“It’s ugly”.
“Yeah, but king of cool-ugly, right?”
“Um, no. just ugly-ugly”.
So went to recent staff meeting when the
topic of what to do with HOT ROD’s project ‘G7 Impala convertible came up. The
crop-top Chevy had been used as a daily driver and later pressed into magazine
service for an engine-swap story and a how-to on vinyl wraps, but its most
recent iteration a bilious matte green so vile that none of us could bear to look
at it let alone drive it had led to a discussion regarding its fate.
Projects don’t always turn out as planned,
so what can you do when you love your car but hate the paint? “We could paint
it”, someone suggested, and the room got quiet. “We could?” Did we have the
gumption and talent to do a color change ourselves, quickly and cheaply? We
decided to find out.
How
to paint your car in a weekend and make it seem like a party
There are many paint-and body stories with
step-by-step instructions on what to do, with professionals at the trigger of
$400 paint guns. This isn’t one of those stories. We picked a group of
first-time painters, or at least folks who hadn’t done any paintwork in a long
time, set up in a friend’s backyard, and dove in. HRM staffer Jesse K. manned
up and volunteered to do the spraying, and the rest of us came along to sand,
mask, and ridicule.
After much debate as to whether it should
be glossy or satin, or if we should just flat-black it, we decided to go with
satin red using a basecoat/ clear coat system from Summit Racing. In fact, we
got everything through Summit, from the spray gun to the booth, and from all
the prep materials to the primer and paint. It’s all from the affordable Summit
house brand, and it’s a nice mail-order resource for those of you who live far
from a pro paint-supply house.
Because most in our group were
inexperienced painters, we invited a professional to supervise. Dennis P., host
of HOT ROD Magazine Live radio and former body-shop owner, joined us to answer
questions and mock all our mistakes. And we did make mistakes. We’ll admit that
now. Read on to see what we did wrong, and what we did right, and then get out
there and paint your project!
The IMP’s history
The Impala project started out as a daily
driver, and about as dull as a convertible can be, with chalky white paintjob
and unflattering belt-line trim. HOT ROD used the Impala for a basic engine
swap story, replacing the car’s 283 small block with a Stroker 383 crate
engine.
The
Impala project started out as a daily driver, and about as dull as a
convertible can be, with chalky white paintjob and unflattering belt-line trim
As an experiment in aesthetics, Freiburger
and John McGann (from Car Craft) tackled the Chevy’s rusty front fender and
bruised quarter-panels. The final touch was a full vinyl wrap, complete with
flames that showed up on the Oct. ’09 cover. It generated the highest volume of
hate mail in recent memory.
As
an experiment in aesthetics, Freiburger and John McGann (from Car Craft) tackled
the Chevy’s rusty front fender and bruised quarter-panels
“It looked good on the paint chip!” It did
not look good on the car. We’re not against green cars in general, just this
shade of green and the photo looks better than reality. It was supposed to be
lime gold, but even the painter referred to it as “dirty antifreeze green”.
“It
looked good on the paint chip!” It did not look good on the car
1.
It took us two days to paint the Impala, and
that was with some prep of the work area ahead of time. We had a good half
dozen folk working on the car, which cut the time down but raised the snack
bill.
It
took us two days to paint the Impala
2.
It cannot be said often enough: A good paintjob
on bad prep work? Not possible. Luckily for us, the Impala was pretty straight,
thanks to Freiburger and McGann’s work back in “09, plus subsequent coats of
filler primer and block-sanding. The paint that was on it was done well, so all
it needed was sanding (with 320- or 400-frit paper) and scuffing (with a red
Scotch-Brite pad) to prep it for sealer to prevent the old color from bleeding
through.
The
paint that was on it was done well, so all it needed was sanding and scuffing
3.
Block-sanding is important for several reasons.
The minute scratches of the 320-grit paper create adhesion points for the
sealer on the old paint. Sanding can also remove grease and other surface
contaminants that might affect the new paint. The goal is to get an even
surface of crosshatched scratches, with no dimples or shiny areas. When it’s ready,
the paint will have a dull, sort or cloudy, surface.
Block-sanding
is important for several reasons
4.
A 6-inch, dual-action air made the job go faster
on flat areas of the body. Guide the sander, don’t force it, you want to make
smooth, even strokes across every panel. Be careful not to press too hard on
body lines or in any one spot. The ideal is to scuff the paint, not to network
the shape of the car. If there are big dents or rust, the needs to be addressed
ahead of time.
The
ideal is to scuff the paint, not to network the shape of the car
5.
The project gods were not being kind to us, or
maybe they just felt we needed to demonstrate proper wet-sanding technique.
Once it started raining, we had to give up on the DA sander and switch to
wet/dry 400-grit. Wet sanding is also good for keeping the dust down. Clean
water and paper are key or you’ll get grooves in your surface from sharp
debris.
Wet
sanding is also good for keeping the dust down
6.
Once the first round of sanding was complete, we
switched to red Scotch-Brite. The idea is the same: to evenly scuff the surface
and remove any loose or rough material. Much if the dirt that ruins paint comes
from the car itself, so get in the wheelwells, under the bumper (if you can’t
remove them), anywhere that might be brushed or blown during the painting
process. Cleaning these areas gives a better surface for the masking tape to
sick to.
Cleaning
these areas gives a better surface for the masking tape to sick
7.
By around noon on the first day we had the car 90
percent sanded. To get an idea of what’s left, rinse the car well with clean
water and then blow it dry with air. Look for shiny spots and trim that hasn’t
been removed, and make sure all the jambs and weather strip gullies are clean
and scuffed.
Look
for shiny spots and trim that hasn’t been removed
