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If You Want It Done Right....
| First, I need to
give a little background on my paint job.....
When I picked up my car
from the paint shop, The owner told me how he got the wrong color, and
after half of one coat, he realized it and remixed the paint to match by
eye. Remember, I already had the engine comp., trunk, and door jambs painted.
Well, in the booth, it was pretty close, so I didnt get real upset by this,
and accepted the car. After all, it wasn't an OEM resto, just a nice redone
car...nobody would notice the difference in the door jambs. After the bare shell
was delivered home on a roll-back, I began the tedious reassembly process.
Weatherstripping, interior, glass, engine, bumpers... wait...what's this?
Paint shop missed the bottom of the fenders... Ohhh, AND the rockers, AND
the quarters. At this point, I was
a little annoyed that such an easy paint job could be screwed up. But,
since the body was all the same color, I went back to the shop, told them
what happened, and said I'd settle for a gallon of the color he mixed.
SIX weeks and many visits later, I finally was given a QUART of the proper
color. Ok, I just wanted this to be over, so I took my quart of paint and
left. About two weeks later, and now we're into january, I got the car
ready to spray in my garage. I spent an evening spraying - fender bottoms,
rockers, and bottom of the quarters. At 1am I was happy with the results.
The next week, we had a warm spell, so I pulled the car outside for buffing.
This is when I noticed
how extremely dark the paint was that I got.
Well, I thought a good
buffing would blend things together fairly well, and maybe next year I
could repaint it. However, once I started, the pad went right through to
primer, even on flat panels....RUINED. Apparently, even 3 coats was too
much for them to spray. One coat was all the car had on it, and the wrong
color at that.
At this point, the car
looked like a circus wagon as far as I was concerned, and a total repaint
was needed before I could let anyone see it.
This was the last time
I'd ever trust anyone else with my stuff...
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| I disassembled the
car - trim, bumpers and so on and picked up lots of 400 grit paper....enamel
covers quite a bit. I D/A'ed the entire car, and the next day, my wonderful
girlfriend Jan went over the whole thing by hand.
The next problem was
a place to paint...I knew the neighbors would not be happy with lime green
houses.
Off to the lumber yard
I went.
I picked up 68
1x3 firring strips and a 40'x100' roll of plastic. Then it was off to Walmart
for two cheapo 20" fans.
Total cost was of all
this stuff around $94.
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It took two of us
a few hours in the evening to build this box, and we're now thinking of
going full-time building carnival stands LOL
Seriously, it went up
pretty quick. If you do this, remember to give yourself at least 3 feet
of space around the entire car. |
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The Walmart fans
were just duct taped to the plastic and worked great through the project.
During painting, I had a garden hose misting water in front of the fans
to cut down on overspray floating around...another simple idea that worked
well. |
| With the booth completed,
It was time to spray. I took the original gallon back to the parts store
and got two more gallons of the proper paint. I got two to ensure I'd have
plenty of the right color for any future needs. Actually, it turned out
the color is '96 Neon Nitro-Yellow...commonly available, contrary to what
that wonderful paint shop told me. The painting went well, although my
little 2.5 horse craftsman compressor had a tough time keeping up with
my new HVLP gun.
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Notice I used two
tail-light bulbs in the wiper holes...the bulbs were the only things I
could find to cover the holes without covering any of the surface.
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With two holes cut in
one end, and the fans running at the other, there was a nice breeze moving
across the car..enough to get rid of overspray, but not too much to pull
in the bugs:)
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After the painting,
I turned off the fans and re-sealed the vent holes. This kept out debris,
while at the same time allowed it to get REALLY hot inside. I can honestly
say the car was almost completely dry in about two hours.
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| The next day, we
removed the plastic from one end of the booth and just carried it into
the yard, leaving the car in the driveway. The only trouble with this booth
was the shadows it created on the roof. An hour of wet-sanding was needed
on the roof alone.. Although, I was still happy, as I knew there was plenty
of paint on there and it was the proper color. I purposely used an entire
gallon on the skin, assuming I'd have to wet-sand my arms off. Most of
it was pretty nice though, and after about 5 hours of wet-sanding and buffing,
It was finished. Perhaps a little extra work, but I know whats on there,
and I'm now happy with the appearance.
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| So That's the story
of my $100 paint booth that outperformed a professional bodyshop. Remember,
theres almost nothing that can't be done at home with a little creativity
and elbow grease. After going through this, my opinion is - do as much
as you can at home and save the money for things like big carbs and killer
pistons:)
I hope you enjoyed reading
about my nightmare, and perhaps it'll save you some aggravation with your
own ride.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS
RESEARCH YOUR BODYSHOP!!!
Any questions are welcome.
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