the wrong way. when i painted my first truck i had never painted anything before. i read as much as possible about painting and talked with people who had experience. i used cheap single stage paint and supplies, borrowed a gun, and it turned out really nice! now i am pretty much hooked and always have some sort of auto body project going on.

i just wanted to add that i am now able to fund a good portion of my iroc project with money that i have made doing auto body repairs on family and friends cars.. so it really did pay off for me to learn how to do it.

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

Just to be clear, I wasn't mocking your planned expendature on guages. I was asking for clarification. Perhaps you were referring to others. They probably were trying to figure out the same thing as I was though... I see you going as cheap as possible on the paint and body work so I figure well maybe he's going for a fast car and will spend his money on the drivetrain. Then I see $2k on guages, which serve a function but I would consider the expensive ones to be more of a show piece. Suddenly, I can't frame this project as having a consistent direction.

As for that big dent, I'm looking for clarification again. Did you plan to fill it with fiberglass bondo? The inclusion of "fiberglass" in the bondo name certainly doesn't make it appropiate to fill craters. I'm certain that the proper method would be pushing the quarter panel out much closer to flush before skim coating it with body filler. Maybe that's whay you had in mind and just didn't go into detail on your planned method.

89RsPower!

Just make sure you pull those dents as close to flush as possible and sand them to bare metal before applying filler. The easiest way to pull them would probably be to weld on a stud and pull them with a slide hammer. Anyway good luck, post more progress pics!

KatsCam

I'd never let Maaco near one of my cars. I'd "paint" it with a Sharpie marker first!
Hang in there with this paint job. I've been following this, too, and am looking forward to seeing the finished photos.

Tpx

My car has a ~500 hp motor in it, solid rear axle, upgraded suspension parts (too many to list) etc, so I am now focusing on aesthetics, such as paint, nice gauges, new seats, carpet, etc. Yes, the important things (in my opinion) were done first, and were done with very good quality parts/work.

I heard fiberglass bondo is much stronger than bondo, and after I test it out on one of the minor dents on the doors I'll decide whether to use it or regular bondo, and no I'm not just going to fill in the whole big dent on the qp, that thing's massive haha! I'll be drilling and pulling it, you should see the fix in one week about.

89RsPower!

What does the engine consist of? Just curious.. from the pic you posted all I can really see is what looks like some sort of vs carb with a tiny little air cleaner on top.. on a side note all f-bodies came with solid rear axles.

Fiberglass filler does tend to hold up better than regular body filler if you're filling a larger dent. You'd probably be ok with just a thin skim coat of filler once you pull the dent out properly tho.

GeeJenn91RSV8

500 horsepower? Please fill us in?

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

very cool. Now I get where you've been and where you're going with your car. I'm glad you decided to address that dent. I think you'll be glad you did because you'll enjoy the new paint job that much more. What kind of 1/4 mile times have your run with your current setup?

omnipotentgoku

iTrader: (1)

Im all for the power of wet sanding so if you can make this hot, more power to you !

greatpumpkin_68

any progress?? i am looking forward to seeing the current pics.

89ROC-Z

iTrader: (7)

So since you said planned i take it you didn't order the gauges yet correct?
Will you even need the trans temp gauge on a manual tranny?

StringRust

iTrader: (2)

I just want to see some photos damnit!!!! hahaha.

Tpx

You are correct, I haven't ordered the gauges yet. They are last on my list of improvements so if I run out of cash for this summer's planned expenditures then they get pushed to next year.

I have been working twelve hour days this week, lots of stuff going on at work and haven't gotten to have any quality time sanding, on top of that, this my engine's developed a miss or backfire. At idle and low RPM's I get a random and frequent (once every few seconds) pop sound from the exhaust, sounds like a stuck valve or fouled plug. When I have my exhaust done this Wednesday (true dual from hedman's to flowmasters 2.5") I will then take the car to superior automotive in anaheim and have them mess with it and tune it up nice, then dyno test for power. Might just need a valve adjustment (I hope). So.. i've only done half the roof and the rear deck. It's alright, I'm making lots of overtime to pay for more improvements to the car! Anyway, here's a few pics I shot to give you an idea of how the surface looks sanded, keep in mind most of the improvements the sanding does is texture, not visual. The real proof of the mirror smooth surface will be when I paint over it on my second coat. To the touch, the surface is GLASS smooth. I'm very pleased, and hope it reflects in the second thinned coat!

Edit: To elaborate on the engine, estimated power from desktop dyno says 498 but it could be 400 or 550, who knows. After Superior automotive tunes and tests it I will post up the dyno sheet. My specs are actually not with me so I'll do this by memory: It has a scat 4140 crank, wiseco pistons, harland sharp rockers, AFR heads of unknown specs (don't ask), Holley carb, and can't remember cam, sorry. All topped off by some piece of **** tiny air filter. After my cowl hood I can afford the space to get a nice 4" tall K&N filter.

Edit 2: Never ran a quarter mile with this newly rebuilt engine yet, can't seem to get it to run right since I got it back about three weeks ago. Probably by the end of summer I'll have a quarter mile time for ya.

GeeJenn91RSV8

You still got a lot of sanding to do. Even though it feels smooth you need to sand all of the texture out. If you lay down a second coat without fixing the first one you're gonna create more problems in the end. I had to learn the hard way. I'm just trying to help you out.

89RsPower!

I wouldn't put to much faith into that desktop dyno results if I were you.. honestly I don't even know how you could have gotten any results anywhere close to being accurate without knowing anything about the engine.. you have no idea what the heads flow, or the cam specs, you don't list the cfm of the carb although its clearly a vs carb, not even so much as a compression ratio..
Anyway listen to the above poster, get that first coat perfectly smooth before even considering a second coat.. if you put another coat on without fixing the first it will simply multiply the problem.

Tpx

I did have all the specs when I entered it into the program, I said I don't have them with me at this time, they are up at my apartment in north california. It took me quite a while to track down each part's specs too, many of them were custom, including the heads which had port work done prior to my obtaining them.

To GeeJenn, I simply cannot feel any texture variation in almost all of my sanded area, if I lay another coat on top of it it will cover up the base coat anyway. I will give it a try to get it even smoother but I doubt I can, at least not to the touch

GeeJenn91RSV8

Your car is covered in orange peel. If you don't get rid of it now it will always be there. Sanding it smooth and getting rid of the the orange peel means sanding the shine completely out of it. Then you can lay down a second coat. It's a ton of work.

greatpumpkin_68

i know this seems basic but.. even though it may feel smooth, it isn't. the shiny spots are low spots. it won't be smooth until the whole area looks dull.

KatsCam

Too funny! Do it, do it!

Seriously, doesn't anyone remember being broke as hell in college and longing for one of these cars? I certainly do. And although there are a million things he could've done different, as everyone is so willing to point out, I have to commend him for caring about the car and for trying to make it better.

406z

I'm a college student too, and in somewhat of the same boat. I need 2,000 just for my housing by july. Put a girlfriend, life, and rusty floor boards on top of that, and things get tight. My car has a maaco job on it currently. It was done by the previous owner a few weeks before I bought it. He got it done to hide all the little rust bubbles that are now appearing on the quarters. In a perfect world it would be okay. I would go to my paint booth, after having the car chemically dipped and stripped of all the paint on the entire chassis, I would then paint each panel seperatly with my multiple several thousand dollar paint gun setup, and have my reassembly team help me put it together. Of course a long with this, my t-tops would never leak and my car would get 500mpg.
In a possible world I would go to harbor freight and buy a cheap gun, spend hours on prep work, and spray. The paint would suffice till I could graduate school and do it right.
In my world. I have no garage, painting experience, and my budget is limmited. I may use a cheap gun and spray rustoleum after its been thinned or maybe if I'm lucky use a cheaper oe paint and a nicer clear. But, if all else fails and I loose a drive shaft or need new tires. A paint roller beats bare metal.
It's also nice to see people my age working on thirdgens. I know a few people who have them, and don't appresiate them at all. The rest of my friends either drive imports and know nothing about cars or drive crap and know nothing about cars. Props for attempting it. Even with orange peel it'll be absolutly evil to the average person with a nice exhaust setup.

1982TA

iTrader: (1)

Anybody that does this I give them credit. It seems a lot of people like to bash the "roller" paint method, or even rattle can. I remember reading about this method a while back, some guy painted a VW beetle and a charger I think, both paint jobs came out very well I thought. It made me thing about painting my TA like this also. When the time comes I may try it, but don't have a lot of time right now (2 kids, school). Money seems to be a big factor on why people want to paint this way. It is for me...and I wouldn't even go to Macco no matter how cheap. I have seen so many cars painted by them and they don't last. I think paint is so over rated in my opinion anyway. I would be happy with a factory looking paintjob, vs. "show car" paint jobs any day. I just went to a local car show the other day and one thing I look at is the paint just to see if they have that zero blemish, mirror shine finish. I would say that the majority of them didn't. I was looking at this one car up close critiquing the paint, and noticed orange peel, and fish eyes. Mind you it looked good, and you probably wouldn't notice unless you were right up on it like I was. He knew what I was doing and what I saw, and joked about it. He had the car repainted he said, but there were some "flaws". I didn't care, the car looked good to me, and he didn't seem to care. He told me if I get my car painted to do it right. I have black so it's the hardest to hide imperfections. It's all prep that determines how the paint will show up. Good luck on your project.

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

The only thing I want to point out is that you were able to look at the Maaco jobs after the passage of some time and in person so you could truely judge the quality of work... and you weren't able to do that with the roller paint jobs. It's very easy for digital images on a computer to make a car look like it has a decent or even very good paint job when in person you would see all kinds of problems with it. The pictures of that Charger and Beetle may have been taken when the car was freshly painted or maybe not even fully cured or dry yet.

1982TA

iTrader: (1)

Yes you are right...I don't know the quality of the roller jobs after they are done, or a few years from now. I've never seen one in person so I don't have anything to compare it to, other than what people say who have done it. As with anything, the results will determine how good the prep was. If you put the time and effort into doing something, and not cut corners, I believe good results can be achieved. Why do you think "show quality" paint jobs cost so much?? It's not so much the materials as it's the prep and labor. If you are talking 40-50 hours of work, it's going to cost you. Most people don't want or need that kind of paint work. Most people can settle with some imperfections and don't need a mirror finish. Look at any new car paint job from the factory. Show me one that doesn't have orange peel. Nobody cares, and I think paint is one thing that people overrate. If people want to try and do it themselves, and use methods that aren't "professional" more power to them. If they can save money while doing it and get results they like, then that is all that matters.

V6F1R3BRD

I think you 1/2 assed your math about his 1/2 assed paint job that he 1/2 assed... Wait wut?

89RsPower!

You said that bass ackwards.

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

replace the word "determine" with "reveal". I think that's what he meant to say.

StringRust

iTrader: (2)

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...int-job-2.html

Dont know if someone threw this in here yet but here's another route you could have taken. Guess your a little to far along to start over though!

godjackass

any progress?

89ROC-Z

iTrader: (7)

oh oh shoulda got maaco