“Lower rockers and pinch welds are
easy to overlook when prepping and are susceptible to rock chips. That’s where
I goofed the first time I ever did paintwork, by not prepping properly”.
8.
Although we weren’t doing full-on bodywork, we
did have a few low spots and chips we wanted to fill. We used a two-part,
professional spot putty from the local auto0parts store. When using a spot
filler, make sure you work it completely into the low spot. If there’s an air
bubble, it could fall out or sag later, leaving a dimple in your paint.
If
there’s an air bubble, it could fall out or sag later, leaving a dimple in your
paint.
9.
Our plan was to work during the day and sit
around having barbecue during the evening. Painting with a spray gun-even an
EPA-approved high-volume, low-pressure (HVLP) gun-results in considerably more
overspray than your average rattle can. If we did the jambs, pushing the car in
the spray booth tent, priming, painting, and clear coating the jambs, then
remarking and shooting the body. That would cut into our dinner and drink in
time. But if we didn’t do the jambs, we’d have green edges on a red car. That
would really be a party damper. We cheated and did the jambs with Dupli-Color
spray paint in GM Victory Red. We would not say this is how you should do it,
but it is how we did do it.
Painting
with a spray gun-even an EPA-approved high-volume, low-pressure (HVLP)
gun-results in considerably more overspray than your average rattle can
10.
Brandan sanded the spot putty repairs and
vacuumed interior so we didn’t drag too much dust in to painting area.
Brandan
sanded the spot putty repairs and vacuumed interior
11.
Paint and primer are extremely temperature
sensitive, and while you can adjust drying time by modifying the amount of
reducer used in the paint mix, there’s not a whole lot you can do to speed
drying time once the car is sprayed. The sun was going down, we were all
hungry, and it was too cold. Shooting the paint would have to wait until the
next morning. Barbecue, on the other hand, is good at all times. One note about
party painting: Keep your food and your painted car separated. Besides the
obvious health risks of ingesting paint chemicals, a greasy pizza handprint on
your prepped fender could result in a permanent reminder of that slice of super
meat a Roni Deluxe.
“Revisiting the ‘backyard quickie’
paintjob reminds you that no matter how much you prep and plan, there is always
a gremlin waiting to fly you and Bugs Bunny into a nosedive”.
Paint
and primer are extremely temperature sensitive
12.
Every good morning starts with masking. Don’t
forget the small holes where trim or door handles were removed, or you’ll end
up painting the inside of your door and the window.
Don’t
forget the small holes where trim or door handles were removed
13.
When masking along edges, use a wide tape and
lay the strip over the edge, then fold it back and attach the paper to the
sticky. This result in a slightly softer mask line than running the edge of the
tape butt-up against the body line, meaning lass final sanding to blend the
edges once you unmark the car.
When
masking along edges, use a wide tape and lay the strip over the edge, then fold
it back and attach the paper to the sticky
14.
The most obvious enemy of a backyard paintjob is
dirt-well, dirt and the danger of overspray on everything you, and your
neighbor and your neighbor’s own. To combat both, we set up a portable Zip Wall
paint both from Summit Racing. The extendable poles are intended to lock the
plastic sheeting is place against a garage ceiling, or in our case, a wooden
carport. We can’t wholeheartedly say the set up was easy, as we still needed
staples and tape to complete the booth, but once we made our adjustments, we
had a fairly sturdy, weatherproof enclosure.
The
most obvious enemy of a backyard paintjob is dirt-well
15.
You can’t be too fussy about cleanliness. Try to
keep the action around the car to a minimum once you’re ready to spray. To keep
down dust around the car, we the hosed off the inside of the spray booth. A
damp floor is good, but the puddles we had on the plastic caused us some minor
grief late.
“Have you smacked the side of the car
with the air hose yet? I have”.
You
can’t be too fussy about cleanliness
16. We asked professional painters for advice before we tackle this
project and got a ton of different opinions, but they did agree on one thing:
Make sure your primer, paint, and clear are all compatible. What does that
mean? If you’re starting from scratch, buy everything (primer, paint, and
clear) from one source. We failed on that, neglecting to order a primer/ sealer
from Summit. If you’re painting over old paint, you should consider using a
sealer. Some of the solvents in paint can reactivate dry paint, and we can only
imagine what a mix between metallic coolant green and Corvette red would look
like, but a sealer would prevent that nausea. It’s different from primer in
that it doesn’t need to be sanded between application and the first coat of
color. It’s a thin layer that should act as a barrier between the old paint and
the new. Most standard primers are absorbent and won’t protect bare metal or
old paint on their own.
Make
sure your primer, paint, and clear are all compatible
17.
Before spraying, we arranged all our base,
primer, reducers and hardeners on the workbench and wrote out the mixing
ratios. Don’t take anything for granted. Check that you have the right hardener
with the right base and that your mixing cup has measurement lines for the
ratios you need. Don’t be lazy about mixing the paint. You’ll find huge clumps
of pigment at the bottom of the can. Mix vigorously. If you have time, take it
to a paint place and have them put it on their mechanical shaker.
Don’t
take anything for granted
18.
Remember that line about cleanliness? Right
before the first coat of sealer, we went over the whole car again with a prep
cleaner. This is a mix of solvents chosen for their grease-removing properties
and quick evaporation with no residue. We used Eastwood’s PRE Paint Prep. To
remove the lint from the rags we used with the solvent, our final step before
spraying the sealer was to go over the car with tack rags (sticky lint-free
cloths that came in our Summit prep kit).
Remember
that line about cleanliness
19. We used the Summit Racing HVLP Spray Gun (GN SUM-02-12018). This
might not be the first choice of a professional painter, but we were surprised
at how well this gun worked after Dennis adjusted the spray pattern. A proper
pattern should look like a tight oval, about 10-12 inches high. Our biggest
problem was that our little air compressor couldn’t give us the 25 psi going
into the gun that would have been ideal. To try and make up for the poor air
pressure, Dennis says he dialed back the amount of product going through the
nozzle so it would atomize properly. It’s like carb tuning! When you’re setting
up to use a paint gun, keep in mind that the filters you install to trap
moisture may also affect the air pressure to the gun.
