[Cammer-6]

Originally Posted by 400 4spd.

Cammer, the building's not mine, just the equipment. Had to add electrical, heat, air lines, etc. Just opened the doors last week.
That was some of the paint shop side, below is some of the body shop side. I think I can make room for Greg's car.

Serious about this arent you
I wish I would have known you were doing this......
My buddy just closed his shop and has/had alot of equipment for sale at some cheap prices.
After TRR this year its down to just a few items.
He sold his shop so new owner kept spray booth,mixing station,one frame machine.

I sure do miss having a frame machine and spray booth.

[Greg Reid]

Dang, that is nice Steve...not only the building but the offer! You're going to make me have to re-think my plans again. Logistics of getting up there/timing might be a problem right now but let me think about it. In fact, I may give you a call later in the week.

Charles, I gotcha message...lol. Yeah, I do sleep late nowadays.. Completely reversed my clock. I used to get up at 3am...now I go to bed at 3am.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by bdk1976

I was going to shoot my car with this gun (and would recommend it to any fellow amateur - especially if using a marginal compressor):

http://www.amazon.com/Astro-Pneumati.../dp/B000HTLL70

as it did an excellent job on jambs, etc, but I messed up the tip cleaning it up (used a piece of metal wire that f'ed up one of the holes) and didn't notice it until I started spraying base over the whole car a few days later and it was tiger striping like crazy due to the uneven pattern. 100% my fault - not the gun's.

I hastily went and grabbed my cheapo harbor freight purple gun I had used for primer and shot the base/clear with that. Definitely wasted a bit of paint due to the switch (and higher pressure) but the paint job came out way better than I expected!

Also, be sure to shop around for paint - the local PPG shop thought that their sh!t was made of gold and didn't even have an exact match for '65 Iris Mist in their system, and the guy at the local NAPA was apologetic when he gave me a quote for $600+/gal basecoat (still cheaper than PPG by $100+). I ended up buying valspar online for a fraction of the cost and have no complaints (and the color match was excellent).

I could write a novel about my experience, but will leave it at that for now.

I think coming up with a checklist and putting it up for review would be a good idea for further input.

I wasn't ignoring this post bdk...but 400spd kind of distracted me...lol
I've got a paint shop nearby that I've been using for a few years. I can get the paint, no problem. Same place I got the paint for the jambs. I'm pretty much down to two guns on my list but thanks for the suggestion.

[Greg Reid]

Alright...I'm invested so, no turning back now...
I bought one of these to make my 'booth' out of...-



And this-

[geeteeohguy]

Greg, I spoke with an I-CAR instructor about how to practice and what to practice on, and he said to hang up single thickness sheets of newspaper and practice on them. You want to cover the print without runs. It's plentiful and free, and you can do a good check of your pattern and technique before you commit to your sheetmetal. Just a thought.....

[hpp]

I wish I were closer I would offer our paint booth also and or come help you out. Im a ASE painter and ASE collison tech and I-CAR cert also. I dont comment often in the body shop tech forum not really sure why.

Couple suggestions I have are:

Make sure all prep work is done correctly. Long list

Blow everything out very well with a blow gun prior to pulling the car into your booth.

If in the driveway/gravel wet down the area around the booth.

Plenty of ventilation/light.

Wipe down the car several times with prep solvent/wax and grease remover.
"When wet this also helps to see how well the bodywork looks". Don't go in a circular motion straight forward and up and down use lint free towels one to apply and one to dry.

Once in the booth tack cloth the car very well.

Pick up a throw away paint suite it will help keep you clean and the paint job.

Far as applying base/clear that is hard to explain over a computer im not sure on how much you know and dont know how much to explain. Have any questions feel free to ask.

Couple pics of some work I do just so you know this is what I do for a profession.

The 75' Grandville was smashed in the front The Terrain was a mess also.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

Greg, I spoke with an I-CAR instructor about how to practice and what to practice on, and he said to hang up single thickness sheets of newspaper and practice on them. You want to cover the print without runs. It's plentiful and free, and you can do a good check of your pattern and technique before you commit to your sheetmetal. Just a thought.....

Sounds good.... But believe it or not, I actually have a lot more scrap sheetmetal around here than I do newspaper...lol...I do like the idea of trying to cover something without runs though. I'll keep that in mind and I will practice.

Originally Posted by hpp

I wish I were closer I would offer our paint booth also and or come help you out. Im a ASE painter and ASE collison tech and I-CAR cert also. I dont comment often in the body shop tech forum not really sure why.



Couple suggestions I have are:

Make sure all prep work is done correctly. Long list

Blow everything out very well with a blow gun prior to pulling the car into your booth.

If in the driveway/gravel wet down the area around the booth.

Plenty of ventilation/light.

Wipe down the car several times with prep solvent/wax and grease remover.
"When wet this also helps to see how well the bodywork looks". Don't go in a circular motion straight forward and up and down use lint free towels one to apply and one to dry.

Once in the booth tack cloth the car very well.

Pick up a throw away paint suite it will help keep you clean and the paint job.

Far as applying base/clear that is hard to explain over a computer im not sure on how much you know and dont know how much to explain. Have any questions feel free to ask.

Couple pics of some work I do just so you know this is what I do for a profession.

The 75' Grandville was smashed in the front The Terrain was a mess also.

Well, that post is reassuring...I've already thought of or already have in place everything on your list....except the actual painting experience.
I'm looking at a lot of youtube so I can actually watch people painting. It does help somewhat.
Don't worry...I WILL be asking some last minute questions before I do this and also afterwards before the cut and buff stage. I'm kinda stoked about it now. Can't wait for some stable, warm spring weather.

[1966geeto]

I to was in a quandary about getting my 66 painted I did not have the confidence to do it myself although I had researched for about a year bought the gun and equip to do it.At the last minute I backed out and went searching for a body shop well 2 years later and allot of grief and money my car is back home with the worst looking paint job I've ever seen.I am sick about it and don't know what to do to fix it they shop came highly recommended with 45 years of experience and specialty being hot rods.Once I dropped her off it took 5 months before they even touched it after that it was all down hill thought I was going to have a nervous break down.The car is a frame off restoration it is now back home and the body is sitting on 4x4s as it sat around his shop so long the frame got dusted with over spray I know this is a long story but just venting I am in very poor health and on a limited income so now I'm at a loss as to what to do the car has not been cut and buffed he keeps saying it will look great when it's done but cutting and buffing will not remove scratches in the base coat or dead spots in the paint I live in Tampa Fla and wish I had dragged it to one of the Macos or Carsmetics to get it shot I'm living a nightmare now.I guess just trying to get the point across have the confidence t do it yourself I wish I did good luck.There is a good website that can give you lots of info AUTOBODYSTORE .COM guys name is Len Stuart old school guy anyways good luck.One more thing the shop lost a bunch of small parts so now I have to repurchase this stuff..

[Greg Reid]

Sorry for your troubles 1966geeto. I hope you can find someone to straighten it out for you.
Yeah, it seems that getting the paint done is a bottleneck for a lot of projects. I guess good painters, and apparently, even bad ones... are in demand so it takes forever and unless you've had previous good experiences with them, you STILL don't know what you are going to get in the end. I figure that if I screw it up, at least I don't have to argue with anyone.
By the way, I'm a member at autobodystore.com .... Lots of good info over there.

[abefromen]

Originally Posted by 1966geeto

I to was in a quandary about getting my 66 painted I did not have the confidence to do it myself although I had researched for about a year bought the gun and equip to do it.At the last minute I backed out and went searching for a body shop well 2 years later and allot of grief and money my car is back home with the worst looking paint job I've ever seen.I am sick about it and don't know what to do to fix it they shop came highly recommended with 45 years of experience and specialty being hot rods.Once I dropped her off it took 5 months before they even touched it after that it was all down hill thought I was going to have a nervous break down.The car is a frame off restoration it is now back home and the body is sitting on 4x4s as it sat around his shop so long the frame got dusted with over spray I know this is a long story but just venting I am in very poor health and on a limited income so now I'm at a loss as to what to do the car has not been cut and buffed he keeps saying it will look great when it's done but cutting and buffing will not remove scratches in the base coat or dead spots in the paint I live in Tampa Fla and wish I had dragged it to one of the Macos or Carsmetics to get it shot I'm living a nightmare now.I guess just trying to get the point across have the confidence t do it yourself I wish I did good luck.There is a good website that can give you lots of info AUTOBODYSTORE .COM guys name is Len Stuart old school guy anyways good luck.One more thing the shop lost a bunch of small parts so now I have to repurchase this stuff..

Sorry to hear about this. I've had a similar experience to this & I know the feeling. Occurrences like this is one reason project cars get shelved,sold, etc.

I've considered doing my own paint work a few times and I am semi-confident in my abilities. But, after taking into consideration the insanely high cost of materials & equipment and the likelihood of the end result coming out looking like ass and having to redo everything at twice the cost (or more) a local Maaco made the most sense to me. I know the OP stated that wasn't really an option for him.

I do all my own prep work as I can handle that but the final paint being the number one most visible thing I see, well I prefer to leave it to a pro. But after reading the above horror story & knowing how hard it can be to find a competent shop/painter I can see why someone would want to shoot it themelf.

[abefromen]

Ever see this guy's website?

http://www.howardsbackyardautobody.com/

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by abefromen

Ever see this guy's website?

http://www.howardsbackyardautobody.com/

Never. I have it bookmarked now though...Thanks!

[paint guy]

Originally Posted by 1966geeto

I to was in a quandary about getting my 66 painted I did not have the confidence to do it myself although I had researched for about a year bought the gun and equip to do it.At the last minute I backed out and went searching for a body shop well 2 years later and allot of grief and money my car is back home with the worst looking paint job I've ever seen.I am sick about it and don't know what to do to fix it they shop came highly recommended with 45 years of experience and specialty being hot rods.Once I dropped her off it took 5 months before they even touched it after that it was all down hill thought I was going to have a nervous break down.The car is a frame off restoration it is now back home and the body is sitting on 4x4s as it sat around his shop so long the frame got dusted with over spray I know this is a long story but just venting I am in very poor health and on a limited income so now I'm at a loss as to what to do the car has not been cut and buffed he keeps saying it will look great when it's done but cutting and buffing will not remove scratches in the base coat or dead spots in the paint I live in Tampa Fla and wish I had dragged it to one of the Macos or Carsmetics to get it shot I'm living a nightmare now.I guess just trying to get the point across have the confidence t do it yourself I wish I did good luck.There is a good website that can give you lots of info AUTOBODYSTORE .COM guys name is Len Stuart old school guy anyways good luck.One more thing the shop lost a bunch of small parts so now I have to repurchase this stuff..

How would you describe what is wrong with your paint job? Runs/sags in the clear can usually be fixed easily enough, whereas discrepancies in the color coat may require a re-shoot. "Dead spots" may just be areas of dry spray/ poor flowout and may be fixable.Is it possible for you to post pictures?

[1966geeto]

Originally Posted by paint guy

How would you describe what is wrong with your paint job? Runs/sags in the clear can usually be fixed easily enough, whereas discrepancies in the color coat may require a re-shoot. "Dead spots" may just be areas of dry spray/ poor flowout and may be fixable.Is it possible for you to post pictures?

I can see sanding scratches in the basecoat and the dead spots look like the base coat soaked into the primer the clear is fine but the base looks dead.I will do the best I can to get pics but hard to see unless you look up close I have heard people call this a service paint job good from 30 feet but up close ehh!! defiantly has dry spots in the clear right now I am doing the best I can to fix the broken body mount bolts he was supposed to have done while the frame was off i'm just so frustrated and my body can only do so much also I have to repurchase 3 body mounts that were misplaced while it was there..

[Greg Reid]

Sounds like a nightmare...I really feel for you. Mine may wind up just as bad. If it does, I'll just have to do it all over again. At least I give myself excellent rates on labor.

[Greg Reid]

I got my Tekna gun yesterday. One of the first things I notice is that it's calling for high flow disconnects.
Any thoughts on the necessity and where can I get them?
I have 3/8" hose but inner orifices at the factory 1/4 threaded ends are clearly not that large. I'm a little confused...
What's the deal on high flow in general?

[400 4spd.]

lots of brands out there.. here is a popular one.

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/milt...6-p-15105.aspx

[Cammer-6]

you can even get them at Lowes

[Greg Reid]

Thanks Steve, Cammer. I had read that they had them at HF so I went there. Didn't find anything labeled specifically as 'High Flow' but I did find some 3/8" 'T' type with very large openings. I suppose that will suffice for now?
Still kinda confused on how any of that helps though, considering the fact that the swaged ends of the 3/8" hose I'm using are not that large. ?? Bigger than the ones I'm using now but still not as large stuff I bought today.

[Cammer-6]

store bought hose is too small.
I went to Snyder hose 30 yrs ago and had hoses made and all of them are still in use.
I have a special 30ft hose for nothing but the HVLP that is larger than usual with the hi flow fittings.Dont get one too long for this youll get alot of pressure drop.