Paint Job

[Weelan]

Holy cow, that looks amazing. looking forward to the videos

[fiat124fl]

Hmm, dual stage compressor with 80 gal. tank will cost you more than having somebody paint your car. But I paint semi trucks with 5Hp, 60 Gal. single stage air compressor just fine. A small 2 or 3Hp with 40 Gal will do the job, no problem. You can actually get away with an even smaller compressor, but really need to watch the pressure at the cup. Or, you can rent a gas powered compressor pretty inexpensive, just have to watch for the contaminates, I would buy a new air line for it.

Most guys around here use 2 or 3HP, 40 Gal compressor for DIY jobs. I know a guy painted a 67 Chevelle with a 3Hp, direct drive compressor and it came out nice for his first time. Just remember, you are not running a shop, you do not have the long run times running multiple tools at once like a shop, and a Spider is small, you can get around the car pretty quick without using lots of air. Hope that helps.

I'm looking forward to the videos as well. I plan to paint my car myself and will appeciate any tips you may have.

One question I have at the moment is what is the minimum size compressor you would need to do a good job? Most professional painters have told me you need a minimum dual stage compressor with like a 80 gallon tank to keep consistent airflow. I know this is ideal, but since I'm just wanting to paint my spider and have the compressor for tools, I'm hoping I could get away with a slightly smaller compressor. Your thoughts?

[fiat124fl]

First video's up. Very basic, hope it's helpful. There are more to come.

http://youtu.be/6DVsfmbDpCw
http://youtu.be/szI-12aSPHo

Video on how to pull dents, part 1.
http://youtu.be/CBYC8_yueb0

Video on filling dents.
http://youtu.be/Hz18hDINwG8

[fiat124fl]

If you could post some pics that would be great. The first thing you have to realize is the car has to come apart, luckily on a Fiat that's easy. Then if it is rust free that will save you a lot of work. How is the paint now? Has it been repainted before? if not it just got easier. How many dents? And where are they? Dents are not hard to fix just take a bit of time. If you have the time, and most important, if you want to do it, then it should not be too bad. When it comes to painting, figure you are going to sand and buff so you do not have to try to shoot like a pro. Buffing is the fun part. Blocking primer is the pain in the butt part. After the body work is done you have a least 2 times of guilde coat and blocking, maybe more and that takes the most time, hours and hours of sandinding primer but the end result will be great. The other pain is painting jams. I usally do the jams after the first sanding on the buff stage. This way i let the clear dry and the jams will not have any tape lines at all I hope this help and if you need a video on something just let me know. The more great looking 124s out there the better .

The cars look great. Was that done at home? My next project is a paint strip, fill, and paint on a rust free spider and I'm debating on doing it myself this time instead of farming the paint out. I'm handy like most with the rattle can but a nice job on a car is a bit daunting. Looking forward to the videos and perhaps I can get a better idea what I'm up against.
Chris

[blurple124]

Awesome tips! Here are the big questions I have:

My car has the original paint (I'm pretty sure) and I want to keep the color, but there are a couple chips and cracks, it is thin (transparent to primer) in some spots and is overall quite faded. Is it necessary to bring this to bare metal in order to do a repaint, or is bringing the paint down to primer and then making it straight all that is necessary?

When you choose a base coat, do you prefer Urethanes, enamels, or lacquers? Assuming an experienced painter is spraying.

For primers, there are high build, epoxy based, etching, etc. available. What do you use and in what order? Based on your answer to my first question, what is your recommendation?



Looking for advice where I can find it, much appreciated!


As requested, some photos:

When purchased







After some polishing:






Sorry for the age-long post! Hope others had my questions in mind as well!

[fiat124fl]

First thing first, as I said in the video, NEVER use lacquer primer!

Nice color, I would keep it also. The large cracks I would grind with 36 grit on an air grinder and treat the area with Ospho. If the hood has checking I would take most of it off with a DA, 120 or 180. It is hard to tell in the pics but this is how i would go about this car.

One, take it apart.
Two, fix the rust spots and treat them.
Three, grind and fix the dents, then finish dents off in 120 or 180.
Then, DA the whole car with 180 if the paint is not check...cracks in the paint all over.
Then, a quick hand block with 180.
Then, prime with 4:1 primer 3 coats.
After the primer dries, I would now only hand sand with 180 and a guide coat.
After it is all sanded and straight, I would re-prime with 4:1 primer 2 to 3 coats and do a light sanding with a guide coat on 220 to 320, just to knock the top off.
Then, wet sand with 320 to 400, wet with a guide coat.

If when you are sanding you find small dents or waves in your body work use shark metal bite glazing putty. It is a 2 part smooth sanding filler. Never use one part putty. I would only use 4:1 primer or this primer, here is the link,

http://www.ipaint.us/gl2kurprseki.html.

But i really find 4:1 is the best all around primer. As far as paint goes, here is the link, http://www.ipaint.us/ururen.html. This company will mix factory colors by request. This paint is the same as Imron. Their clear, http://www.ipaint.us/diclkit1ga1q.html. buffs out awesome and is very user friendly.

Another great paint source is http://www.paintforcars.com/acrylic_ure ... _kits.html. I used this paint for the first time years ago and I was worried because the price is so low. But it held up incredibly well for the price, however this company does not mix factory colors. I used Kirker as well but it does not hold up in the sun down here. I love the colors Kirker has but they are not very UV resistant.

I would shoot the color and spray the clear over the top wet on wet. This is how I do it. If you need help on how to DA I could do a video if you like.

Awesome tips! Here are the big questions I have:

My car has the original paint (I'm pretty sure) and I want to keep the color, but there are a couple chips and cracks, it is thin (transparent to primer) in some spots and is overall quite faded. Is it necessary to bring this to bare metal in order to do a repaint, or is bringing the paint down to primer and then making it straight all that is necessary?

When you choose a base coat, do you prefer Urethanes, enamels, or lacquers? Assuming an experienced painter is spraying.

For primers, there are high build, epoxy based, etching, etc. available. What do you use and in what order? Based on your answer to my first question, what is your recommendation?



Looking for advice where I can find it, much appreciated!

[Landhawk]

Great! Thanks for your suggestions. I was hoping you were going to tell me I didn't need something that expensive.

Hmm, dual stage compressor with 80 gal. tank will cost you more than having somebody paint your car. But I paint semi trucks with 5Hp, 60 Gal. single stage air compressor just fine. A small 2 or 3Hp with 40 Gal will do the job, no problem. You can actually get away with an even smaller compressor, but really need to watch the pressure at the cup. Or, you can rent a gas powered compressor pretty inexpensive, just have to watch for the contaminates, I would buy a new air line for it.

Most guys around here use 2 or 3HP, 40 Gal compressor for DIY jobs. I know a guy painted a 67 Chevelle with a 3Hp, direct drive compressor and it came out nice for his first time. Just remember, you are not running a shop, you do not have the long run times running multiple tools at once like a shop, and a Spider is small, you can get around the car pretty quick without using lots of air. Hope that helps.

I'm looking forward to the videos as well. I plan to paint my car myself and will appeciate any tips you may have.

One question I have at the moment is what is the minimum size compressor you would need to do a good job? Most professional painters have told me you need a minimum dual stage compressor with like a 80 gallon tank to keep consistent airflow. I know this is ideal, but since I'm just wanting to paint my spider and have the compressor for tools, I'm hoping I could get away with a slightly smaller compressor. Your thoughts?

[fiat124fl]

I will post a pic of a compressor that i have painted a Spider with. It is only a 2 HP with a 20 gal tank.This is the unit I DA with and does not run out of air with the Farmhand DA. But painting you will run low on air by the time you get to the hood. So you will have to wait for the air to build back up and that is OK as long as your paint does not flash when you are waiting. For 20 to 40 bucks you can also go to a salvage yard and buy a 40 to 60 Gal. used air tank, and that will solve the problem of running low on air when spraying. By running two tanks, you can also reduce the contamination in the system. What kind of compressor do you have?

Great! Thanks for your suggestions. I was hoping you were going to tell me I didn't need something that expensive.

Hmm, dual stage compressor with 80 gal. tank will cost you more than having somebody paint your car. But I paint semi trucks with 5Hp, 60 Gal. single stage air compressor just fine. A small 2 or 3Hp with 40 Gal will do the job, no problem. You can actually get away with an even smaller compressor, but really need to watch the pressure at the cup. Or, you can rent a gas powered compressor pretty inexpensive, just have to watch for the contaminates, I would buy a new air line for it.

Most guys around here use 2 or 3HP, 40 Gal compressor for DIY jobs. I know a guy painted a 67 Chevelle with a 3Hp, direct drive compressor and it came out nice for his first time. Just remember, you are not running a shop, you do not have the long run times running multiple tools at once like a shop, and a Spider is small, you can get around the car pretty quick without using lots of air. Hope that helps.

I'm looking forward to the videos as well. I plan to paint my car myself and will appeciate any tips you may have.

One question I have at the moment is what is the minimum size compressor you would need to do a good job? Most professional painters have told me you need a minimum dual stage compressor with like a 80 gallon tank to keep consistent airflow. I know this is ideal, but since I'm just wanting to paint my spider and have the compressor for tools, I'm hoping I could get away with a slightly smaller compressor. Your thoughts?

[wikkid]

Your first video is great - what a wealth of experience and knowledge! Thank you. Anything on the steps you mention: fixing rust spots, pulling small dents, running a DA sander, the actual priming, painting and clearcoat processes, including air line and gun setups... all that stuff. Whatever you can do is a huge help to us DIY guys. There is a lot of contradictory information out there, and a lot of information from high-end pro's with full shop setups, so this level of information no doubt strikes a chord with a lot of people on here.
-Chris

[Landhawk]

Right now I just have a small pancake compressor, but I'm going to buy a new one shortly. Was looking at something like this (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... ockType=G4) but wasn't sure if it was powerful enough. Based on your comments it sounds like it would work.

[wikkid]

How is the Uraglow paint with metallic colors, like the light blue early '80's Spiders (like mine)?

[wikkid]

This car sat out in a field, then a back lot, for years before I found it. Any thoughts on a general approach to prep and re-paint (using same, original light blue metallic) would be welcome:

[blurple124]

Awesome video! If you made more that are as helpful as the first, I'd feel ready to paint by myself in no time!

So you are saying that there is no need to take it down bare metal. Except for the rust spots.

How many coats of paint and clear do you use? Perhaps those questions would be answered in another video.

[fiat124fl]

Another video uploaded, how to pull dents, part 1.

http://youtu.be/CBYC8_yueb0

[narfire]

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