Looks great, I bet you're psyched. How many hours in body work? I can't wait to see the color on it. I'm still trying to find a good day to prime my hood, too cold today, but it's warming up for a few days.

 

Hey! Thanks!

I'm not sure the hours off hand right now, but its right around 60 at this point. I am keeping a log though. I bought a new spray gun, and absolutely LOVE it, not going back to the HF even for primer...too wasteful on the paint!!!

 

Welcome Beautiful Nova

 

Hello and hearty welcome to a man who does paint right!

One of the nicest garage paint jobs I've seen.

The lvlp gun you got is the iwata in the link?

Cut and buff own the nova or just buff?

 

THANKS!! The gun in the photos is actually called a Warwick, and from what I gather it is a Tiwanese copy of the Iwata LPH400 LVLP. It cost a little over $100 and so far I can't think of anything but great things to say about it. Huge fan spread (12") and VERY low pressure for atomization (18 psi trigger pulled). Check this out, I primed the entire car one time BEFORE i even turned the exhaust fan on!! LOW OVERSPRAY to the extreme. LOVE IT!

The Nova was painted with several different HF guns and was cut and buffed. Most likely I will cut and buff the Camaro too, mainly because it will probably have some dust in the finish and I'm sure some orange peel. I'm pretty fussy about paint, so I don't mind the extra work to get them looking good.

Thanks for the nice comments

Andy

 

Hey Andy,
Amazing that Taiwan is the new country of origin for quality isn't it? Noticed that with many items ESP bearings, Taiwan is the high grade.
Agree, no point in great prep if you don't finish the job. I hate orange peel!
Details on type of paint and primer? Very silver for primer, at least in pics.

 

So i guess the gun is worth the bill?

 

nice!

 

I am using all Summit Racing paint on this. I used it on my Nova too. The color I went with for the base coat is called "On Fire metallic" (its gorgeous too, at least in the can) and I will put Summit High Solids clear on top of that. The primer is Summit epoxy primer and probably looks strange because of the lighting plus it was just sprayed? I mixed light grey and black for the final prime color based on the recommendation of a paint guy that has been giving me pointers. The final dark red metallic wont be an exact match to the factory color, but hopefully "close enough"...if its way off, I guess I'll be painting jambs at some point!! lol Judging from the color in the can it should actually be better looking than the factory color IMO

Brando, I LOVE this gun and would definitely buy another. Its sprays at 18psi trigger pulled and fans out 12" !!! I did a complete pass around the car before I even turned my exhaust fan on in a closed garage if that gives you an idea of the LOW overspray!!!! Near as I can tell its a copy of the Iwata LPH400 lv which sells for about $450-500... its AWESOME. And its a legit company you can order replacement parts and different tips from so even better!

Thanks!

 

This gives you an idea of the overspray... this is like literally 2 minutes after I sprayed the third coat...its not bad at all!!

 

That's awesome great job,I may be looking into this gun now too!

 

I'm definitely going to buy another as funds allow... they have many different tips available too. I have the 1.4. Should do everything I want it too for this job.

 

Got my bolt on pieces in final prime tonight... these will be the first pieces that get color.





Andy

 

Im workin a day of overtime this week so i can buy that gun and a new fender, and some paint lol.

 

I have no doubt you will love the gun, AND getting twice as much paint ON the car instead of gone with the wind. PM me if you ever need any help setting it up, my buddy told me for epoxy primer 18psi trigger pulled and wide open everything else... worked awesomely. Hold it about 6-8 inches from what you are painting.

 

FIRST PARTS IN COLOR!!! This is one of the GFX pieces (goes behind rear wheel)...got the two door pieces also... I was really just testing out the bc/cc and my new gun. This color is a VERY close match to factory. Summit On Fire Metallic is the color.

Body is still in final prime and needs to be wet sanded with 600. I'll probably get most of the bolt on parts done today or tomorrow.





Andy

 

That's going to look awesome! Looks like yellow sun light really turns it on nicely.

 

!!!VERY NICE!!!

Can't wait to see the finished result!!!

 

is this pre color sand?

 

Yes, that piece actually has only one wet coat of clear on it. It was late last night and I was just experimenting to see how the paint would do.I wont be buffing out the GFX pieces...

 

o hell.... yep im ordering one.

 

Looks awesome, what do you mean by pre color sand? Wet sanding out the paint before clear?

 

color sanding the little trim pieces is areal pain! very easy to blow through all the edges...on the other hand, small parts are much easier to make look nice than a big panel in my experience- so it all works out anyways!

 

What model number is the Warwick gun?

 

904L

 

Ok, looks cool. Looks like the 904H and 904L are possibly the same gun, just a different cap/needle/tip setup. What size tip did you go with?

At 45PSI with trigger pulled, the HF gun has way too much overspray.

 

Well, I think the H and the L stand for either HVLP or LVLP... not sure. The LVLP will definitely be easier on any compressor. I have the 1.4 cap/needle and I have been using it for epoxy primer/base and clear...works fine for all three.

I have since tweaked my gun settings from wide open everything and its spraying even better...Ive reduced the fluid and the fan size some...I kept the psi at 18 for the epoxy primer I sprayed today. It laid it down very flat. I keep the gun about 6" off the surface and watch how the paint goes on to adjust my speed. I like to spray wet coats and have been having good luck so far...got a few minor runs, mostly in the primer which I will sand flat anyway...I think its because temps are cool.

Still very happy with the new gun.

P1030250.jpg?t=1354473222


P1030254.jpg?t=1354472977


P1030252.jpg?t=1354472970

 

damn it your making me jealous. Christmas time coming up i haven't been able to do anything to the car and your over there painting lol. Hell i just miss spraying primer.

 

Here is the rear spoiler after a quickie (20 min) cut n buff job. I use 2000 sandpaper wet on a block and Meguiars Ultimate Compound on a foam cutting pad. Makita 7" buffer.

P1030257.jpg?t=1354549426

 

NICE!

What size compressor are you running? I have a small Ingersoll Rand 4 gallon Twin stack compressor. Think should be more than enough for HVLP/LVLP application(s).

It's the prior version to this one: Ingersoll Rand® 2 HP 4 Gallon Twinstack Air Compressor

 

I am using the 60 gallon Kobalt comp from Lowes. From that I run a 50ft. hose to a 20 gallon storage tank (cannibalized old sears comp.) then 20ft. hose to a cheapie water seperator, then 50ft. to my gun which has a disposable water filter. No water or pressure problems at all with this setup... It runs any gun I throw at it AND my DA, which really is the true test for any air setup.

Andy

 

Looks great, Andy!
If you could, I would love to see a pic of any part after clear, before cut to see how the gun lays it down, we know you can finish

 

I actually had a little trouble getting it set up just right on the first go round of clear... but I think I have it figured out now. All the pics on this page except for the last spoiler pic are unsanded/unbuffed. Still learning how to lay down the paint real slick...sometimes I get lucky and sometimes not... I do know how to sand and buff (much experience...lol)

 

Well, I'm still working away at the car. I almost have it completely wetsanded with 600 for paint. All I need to finish is the decklid and one fender and the nose (scuff pad)... then I will clean the whole car really good, get it in the "booth", up on blocks and mask everything off (no newspaper this time... )... I hope to be doing some painting this Sunday (wife has me house hunting Saturday!!)

I'll get some more pics up after its all masked off and ready to paint.

Andy

 

Here is my HF gun quicky. Got 3 or 4 scratches to fix. Had something get under the paper.



They work great but i want that lvlp gun.

 

^^^^

Nice Job! I agree the HF guns do fine, I just can't deal with all that overspray in a tight garage and how much paint they use. I wouldnt be surprised at all if the LVLP gets 50% more paint on the car.

 

Brando, one tip I will share and I have not tried it myself yet... of course you know you need to keep the paper and water super clean when colorsanding, but I was watching a Kevin Tetz video on youtube and he colorsands in a circular motion instead of straight strokes (the way Ive always done it), he says when he does it that way the buffer removes the sanding scratches much quicker. Definitely going to try it out!!!

 

Huh...... I will have to try that next time. I tough by a "pro" to always go the same direction when color sanding. I'm going to give it a shot.

Edit: What kind of buffing pads are you using? I have been buying the 3M waffle pads that are $50 for 2 of the damn things. I was just wondering what else works well for less cabbage.

 

When you sand in one direction, then in a perpendicular direction, you will accurately remove the prior directions sanding marks.... Circular patterns are more for DA's

 

Yeah, I'll try just one small panel like the quarter or something and see how it does. I'm like you, I have always gone in the direction of the car front to back back to front etc.

I also like to use nothing coarser than 2000 if I can help it... Makes buffing so much quicker.

 

Color sanding the clear isn't meant to go fast. If you're only using 2000 you're not getting the surface as flat as you think. I would encourage you to try a panel and progress through the stages of paper. Depending on amount of peel, start at 1200, then 1500, then 2000. 2000 and greater is strictly for getting rid of previous sanding marks rather than "leveling" the clear.

 

Sanding clear isn't color sanding... old term.. With that said, with light pressure, don't see why it's wouldn't work. But I would rather be using a DA if I was to go through all that work in circles by hand...

 

Haps, I totally get and understand what you are saying. In fact for a super flat show job, I have known people to start at 600!! and work their way up.

Guess it depends on how far you are willing to go, personally I'm just looking for a better than factory, dust nib free job, not a show stopper. Check out the reflection in the factory paint on my car before I started. Pitiful really.

P1030053.jpg?t=1352414921

 

Buff it. BUFF IT HARD!!

 

Yes it is, it isn't accurate, but that's what it's called. Even the aforementioned Mr. Tetz even calls it that.

 

ol' school

 

I think it started back in the days where you needed to "color sand" lacquer. It would even apply to the single stages of today. I don't care for the term when sanding a clear...just isn't technically correct, even if the end result is the same. So tell us Jr, what is the new school term?

 

Wet sanding worx :-)

 

Wet sanding what, primer? Stainless? Aluminum? Gotta do better than that. How bout clear sanding? Why not call it what it is? You new schoolers ok with that?

 

I just call it MORE WORK! how bout that? lol I don't think I have fingerprints anymore...