How to paint your car in 5 easy steps

[boosted98gst]

I paint for a living and it looks to be a decent job for being outside, with the heat out there im sure the flash off time for the paint and clear is super fast, so most stuff does not have time to stick to the clear and paint.
I know how you feel about the whole fiber glass issues, man I ended up doing the same thing to my coupe, going to far , everyone loves how it looks but i also am not happy and wish I kept it how it was. I dont care what anyone says I see paint and body work everyday eventhe best products that are FRP are janky in my book. Good luck with it man .

[gsracer]

I didnt have any dust issues, as boosted98 said the temperature was so hot the paint flashed very fast. In fact the day i painted the temperature was about 100 even with the high temp hardner i had trouble getting the clear to flow.

And yes the windshield is cracked.... again.

As for the radiator support , i welded in the lower portion and made the upper portion removable as to make it easier to take the engine in and out. I will have the upper portion powder coated flat black.

[Om1kron]

Originally Posted by gsracer

As for the radiator support , i welded in the lower portion and made the upper portion removable as to make it easier to take the engine in and out. I will have the upper portion powder coated flat black.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!

[kaje36]

Originally Posted by gsracer

As for the radiator support , i welded in the lower portion and made the upper portion removable as to make it easier to take the engine in and out. I will have the upper portion powder coated flat black.

I definitely want to know a lot more about this! I had a feeling that is what you were doing, I have been working on the same project myself, and I would love to know how to are planing to do it. if you got some time IM me kajeqxs

[rb25crazy]

hey i have a question bout air guns.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...o?itemid=47016

i just bought that air gun it doesn't say hlvp but, it does work my compressor it has the amount of cfm it needs.

it's 50-70 psi is this range to high for automotive paint? or it wouldn't matter?

i see that a lot of automotive spray hlvp guns are around the range of 40psi

would this make my gun useless for automotive paint?


thanks

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by rb25crazy

hey i have a question bout air guns.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...o?itemid=47016

i just bought that air gun it doesn't say hlvp but, it does work my compressor it has the amount of cfm it needs.

it's 50-70 psi is this range to high for automotive paint? or it wouldn't matter?

i see that a lot of automotive spray hlvp guns are around the range of 40psi

would this make my gun useless for automotive paint?


thanks

there isn't a "HLVP"

Its either High Volume Low Pressure (HVLP)

OR

Low Volume High Pressure. (LVHP)

[rb25crazy]

yea yea it's just a typo you know what i mean. so aside from the grammar police my question still didn't get answered

[95KA-Turbo]

Any more progress on paint? I was realllllllllly hoping to see OEM S14 aero on wide body....so I could be forced to spend too much money on wide body and new wheels for my car, lol

[TougeLabs]

Great job man car is looking really nice...

[NemeGuero]

shoulda stayed znki....

[zaquanh]

what kind of hood is on ur car

[WangonwWarrior]

propd on the attention to detail

[idahotuner]

my method for painting my car is to have my dad do it for me lol. worked on my integra and hopefully on my 240. should be painted before the end of the week

[silpena]

i can sorta get a hook up on paint at a store i go to get supplies. Oh and rb25crazy the reason ur gun says 50-70 is becuase its a normal gun. hvlps just have a high efficany tip that helps waste less materials. They operate the same but a lower velocity but same volume of paint so more gets on your ride and not in the air. Your gun is good but i would get another one just to have designated guns. One for paint and one for clear. Helps save time and hassel.

[gsracer]

Well as we continue along on year 2 of this project, i got bored of fucking with the engine and accessories and decided to get over my depression of working on this car and start on the body work again. Ill be updating this thread regularly as i finish here shortly.

You cant tell from the pictures but i stripped all the primer off the wide body panels after i realized they had more waves than the pacific ocean. Where you see them here is after about 20-25 hours ( weekends and nights only) of filling and blocking. I almost went thru to raw fiberglass in places but the end was worth it, the panel for the most part is straight as an arrow.









I also took the chance to get the roof done while i was doing the quarters so i could prime everything and there would be no tape. The black streaks you see here are the "guide coat" this helps you figure out where the high and low spots are.






I decided since i had sanded so much of the gel coat off, that it was better to use an epoxy primer because it pretty much bonds to the substrate and seals it from being able to absorb anything later. Ie moisture, paint etc. I just shot everything with it. 2 coats. When mixing epoxy primer its important to follow the instructions very carefully, it mixes just like epoxy glue. 1 part primer and 1 part catalyst. The particular one i used was dupont and after it mixed you have to leave it sit for half to one hour so it could induct, then let it dry for at least 1 hour before you spray anything on top of it.










After the epoxy was dried, i waited 3 hours just to be safe. I shot 3 coats of 2k urethane primer, for final sanding. The car is pretty straight as it is, these final coats will ensure it is a show car finish i will destroy on a track somewhere.









From here i will move on to the doors and trunk, look for those next weekend hopefully

[Om1kron]

awesome, resubscribing.

[C-unit]

very nice..i wish I have the patient to do this!!

[silpena]

nice! glad to see ur project getting along. Are you gonna block and primer the roof again untill its straight? pick up some primer filler. Helps alot in blocking. Kinda cheating but helps alot if you want to reduce sanding and blocking over and over.

[gsracer]

Originally Posted by silpena

nice! glad to see ur project getting along. Are you gonna block and primer the roof again untill its straight? pick up some primer filler. Helps alot in blocking. Kinda cheating but helps alot if you want to reduce sanding and blocking over and over.

Up until this point


Roof has been blocked to 320 gonna final sand with 600 grit.

For the quarters i blocked 180 , 220 , 320, with filler at various stages. Now its gonna be blocked to 600 as well.

I will final block with 600 once everything else is primered and done.

Originally Posted by opponheimer

why didn't you paint the rad. support in the beginning?

the bottom of the rad support is welded in place and painted, the top part is removable and will be powdercoated flat black.

[opponheimer]

why didn't you paint the rad. support in the beginning?

[gsracer]

ok update

Got started on the trunk, took me a while to get it because of all the panel adhesive stuck on it from when i bonded the quarters and i used it as a bondo mixing board for a while lol.

Started sanding with 180 on the DA. Just to get the rough stuff off, not to much otherwise you will gouge the surface to much and have to do more sanding later.





Now i put on the guide coat to show any high or low spots, use a contrasting color so its easier to tell. At this point i begin hand blocking with 320 grit wet.





Heres some examples of low spots, the first pic was my dumbass pressing to hard on the DA.









It is at this point you decide whether the low spots need filler or a high build primerm, mine are all pretty shallow so i should be able to get away with a high build primer and a little more sanding.

Heres a little trick, once the panel is blocked well throw some water on it and the water will sheet off the panel. This pretty much replicates what it looks like when it is painted so if you have any defects they will show up here, Once again this panel has been sanded and has no gloss just the water i poured on it.

[Om1kron]

nice!!!!!............

[MisawaJason]

keep up the good work man

[CIutchCollidE]

Yo man, I read the whole thread. It was fun and interesting to read. Thanks for providing it. I hope everything works out well in the end for you.

[Devil Man]

looking good..... cant wait to see it painted


p.s. god do i love that exhaust set up everytime i see it

[Ailiaw]

Oh the job of sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding, filler, sanding, sanding, primer, filler, sanding, sanding ,sading primer, filler.

Reminds me of when we fixed my S14 after I put it through a garage.


(those bondo spots on the roof are where it caved in )


Good job man, body work is tedious as hell.

[nor-caljdm]

very nice job man.
one question how long did your paint take to dry out side and did u get any dirt on your paint because u did it outside?

[gsracer]

outside a base coat and clearcoat at my temperature of 90+degrees when i painted was dry to the touch in about 4 hours, a little bit of debris can not be avoided, i just dont paint on windy days and is stuff does get in i just sand it out.

anyways todays progress, and yes today was windy, but primer only..

[punxva]

looks like your doing it very legit man, i dont really have pics of helping my roommate paint his rolla, just some wip ones...




btw we both do bodywork for a living, and 2k primer and EverCoat filler is the way to go.

edit found some finished ones.... really small he took with his phone at work...




+ subscribed...

[nor-caljdm]

very nice once again good job!!
cant wait to see when it looks like when done