greenirocz

Alright - so along with all of the other painting projects listed - I've decided I wanted to keep everyone up to date on what's going down with my camaro.

I was backed into on my driver side door about a week ago - and after sustaining nose damage in a rear end collision earlier this year - I have decided it's time to get this whole car re-painted.

I was quoted by some auto body shops ranges between $800.00 - $1400.00 to re-paint my camaro back to it's original Metallic Dark Teal with clearcoat. After extensive research on sites and forums as this, I decided I wanted to tackle this job myself for the reward of being able to take pride in my own work and maybe gain a little experience in painting auto's. So I guess just personal satisfaction will play a big role in this. :P

I started out by purchasing a new hood. Pulled one off of an 87 Iroc-Z with the louvers still on! Wow! The guy at the junkyard let me take it for $100.00 even. Not too shabby. A new nose, front skirt, driver side fender and and lights were purchased along with the hood for another $250.00. I plan on buying the door before the end of the week from a place called pull-a-part. Should be able to get that for around $60.00.

I am not going to re-paint the car in factory color. I have been to a store called smart shopper here in Louisville and I've found a color very similar only a shade lighter and more metallic. Also, rather than re-painting in polyurethane, I will be using acrylic enamel. Not only is this cheaper - but as long as it gets clear coated and the hardener applied - it can be just as durable as polyurethane. I believe it's going to be:

$219.90 after tax for:

1 Gal Met. Teal
1 Gal Clear Coat
1 Gal Primer
Quart Reducer
2 Quart Hardener
Flex Agent + Paint Additives
10 Stirrers, Strainers

I already have a bottom fed spray gun for shooting primer and an HVLP Gun with three nozzles for shooting color and clear.

Going to Lowes I purchased a orbital sander for 45.95 along with 220 Grit and 400 Grit for stripping off the old paint. 5 Blocks of 180, 220, 300, 400 Foam Sandpaper each and strips of the same grade for block sanders.

I have had the Camaro parked in a 3 car garage which has been prepped for paint. We have 8' X 10' 2.32mm Plastic covering the bays and we have wet down and squeegeed out the floors several times to keep the dust down and out. \

Thus far I have gotten the hood, nose, front fenders, roof and deck lid all sanded down for primer. The hood as been painted before - so we literally went through 6 coats of paint to get down to the metal - but alot of paint was still left on. It smoothed out brilliantly though and should be ready for primer once we finish sanding down the rest of the vehicle. The nose was a little more difficult. There are quite a few areas with cracks that span out like small rainbows. I will need to get more information on how to repair this area - so if you have information and experience with that - it would be appreciated. But for the most part the nose is ready to be primered as well.

I will upload pictures later on today so everyone can see the progress of this project as I go. Any comments, suggestions and pointers while I'm doing this would be great. Once we shoot primer, I'm block sanding everything back down once more with 1500 to 2000 grit before base coats go on. But that's a week away. I hope to have this finished up before the 9th of September. So keep stopping in to see how for I've gotten.

Thanks!

-Tyler

zdc590

Sounds like a lot of work and fun. Hope it comes out looking great. I really cant wait to see pics, I love following peoples work. Good luck!

MikeH

iTrader: (10)

Good luck hope it turns out great for you!

If your using the reducer to clean your guns and stuff you might need a little more. I painted mine a little here and there so i did clean them alot. I used more then a quart.

rwdtech

wait so are you discarding the 91 gfx for iroc ones?

greenirocz

MikeH - I will purchase extra reducer - I see how a little more couldnt hurt anything - except the pocketbook. :P I'll make sure I have plenty Thanks!

rwdtech - I had a 8 page discussion about this earlier this year. Yes, as of right now I am cloning an Iroc-z. I know this hurts alot pf peoples feelings - but I would like to stay away from getting flamed on this issue considering it's always a 50/50 split between people supporting me and people bashing me. Iroc decals have been purchased along with new nose components and the hood and louvers. Hopefully I'll be able to put new suspension in it soon.

So here are some pics of how far we've gotten. The car has been sanded all over and there were several dips and chips in the paint all the way down to the factory primer. So I purchased some MetalWorks body filler to put on the areas needing filler as well as the nose where the cracks were appearing.

This will all be sanded back down with 220 and 350 this evening before the car get's masked off for primer!

Original car:



Finely sanded back driverside quarter behind window:



After hood, door and lots of sanding and body filler:



Whew! That took a horrific turn!

I'll be painting with Kirker Acrylic Enamel. Everything should be finished very soon. But I have alot more work with prepping the car. We've been doing alot of sanding with 220 and 350 grit block all over the car. Now the body filler needs to be sanded and the ground effects need to be re-touched. Once the car gets this final sanding finished. We're masking the car and shooting primer.

I'll have pics of that once it's finished!

Until next time...

-Tyler

cooltc2004

iTrader: (4)

Looks like a good start man!

I was one who thought you should do what you wanted with your car, and Im glad you decided to do that!

rwdtech

ohhhhh i remeber you, yea a lot of people were freaking out in that thread lol. no flaming here, its your car, do it how you want. we all know IROC's are just as badass as Z28's

greenirocz

Thanks for the support!

Today I will be sanding down all of the body filler that was applied two days ago. I'm thinking a few hours will get it taken care of. Hopefully it can be masked tonight and primer shot tommarow!

Does anyone know if there is a certain type of primer that applies to bare metal rather than to sanded old paint?

Thanks!

rwdtech

you arent going to keep the front plate bracket are you? and you are getting an iroc or Z28 grill right?

greenirocz

I have purchased a gloss black camaro grill insert with the fog light ports on the sides. Looks identical to this one:



Of course this wont be installed until after paint. I really am a bit nervous on painting this thing. Some articles and books say it's really difficuilt but it's possible. And then theres some people who say its not as hard as it looks - as long as its prepped well. I'm really just concerned about runs and clearing the car.

We'll see what happens I guess. I just don't want a $500.00 mistake!

-Tyler

tommy z-28

iTrader: (1)

Bare metal must be painted with epoxy primer. Its a sealer when reduced and sprayed, but can also be used without reducer for slightly higher build.

They would sell it in spray cans at the body supply place incase you sanded through only in some spots.

Those prices for your paint is very economical, be patient and fix mistakes before painting on another coat, dont rush it. Clear could be the toughest to avoid runs. PRactice spray a piece that is perpendicular to the ground (most prone to runs) before hitting the car.

greenirocz

Great - I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Hopefully primer will be on by Wednesday. I'll upload some pics of the during & after.