I've been sanding on my car since last summer. Just before winter I got the car sealed and have been fixing small dings and block sanding since. I've kind of been gun shy on applying the color. I hated to start spraying the color afraid something would screw up like runs or getting the paint to look right. Last night I took my first leap. I applied the color to all the door jambs, the inside of the trunk and the engine compartment. Wow. It looks great. The paint shines like nothing else. It really got my blood flowing. I'm gonna shoot the outside of the car today weather permitting. I'm using DCC Concept paint which is an acylic urethane. Anyone can apply this paint. It can be used as a single stage, you can shoot clear over it or you can choose to color sand it or not. This paint goes on smooth and is easy to apply. If you ever question yourself about painting your own car, don't give it a second thought. If I can do it in my driveway, you can too. It will save you about $4000 grand and that's not an exaggeration. I'll post pics when I'm done. Now for the question... Where can I get a set of decals for a '71 Comet GT?
there are several graphics companies making reproductions. Here is a link to one - you can do a web search for others. http://www.graphic-express.com/mercury_comet_gt.asp And congratulations on doing the work yourself! :bananaman I worked in a body shop back in the 70's. I painted cars myself up until about 20 years ago and have just now in the last couple years started to do it again. The modern paints are almost idiot proof as long as your prep is good and you can follow directions with the new products. I was really debating about sending my restoration out to a pro or doing it myself and I am glad I'm doing it all myself. Even with a few flaws it will mean more to me that "I did it myself" vs writing out a check to somebody. Post pictures ASAP - we love pictures!
It's still somewhat in pieces but if someone can post the pictures for me I'll take some. Send me a private message with your email address and I'll send the pictures... Dave
You can post them yourself very easy. Just scroll down on the REPLY page when you are posting and look for the MANAGE ATTACHMENTS button. You can post up to 5 pictures with each post. If you cannot figure it out - there is a tutorial on how to do it. If that still does not work for you - just email them to me at eric@acornridgemotel.com and I will get them up for you.
be careful when spraying outside, the EPA could fine you over $5000 for each occurance, and i have heard of people being fined over $25,000 for painting their car outside. one way around this, do it in your garage, late at night. nobody to see ya... and doing it outside, can blanket the neighborhood in overspray, and it would be easy to know who to sue for a new paint job
Congrats! Glad it's all working out for you. When I did my first car, I set up a semi half assed paint booth in my garage using plastic sheets that you can get at any hardware store. Don't get the thick stuff. The real thin plastic is just fine and it's a lot cheaper. I used carpet tack strips to hold it up on the ceiling, put some down on the floor and viola! Instant paint booth. You need a ventilation system too. I just put a cheap box fan in the window and cracked the overhead door to allow fresh air in. Get a decent respirator so you don't paint your lungs too. If you want to be a really nice guy, you can put a furnace filter on your fan so it's not blowing paint out into the neighborhood. I used an HVLP siphon gun and overspray wasn't terrible. I didn't even use a filter and I couldn't see any adverse effects. Most of the overspray the fan sucked out ended up on the fan blades I think. Anyway, when I do it again, I'll use a filter. I highly recommend color sanding unless you have super good paint and mixed it well enough to not get any orange peel. I had it bad. A couple extra coats and some time with the DA sander made it super flat. Then a couple coats of clear, some more sanding, buffing, and polishing made is shine like glass. Did you use a self etching epoxy primer? What do you mean by "sealed"?
Re: I'm not sure what brand the primer I used was. It was something that was recommended by the paint store to use with the color I bought. On the color it was DCC Concept. The primer was $30 or $35 a quart. Depending on how it is mixed it could either be used as a high build sandable primer or as a primer sealer.
Hmmm, not to knock you, but that doesn't sound right. Sealers have sealant, ie epoxy or some form of it. Buildables don't. Real sealants are two part primers, just like a two part epoxy would go together. I'd try to find out what it really is, so you can put on what you need. But I've been wrong before!
Most automotive primes can be mixed as sealers as well as sandable primes, and most of the time its as easy as just adding more or a differnt reducer. As far as painting your car outside goes, as long as you dont care about a ton of dust nibs, i guess its ok........just remember until your car drys you have just created a giant car sized piece of fly paper that bugs will stick too.
Re: Something that happened the following day was kind of funny. Of course the cars already been dubbed a big banana being the bright yellow, but the day after I painted it, one of those little bees, like a huney bee, found it's way on the front fender. It sat there for over eight hours til I finally shewed it away. I guess he thought it was a big flower or something...
And how many hours is that, and what are you paying yourself for labor. Now figure a business will have huge overhead, taxes and pay and benefits for workers, hazardous waste disposal, ect, ect, ect. Maybe you can see why the costs are so high looking at expenses of quality materials, to do business, equiptment, and time invested. Most make out better on collision repair then they do paint jobs and bodywork on an old car. I've seen a lot of first time sprayers post pics and looks like they did a really nice job. They took their time, asked questions, and practiced adjusting and getting use to a spray gun. Its not undoable for someone new, I'd hardly call it easy or something anyone can do though. Their are a ton of things that have the possibility to go wrong, although many can be fixed by wetsanding and buffing (as long as you using something that is buffable afterwards, and have enough material on). Thats good that things have gone well so far for you, but spraying a complete car is a bit harder then jambs and under the hood and trunk. If that were a metallic single stage, spraying would be a bit difficult, and you would have to live with how sprayed. You will need to keep a wet edge as you work your way around the car and have larger surface and passes to cover and keep wet but not running. I'd look into some sort of cover to paint under and paint early in the morning when insects are still and the sun is low. Last thing you want is paint going on rough when its cooking the panels, or a bug doing the backstroke in the middle of the hood. You compressor will also likely be running longer and getting hot creating moisture if it is worked to power the spray gun, Hope you have good water trap or drier in place. Make sure to keep good ventilation though, and maybe some filters before exhaust to avoid overspray all over the neighbors. Painting in a residential area is not really legal like already mentioned. Many do paint at home, but don't want to draw too much attention to yourself and have the city show up. That was one nice thing about growing up in the country and the garage out near the sticks. Most urethanes and epoxy primers can be used as a sealer by reducing more. Although epoxy is the only one that is not pourous and imperviable to moisture and air when cured. Epoxy normally doesn't have high build or real easy sanding though. Good luck and glad things are going well for you so far. I am not ragging on you in anyway. I just don't want people to get the impression paint and bodywork is a cakewalk and understand why the costs are like they are. Material costs have skyrocketed since I first started painting and continue to rise and more regulations continue to be passed.
No. Sealers are just that. they are a sealer. they are an epoxy based paint that has a hardner and you mix part a to part b and spray the car. it seals the first coat of paint from bleeding through any primer or paint that you are spraying down. Filler primer is a sandable primer and you spray it on to fill low areas so that you can sand it down, block it out etc to get a nice smooth finish, you should not block out a primer sealer... you should block out sandable primer / filler primer and you dont add reducer to a primer sealer.. it is already very watery
<--- urethane based filler primer mixed as a sealer, using the appropriate hardener, and tint or clear. There are also strictly products for sealing not to be used as a primer or sanded. Enamel based sealer or 1k you want to try to stay away from IMO Most epoxy primers I've seen can be mixed normal or reduced more for use as a sealer so it lays down flat and no sanding is needed if painted over within its time window. Epoxy primer in general don't have a lot ton of fill or the easiest to sand. But provide very good corrosion protection over clean bare metal has good adhesion to properly prepped surfaces, and is compatable with most products, If you have any sand throughs to metal, then epoxy would be good to use. If the whole car is covered with a 2k primer, weather urethane or epoxy based, and sanded, then you really wouldn't need to seal prior to paint, if you spray and scuff more cutthrough areas and there is enough mil thickness. A sealer would be benefitial though if its shade will help with coverage or to get the car all one color prior to paint. And epoxy as a final coat over urethane- or yuck lacquer primer will have its benefits.
