All my information was gathered from this thread by FYRCHKN- https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...paint-job.html

Paint
Valspar Low Gloss Black- $34.99/gallon
Enamel Hardener- $13.99
Naptha- $4.99/ quart

I recently bought an 86 Iroc camaro and it needed a paint job pretty bad. This



It is my first time painting anything and just wanted to get some experience in. My goal was cheap and not to s***** looking. I managed to get cheap. The car had 4 layers of paint and 3 layers of primer. They had not bothered to full sand the car down before painting over.



I used two containers of Kleen Stripp to remove about 4 or 5 layers. Then I used 150 grit and power sanded to the metal in most areas, I tried to keep as much of the original primer as I could.


I then use some Rustoleum Dark Gray Sandable primer from Autozone and completely primered the car. I did the bumpers after the pic was taken.




Later I wetsanded the car with 600 grit sandpaper to smooth out the primer. I used some mineral spirits to clean the surface of the car.

I purchased a Harbor Freight HVLP Purple Spray gun for $9.99 with a coupon. I used a 5 gallon 1.8 hp Rigid Compressor to spray the car.
I ended up using only half of the can of paint, and layed about 5 coats 15 minutes apart going from light to medium. I let the car dry a couple of days in the garage then a couple more outside. I still need to wash and wetsand the final coat. It was a little shinier than I expected but maybe it will flatten out with more time.


I left it to dry in the garage 2 days and then 2 days in the parking lot. Ive been driving it around and it did get a little dirty and needs to be washed. I will hopefully get around to wetsanding this coming up weekend and put the Iroc logos back on. I did not do any body work, that was needed. Just a cheap paint job.










It is cheap and better than where I started in my opinion. I am satisfied with the results for the price I paid. I only had to buy the paint and gun, the rest was loaned to me by my father. I was limited on time because it was not my garage and they needed the car out soon. All the prep work was done in the parking lot of my apartment complex lol.

 

 

Is that gloss black or primer black?

 

Its Valspars Low Gloss Black Paint. I was looking for a flat looking paint with maybe some satin look to it. I added the hardener to increase the curing spead but it does add shine so I guess thats where I went wrong with the flat look.

 

Imo it turned out nice, looks satin to me, which is kind of the best of both worlds, still kinda mean looking but people won't rag on it and its not as high maintenance, and personally I think looks better than flat, I thought about flat black for a while, but decided I liked satin better.
Though I think I had decided to go for the high gloss. Your car turned out pretty decent btw, I might be doing the same paint job myself soon, using high gloss black probably, though after seeing yours I'm thinking about the low gloss...Ultimately I want to paint the car burple(search on summit's site), but that will not at all be at all cheap, so planning to paint it black in the mean time as it desperately needs a fresh paint job, and even if I had the dough for the color I want I have bigger priorities with the car atm.

 

Very nice job man! I am actually in the process of getting my car ready for paint and I too am going to use Fyrchickens paint job. I was debating on the low gloss too but Im leaning towards using the High Gloss Black instead.

 

I was going to go with their gloss black and use two containers of hardener for extra gloss. The problem was that I had not seen that paint on any car. I saw that paint on some plastic car models and helmets and it looked more like a gray than black. Now that I see how dark this paint is I probably should have gone for a high gloss black color.

 

Hmm yeah, I kind of wanted to see the high gloss black and low gloss too, at least now I know how one of them looks, and gloss black in general is common enough I can extrapolate a rough idea of how it would look.

 

I used a paint to thinner ration of 2:1 just like fyrchkn said. This paint is incredible easy to work with. I want to see someone use the high gloss formula. I also need to get around to painting the louvers and put them back on the hood.

 

Im thinking about making the louvers, side skirts and the front bumper bottom spoiler a different color. Should I do it or keep it all black. Any color suggestions?

 

I say all black and I love the flat black but I am going to paint gloss black

 

Yea that turned out great can't beat the price

 

Very nice job man. I had a 91 rs and it was blue, black, and grey when I bought it. Went to wal-mart and picked up 30 cans of krylon flat black and one of those $1 trigger can attatchments and went to town. Looked awesome after it was done. Who needs MACCO, ive got WAL-MART and KRYLON, LOL

 

Yeah im thinking about going all black or maybe getting the hood stripe decals for about $40 they go right over the grooves where the louvers go.

Thats how I primered the car using the aerosol Rustoleum with one of those handle adapters.

Ive been looking around for pics of people that have used Valspars Gloss Black, but I havent found any.

I was looking for a flatter black than what I got, I dont think I should of used the hardener as it adds gloss.

 

looks great!!!

 

Thanks for the comments. It's lasted pretty well so far. One thing I like is the eggshell finish I got from it. I feel like I got my moneys worth haha.

 

Yeah good job man!
I wanna do that to my Firebird.
But idk

 

Looks good!

 

Thanks! You put up a lot of usefull information in your thread that really helped me out.

 

that is awesome looks like a legit iroc now

 

The PO had drilled non functional hood pins. It was a pain to fill those in and get smoothed out.

 

Looking good!!

 

I view the headline as perhaps a wee bit misleading

when you read about the $50 paint jobs they tend to be for rolling on Rustoleum

here, the OP needed

masking paper
tape
sandpaper and lots of it
stripper
primer
could have used more filler
a compressor
a gun


heck, i used paintforcars.com single stage urethane so can I say i did a $73 paint job?

Nope

my hvlp gun crapped out on my turbine so that was another $300 (guns for turbines cost more)

$40 worth of acetone between cutting the primer and paint
$20 masking paper
$15 painters tape
$25 plastic tarps
I can't even guess sandpaper but maybe another $50 because we used a ton
$20 worth of putty
$50 primer (i sprayed it with the turbine)
$35 sealer

lots and lots of labor

$65 cutting paste

the paint ends up being the least expensive portion vs the other supplies

my next car will be my 4th gen and I need to remove enamel from the PO and I'll be getting 2-stage from the local Sherwin Williams so that job will cost more and have even more labor involved

 

Yes I understand what you where saying.

The only things I payed for where the harbor freight gun and the paint itself. I borrowed the compressor and some spray guns but I decided just to use my coupon for the cheap spray gun. My father had just painted his rent house so I got plenty of masking tape, I used a bunch of grocery store ads to mask off. He also had plenty of paint stripper left over. I also got all the sand paper from my friends in Auto body collision & repair. I also used some bondo glazing putty I had to fill in the holes on the hood. I tried to keep most of the factory primer that was baked on. Then I put a thin layer of autozone primer a few cans where given to me and some I had left over from my wife backing up into a pole (this is where I got the putty from).

In the end I only really did spend $54.

 

nah

in the end even if the value of your stuff was $300 it looks 100 times better

After all, that's what it's about. Not everyone can spring for a $2,000 or $3,000 paint job but even the roll on rustoleum jobs make a car look better.

well done

 

Thanks, the car was rough to start with so anything would have been an improvement.

 

wow awesome

 

Thanks

 

Where at in central Texas?

 

Killeen/Fort Hood area

 

should have used rustoleum flat black it looks awsome 36 bucks for a gallon

 

I'm in Bastrop, 30 miles east of Austin. I was running a big construction job on Ft. Hood this year from Jan to Oct so I was driving up there everyday. Glad that's over and done.

 

That was gonna be my second choice but I was curious on what the Valspar would look like.





I was in the Bastrop area last month, over by the Lost Pines area.

 

Me too. Small world!

For that much it actually looks pretty good! How is it holding up?

 

Its holding up alot better than I expected so far. Its only been a little over 6 months since the paint job but its still looks like it was painted yesterday. This tractor enamel is some tough stuff. The 110 degree summers probably wont even phase it.

 

Looks awesome!

 

To those wanting a satin black, I had good luck with john Deere blitz black. Itvis made to last and is durable. But the key is a good spray because you really can't sand out or buff out imperfections because itcwill become glossy.

 

John Deere Blitz Black was another cheap paint I was looking at. As I did some research I learned that it is the exact same paint as Valspar Low Gloss.

Valspar produced John Deere Blitz Black.

From what I was told and some reading its the same paint you are just paying for the John Deere name.

And you are right about the good spray. If I could go back and redo it I would put much much more effort and detail into how I sprayed it. I was being rushed so I hurried through it.

I had a little overspray on the passenger side. I was advised not to wetsand because to would make it glossier.

I think I should of gone with Rustoleum. Ive seen that it comes out flatter.

 

Now that you mention it, I do remember about valspar being the same. At the time I was living in a very rural area so John Deere was abundant and cheap. 29 a gallon. Plus they had it arosal so I was able to test the look. But when I tried to spray it it was coning out so dry that I would have serious orange Peel and beings it was going to be my final paint job I had some one spray it for 200. But they tried to fix a screw up and resprayed a spot so I have a big shiny spot because it had already dried. So I am going to have it reaprayed with more hardener and put another gallon on.

 

Kinda looks like urs before it was painted

 

Haha yeah they do