1987Formula350

Last year (when I was making far more money than I am now) I made very little progress on my car because I worked out of state. Now this year I have managed to slowly finish most of my body work, but since I have very little money now my engine plans have been put on hold. So, I was considering having the car re-painted while I am waiting to win the lotto. Now I could do the paint myself since I own some helpful equiptment, like an air compressor, sandblaster, and lots of free time. I have never painted a car before and I don't want to screw this up. I would rather pay for someone else to do it if its too much for me to handle. I have invested way to much money into this car already,
so if I could paint it myself it would be very good for my shrinking bank account.
Please tell me what a project like this involves.
What kind of paint ?
what kind of paint gun ?
should I strip the car of its current paint and start fresh ?
if so can I sandblast or does it have to be done by hand ?

Is it worth it for me to paint it myself ?
Here is my list of reasons to do it myself.

The car is stripped, no engine, no interior, no fenders.
I could also remove the doors and the front bumper cover so that I could paint all the pieces seperately if that would be better.
I am in no hurry the car hasn't moved from my garage in 3 years and will probably be here for a few more.
Any help would be excellent, Thanks

badandy247

try it!

get a decent gun from a paint shop (or even sears)(or NAPA) and get paint from NAPA. Many people will knock on this method but for a first paint job if you screw up just media blast it off and have it done professionally. The quality is truly in the prep work, I have seen show cars painted with this way by a local rod builder who was a former painter for GM. He uses these lower priced materials on the cars he paints for beer money more than the show cars, but no Macco or Schieb (not even some low end pro jobs) have ever looked as good as these do. Let me tell you now though he sands on each car for hours getting the paint up to his acceptable level but he is a firm beliver in the quality of the NAPA pain line.

Hope this inspires the automotive mayhem inside you!

1987Formula350

I think I will try it. I have read that you shouldn't sandblast body panels because the heat generated by the friction of the sand against the metal can warp them. Please tell me if this is true.

1987Formula350

I have seen paint guns for sale from $20 on up to $900. I don't want to buy anything cheap but what is a reasonable price for a good gun?

Brian Felts

http://www.autobodystore.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?index


All you need to know is here

Brian

91camaroRS

finally decided to paint the bird Nick ? I say give it a shot it couldnt hurt........:lala:

Brian Felts

A little paint note for ya I am also using the NAPA brand paints and so far they have a very good knowledge of the product, the supplys.......paint..reducer....hardner etc. have a very good price and quality it excellent.



Brian