Lets start with the color..i'll be painting black..simple i know right? but apparently there's a few types of black? i want it extremely black..should i buy it with a specific code or just get 'jet black' or something of that sort? next thing..the painting process! i am not a pro and have never put this much effort into blocking out a car and replacing panels so i want it to look decent. should i spray the underside wheel well lip, under the rockers, around the windows and then spray the whole car, starting at the roof, working my way down not to leave a dry edge? this seems like a good way to me, but it's in my head and i aint a pro so im looking for some advice..i couldn't really find any youtube vids on people spraying whole cars...who are doing half decent jobs, i'm not into spraying my car with rustoleum in a dust field after i've done all this work.
each paint mfgr will have various shades of black to choose from. yeah.. you do the jamb's/wells/underhood first. Be sure to solvent wipe any exterior surface overspray immediately after each section is done.. and/or wetsand all overspray after the fact(I do both).. then work from the top down. If you aren't proficient in spray techniques.. I'd recommend heavy restraint on the mil thickness applied for each coat.. and use slightly cooler solvent mixes to prolong wet edge time(tougher to avoid dry spraying bigger panels). Runs are more likely with cooler mix's.. so you just need to ge easier on tip sizing and fluid adjustments, is all. In other words.. slow and steady with a cooler mix is usually much more forgiving than fast and hot mixs. Much easier to take longer while laying down more coats.. than fix mistakes after trying to more quickly lay down fewer coats. Just be aware that the more coats and flashes in between you have.. the more potential there is for contamination. as for the final product quality. BLACK IS TOUGH!!!! If you really want all that hard prep work to pay off.. plan on wet sanding and buffing to get your money's worth out of the deal. Unless you have access to filtered air environments and decent quality tools/dry air supply?(even makeshift spray booths can easily cost you a hundred bucks in materials).. I would suggest getting a quote to spray the car once you have all the prep done. On several ocassions.. I've trailered prep'd cars to the shop and finished taping/wiping them up outside before they get rolled into the booth for final wipe down/paint. It's extra cash layout.. but it saves HUGE amounts of time if you get a good spray tech. Just a thought.
Just my opnion but all man. have code 99 which to me is the blackest. Supposedly Jaguar adds a little purple or blue to get it blacker but I can't see the difference, especially for the added price. I would use base coat/clear coat with med temp reducer for the paint and a mid temp clear. Base coat is very forgiving to spray, it is not supposed to shine, most good Base coats cover well. I use a devilbiss finishline HVLP gun for the color(not a great gun but a decent gun for the price and easy to clean) with a 1.3 tip. The clear is your money maker! I use a Devilbiss GTI for the clear, which is a step up from the other gun but still not even close to top of the line(some day I'll buy a Sata). Really that being said I started painting with the Finishline for color and clear and had some real nice paint jobs come out of it. The GTI has a 1.4 tip. I like Nason(Duponts lower line but the rep told me that this clear is as good as their Dupont line of production clear) 498-00 overall clear for almost everything I do. If it is a candy job I get the good stuff for protection. Again, JMO, black is the most beautiful color on an car or truck but it is also the most difficult to prep for, it shows every flaw. IF you are going to Paint the whole car and being black I would take the car apart and piece paint it, I would not reccomend this for any other color than black. Then you can paint the main body without the doors/fenders/trunklid. Kind of the way Frankf painted that blue car. He piece painted it and it is a metalic, you have to be a good painter to do that. Start at the top and work down. I have a homemade spraybooth and I get stuff in my paint but I always plan on sanding and buffing, I like the paint to look like glass when I'm done. Don't know if this helped, I just like adding to the confusion.
My car is fully dissasembled for paint..been priming and everything this way, i have the same devilbiss gun as you as well, i bought a set they had, a primer gun and a finish gun. as for the paint i'll be using it's OMNI brand..lower level of PPG (like nason to dupont) and black..wow, i just couldn't resist painting it black after tons of hours thinking about it, i knew i just wouldn't be totally happy with any other color, i'm not looking to have a show quality paint job, i'll just be trying to do my best as i've done with the whole car..i've done absolutely EVERYTHING to this car so i really want to paint it. if it goes bad, it's on me and only me, no one else. and yes, both of your guy's info helped me..all info helps. or at least i think it does. Groberts; I Forgot to add..if you look at my picture there..that orange..paid for that paint job and it was absolutely terrible (so bad i don't want to pay anyone every again) did all the prep, masking, final wipe down and then i left him to do his thing.. there was so much dust, dirt, PINE NEEDLES!, missed spots..runs...just can't do that to myself again.
so i just went back and looked @ frankf's car in the project thread.. he painted his shell at seperate times then the other parts of the car, i was told the tint of the color would change if i mixed in different batches type of thing (maybe not black..?), but if my mixes are very accurately mixed i shouldn't have any problem if i decide to spray my shell, then all the other panels the next day or something should i?
If you go with code 99 black it will come factory pack in the can , no mixing. I'm pretty sure that the mid 90s s-10 I painted recently is code 99. I don't use the lower quality paint. I would stick with the PPG paint myself, I always use the upper line of paint, its really not that much more for the insurance of less problems. I have never used Omni clear so I am no help there. You can get a gallon of Nason clear with the hardner (which makes 5 quarts)for about $150. I don't know what primer you are using but I would suggest an epoxy primer.
color variations are more an issue with.. colors. Not black. and even if there was potential for any issues?.. it would not be from "your mix".. it would be from varying color batches from the factory. In other words.. gallons bought months apart from each other. And I wasn't going to say anything.. but since ward brought it up.. OMNI sucks. To give some perspective.. I still have near a full gallon in the shops fire cabinet. I've used it at least twice before and the results are not as nice as the higher priced lines. Also.. they have less chip resistance than the upper level products too. When it comes to paints.. better quality products are easier to use, reduce labor after the fact, and last longer. You really do get what you pay for. Look at it like this.. what's more important?.. preserving all the hard work and cash you've invested getting to this point?.. or another $150 bucks in material cost to finsh it off nicely.
Well, i haven't gotten any closer on the car today as my neck and back are so sore i can't really move to well (im only 24...) so i did a lot of googling and found that many people hate omni and some people have very nice jobs from it..i think i will spray my comet with the omni and see how it turns out..if it looks like absolute crap..ill force my dad into the higher line of paint ill be spraying his chevelle with..remember..these are not show cars, we just have straight cars that we drive very hard and have fun with so they will end up with chips, and what not. the local shop 90% of the paint they sell is omni, which is why they recommended it to me, and the one guy who lives around the corner from me used to spray omni a fair bit at his shop and he says he loved it, it just took a little extra effort when buffing after. glad to know there is really no variations in the black though so i can shoot all the seperate panels at one time then the shell. i think that will work out a lot better in my situation as i might get overwhelmed and end up panicing causing recoats too early and get runs, sags or a complete mess. as of right now..you guys have warned me about omni..so it's on me if looks like a black turd. btw..sanding that cowl vent in between those things was not fun, should have just welded that up and made it smooth, would have been less work lol.
I have to chime in on this.....I have seen the results of Wards paint jobs and i can honestly say this dude can lay some paint!!!! Listen and learn, he's good!
