hello all, thought id post some pics of my budget paint job progress, rustoleum gloss black, apllied with hplv gun and mineral spirits thinner. there is quite a bit of dust in the paint, hard to see in the pics. once i get a good thickness im gonna knock it down with wet sanding and isolate the car in a plastic homeade booth. it might work it might not. if all else fails ill wet sand and buff. anyways, the last pic is with about 3 coats. will be updating with final product i will have it in the sun with a decent camera.

Should be very sharp, I've been holding off on my paint, i don't like the red... but it's not in awfull shape yet.

how much did the paint cost ? just curious

26 bucks a gallon (protective enamel) they have red, silver, white, a few blues and a couple of greens, i went with black cause the car had a black finish from macco so it would be less work, oh and 6 bucks for the thinner, i have been mixing 2 to 1.

how much math did you do to come up with exactly 384 cubic inches? (SWEET THAT'S A COOL LINK) thanks

I'll prolly be spraying mine in the tractor building.... i can't decide on a color, but I am a big fan of primer.... just don't know yet.

uh, 4.040 bore, 3.75 in stroke 8 cylinders = 384.568 ci 6.299 liters 6299 cc's calculated with this http://www.csgnetwork.com/cubicinchdispcalc.html

i like primer/flat, but i thought id try a shiney finish for once, maybe then ill get good looks from chics instead of the, "what the hell is all that noise, oh its that crap bucket over there" look. either way, i like going fast more then looking good, so i spent the paint budget long ago.

Looks good, if you spray in on concrete spray a little water on the floor it keeps the dust way down.

yea, ive been doing that, but i should prolly clean the rest of the garage as well.

Looks good so far. I just did the budget paint thing myself. I haven't wet sanded yet though. I used Smoke Grey, but I thought it was to light/primer colored. So I added some gloss black till I got this. It's sort of a gunmetal color. In the right light it has a blueish tint to it. I think I have maybe $40 into the paint job. I also did mine with an HVLP gun. It's already got a nice shine to it (pic was taken when it was overcast), but it's got a tiny bit of orange peel...so I still plan on wet sanding and buffing it. Sorry to highjack your thread. I think you'll really like the way it comes out...expecaily for the price.

Did you lay down any primer first or just let the rustoleum take car of pretecting the metal.

And how many gallons of paint is it going to take to be done.

Nice paint guys. I was gonna go with a catalyzed enamel on mine but I got a really good deal on Sherwin Williams paint (NAPAs Martin Senour) I used less than a gallon of color. When you mix a gallon with the reducers etc, you get a pretty decent amount of paint. My car is black and the GFX are gold so I have a pint of gold (used about 3oz of paint LOL) and I think I have about a pint of black left (I had to repaint the mirrors and spoiler) Our cars have a lot of glass and no real trunk lid. If you use a gravity feed HVLP or LVLP, you can do a car with a gallon of paint and have some left over...assuming you get full coverage in 3 coats of color.

looks good guys, like that color, toomany. no primer is needed with this type of paint besides, the primer would prolly outlast the finish anyways.
i have quite abit left in my gallon but i still need to do a few more coats.

Looks great so far I can't wait to see it once its finished. How hard is it to paint the lip on the front of the car and stuff?

Wish you lived up in CT i'd come to you to do my paint job. Mines fading like hell :\ i'd pay you, your probably cheaper than maaco :P haha

Nice job...please post pics upon completion!!

thanks dudes, uh the front lip, if u mean the air damn or spoiler deal, its no different then spraying anything else. normally u would want a flex agent added to the paint. i didnt see it needed cause the car is rarley driven on the street. and if any cracking in the paint pops up, ill scuff and shoot it again. anyways waiting for some nice weather to clean the garage and do the final coats. will post some more pics.

Thanks! It kind of gives it that "work in progress" look, since it's sort of a primer color. The cars going to be a sleeper, 406/T56 with plain Camaro badges/6 cylinder exterior.

I also didn't use any primer. Just painted right over bare metal, bondo and the old paint. I just wet sanded with 400 before I shot the color.

got some more paint laid on. should have it done by tomarrow, and out in the sun.

That's a cool paint job. I'm planning on rolling on my paint, unless you can tell me where I can get a spray gun. I have access to an air compressor. I'm painting mine Sunrise Red - Rustoleum.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/au...paint-job.html (My "budget" paint job.)

Fyrchkn had great results with a wagner's power painter, so that could be any alternative to look into.

lowes has a whole kit for around 60$ comes with a primer gun, paint gun and dryers, regulators ect.

i bought mine from a local paint shop my friend works at.

hey you already said ou didnt add a flexible additive, mines a DD so id like to add the additive, where do you get it? does that rustoleum stuff have it?

any auto paint place will have it. i wouldnt worry about it if your using rustoleum, its pretty flexible as is. and unless you plan to run into alot of stuff u wont need it.

Thanks.

I'm going to Harbor Freight today and getting a spray gun.

flex additives are used mostly when the plastics are painted off the cars, so that way the paint doesnt crack when puting it back on. the additives them selves evaporate out after a few days, and are no longer present. so after some time the paint on the bumpers is just like the paint on the rest of the car. you can get away without using it.

madhatter is right on the money.

well here are 2 pics of it in the driveway. my camera phone is only 2.0 mega pixels so they arent the best. i havent done any wet sanding yet, nore have i washed the car yet. i dont even own a shammy or car washing stuff cause none of my vehicles have paint worthy. till now i guess

there are a few runs here and there, cause i spayed when it was only 50 deg out side and prolly 58 deg in the garage. anyways it looks alot better now then when i got it. i havent put the gfx on yet either.

Is the wagner power painter powered by air compressor? I don't have access to an air compressor, am I out of luck for a spray gun?

those are electric

Alright, thanks alot.

How much was the paint? Per gallon? Your paintjob looks nice, I'd like to do one like that too, you just sanded down to the metal? No primer? How many coats do you plan on doing?

36 bucks a gallon i think and $6 for the mineral spirits thinner. thanks. no dont sand to metal unless nessesary, no primer just scuff a bit with 320 grit. i did about 4 coats, will prolly wet sand from here and shoot another 2 coats and do the final wet sanding and buff and call it done.

looking good, i thought about going that route, but wasn't hot on the color selection

Madhatter is right on the flex agents...partially

SOME flex agents actually bond to the paint on a molecular level and once the paint is cured; if its thick enough it has almost a latex or teflon like quality. Most of the lower end flex agents just retard the curing process for a max of 48-72 hours and are used to allow you to deform the plastics enough to slip on the 'bumpers'

R-M Diamont, Glasurit, Sikkens and the high end PPG flex additives alter the molecular bond. Most of the rest just slow down the curing process slightly

I DO NOT reccomend additives to 'cure' or 'eliminate' fisheyes. Most fisheyes are caused by contaminants in your gear...not the paint.

If you need an aircompressor, check with your local equipment rental place; I rented a 60gal contractor model for I think 50 bucks a weekend.

thanks, yea there isnt alot of choices.

How many gallons did you use? I went to home depot yesterday to pick up a couple of those new ratcheting combination wrenches for my header install (those f*ckers are expensive, 50 bucks for 5 wrenches!) and I checked out the paint section, I saw the rustoleum glossy black for 36 bucks, it also said on the back not to use any lacquer thinner with it, the type of thinner you used is safe to use with the paint? 2:1 ratio?

thats why u use the mineral spirits paint thinner. i still have a quart or so left from my gallon. one gallon will easy do a car and then some. i did 2 parts paint 1 part thinner, but not precisely, kind of like a whole milk or cream consistancy. to thick will orange peel like hell and clog ur gun, to thin will run. by the time i got to the pass side i had the mix pretty close.

well wait, ur using the wagner gun so i donno how to set the mix on those.

tryin to convince my pop that this paint job will work. he has a lot of doubts about it, and i kind of do to. ill be shooting it myself, but he's the one with the garage and the air compressor and what not, so il have to take over his garage for a couple weeks. he thinks that this paint job might turn out pretty shitty. i think that as long as you prep correctly and take your time and do it right it can turn out pretty well. and for how cheap it is, id say its worth a shot. how long will the paint job last do you think?? with the price of the paint, i could paint my car 60 times and still be cheaper than doing it once the "right" way lol.

so yeah, how long do you expect your paintjob to last??

Hot Rod Magazine did a whole article on the $98 paint job as they called it back in 07. They did not even spray the car, they used rollers. That said, they took their time, sanded the right way, and put some elbow grease in it. It turned out really nice. Rustoleum is just like the old automotive paints.

Found a link to the article.
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/b...job/index.html

my car is in the garage 70% of the time. so mine will last a few years prolly. for a DD i would rec going with a single stage enamel and adding the hardener and all that jazz.

I'm probably alone on this because I don't know much about painting, but to me rollers just seems flat out ghetto to me, I've never heard of a car being painted with rollers.

it can be ghetto if you dont do it right. i would consider it ghetto if it was house paint and some rollers that were sittin in the basement for 10 years.

Rustoleum is an alklyd enamel. Its similar to automotive enamel; but its still not a cured paint. Modern catalyzed paints (single stage urethane, base/clear, 2 part automotive enamel...doesnt matter) are a MUCH better paint system and not much more expensive at all. You can go to Tractor Supply or Napa and buy industrial enamel in about 2 dozen colors. It comes with reducer and catalyst for I think 50 bucks and you get probably a gallon and a half of sprayable paint. You still need a compressor ($50 rental) a gun ($70 Astro HVLP), a respirator (11 dollars at NAPA) and some relaxed neighbors.

SINGLE STAGE is something you guys want to stay AWAY from.
A 'single stage' paint has the clearcoat mixed IN the paint. You add the reducer, catalyst and spray the car...3 passes usually, no more no less. Eventually; the pigments, which are heavier and sink to the bottom, and the sclearcoat is lighter which makes the clearcoat rise to the top. its very efficient.
Heres the problem for the home painter. You cant fix anything in it. let me say that again. You cant fix anything in it. The clearcoat layer is so thin, if you have orange peel; youre better off leaving it. Just hit it with a light polishing compound (not buffing compound) and walk away.
There is little to no margin of error spraying this stuff.

I use either a catalyzed enamel (think late 70s/early 80s automotive paint) or base/clear (sometimes called 2 stage) because I can FIX problems: dirt nibs, runs, dry spots can all be fixed even in the basecoat. let it dry, sand down the problem and spray a light tacky coat over the whole panel before the recoat window (How long you have before you have to sand the paint to get it to stick to itself) closes. Hardened enamel is nice because you can buy a universal clear coat from SPI and spray the car to get a really budget 2 stage (base clear) paint job.

Rustoleum should be thinned with 'odorless mineral spirits' or acetone; NOT 'paint thinner' or 'lacquer thinner'. Acetone is whats in your girlfriends enamel nailpolish remover...but dont use nailpolish remover since it has skin conditioners, dyes and etc in it. These are slow evaporating solvents, so give it plenty of time between coats. The hotrod mag article is really good; read it 3 or 4 times and remember it takes a LONG time and a lot of hand sanding between every 3 coats to get a glossy smooth finish.

Check out autobody101.com and search for the roller paintjob on Allpar and olskoolrodz.com

~Nate

This does seem to be a very efficient method for a car that isn't your driver or one that is but just as a temporary paint solution. I was looking into this but as my car is my daily driver I've been looking into Summit Racing's paint set. There have a very nice selection of paint and the whole kit comes with most of the things to prep your car. For under $400 for a base coat clear coat kit it seems to be very nice and i've heard good things about it from people who have used it.

This may be something worth looking into for those of you who are looking to paint your daily driver.

yea, i ment 2 stage for a DD, my bad.
i dont rec rustoleum for a dd. my car is hardly ever in the sun. i almost went with 2 stage, but am to broke to afford it. mineral spirit thinner is oderless. i originally planned on the roller method but dont have the patcients. the hot rod article is what i got the idea from in the first place.

well i still think a restoleoum would work for me. my car sits in the sun everyday, but if i had a paintjob on it i WOULD put my car cover on or share a garage with my pop. id use a real car cover. not just a tarp. and please dont preach to me saying how annoying it is to use a car cover, i know how annoying it is to use a car cover.

and plus if i used a rustoluem paint job it would cost 50 bucks or so. if i used a 2 stage or a base coat clear coat it would cost much much more. i could do just a base coat enamel for about 500 bucks. or i could do a base coat clear coat for about 1500. it would easily last 7 years or so. OR i could get a 50 dollar paint job, have it last a year, paint it again next year, and so on for the next 10 years and still not spend as much as i would have if i did a base coat clear coat. plus if you get a 50 dollar paint job, then every year you could possibly change the color or you can fix all the dents the car got over the last year and it would be affordable for anybody. if you spend 1500 dollars on a paint job, you better LOVE the color. this is not a show car, its going to get dings and dents and shopping carts in the door, so why should i spend so much money for it? why not just spend 50 bucks and make my car look better than it does. IMO the 50 dollar paint job savior for poor guys like me.

what paint are u looking at for $500? u can do a decent 2 stage for $300, and single for $70 to $100.

personally i dont even feel like finishing the paint job i started, let alone do it every year. i donno, thats your call.

if i could start over i would prolly have waited till i had the money for decent paint, and done it right the first time. but then again i dont have access to a booth, so either way there would be flaws in the finish.

oh well, at least this way i can wet sand it and buff it.

yeah i could do it right the first time, and then get a crap load of rock chips, and a couple key scratches and be extremely pissed, or i can do it the way a i want to do it and not have to worry about it. and idk about you but i love working on my car and body work is one of my favorite hobbies. i enjoy bondo and sanding and getting it perfect. maybe painting just isnt for you i guess.

look idc what anybody says, this is a DD. not a show car. i dont plan on ever making it a show car. but id like to have it look better than primer and chipped 20 year old paint. maybe youd rather spend 300 bucks and not 50, but not me. ill spend the 50, work my *** off and get it done. some people just have 300 bucks to spend but i dont. i have maybe 100 bucks to play with every month. yeah i could wait a year and a half and have a spectacular paint job, but in 2 weeks ill have scratches and itll be a complete waste.

like i said if you wanna pay 300 bucks go ahead. and im getting my 500 bucks from when me and my dad painted his pick up. the whole thing, bondo, sanding paper, 5 gallon of thinner, paint, and all the buffing compounds cost a little over 500.