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Last year I purchased an 81 C3 for 5K. It needed work, the entire interior was changed those pics can be view here https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...r-opinion.html. Now it was time to paint. So, I built a paint booth in the garage and painted 3 coats of sealer, 4 coats of base coat and 3 coats of clear. Most importantly, I'm not a body person or a painter, it has a couple of runs and some trash got in the paint (its a garage) but, overall I'm pretty happy with it. My line of thinking is, it will be driven NOT put in a show case. See the below photos and let me know how I did!
MY garage spray booth My Garage Spray Booth More of my Garage Spray Booth Sealer Complete Base Coat Complete Base Coat Complete 1st Coat of Clear The Finished Product The Finished Product
Side by Side. The first day at it's new home and the present day.
Last edited by BRANDON43; Mar 25, 2024 at 06:40 AM.
At the end of the day,
They all look good in photos.
I can post up photos of the horrific job that was done on my car and in these little photos everyone will say it looks great.
None the less. If your runs and debris are in the final clear coat, those can be wet sanded/polished out.
Mostly it looks great in these little photos!
Nice color!
A little trick for the runs if any are bad... smaller runs can be blocked out and buffed without too much worry of going through... even a little shaving with a razor blade first but if you have big ones that will not come out without seeing them or going through the clear nearby.
It is hard to sand a 20 mil thick run without going through the 3-5 mil clear around it even with a block.
if the clear is cured and sounds as though it will be in a week... mix up a small amount of metal glaze (fine final coat body filler that uses a peroxide hardener) and spread a very thin coat over the run... let it cure, start blocking with some 600 grit wet sand paper... as the metal glaze is starting to thin out and show the run switch to 1500 to finish it down till the metal glaze is gone, the metal glaze will protect the paint around the run and allow you to block sand it down evenly till the run is gone without seeing it down the road.
Looks great. I am thinking of doing the paint on my 78 project but I think I might get one of those portable blow up paint booths that will fit in my garage. Tell is more about what products you ised. Compressor size. Gun. Things you might do different on THE NEXT ONE. Thx
Thank you. I am looking at a HF Black Widow gun w/ 1.3 tip but wasn’t sure if my compressor would do the job. Mine also has a 26 gal tank. I have more learning to do so I appreciate your info. The last time I painted vehicles was about 20 yrs ago and lots have changed, starting with 5he price of paint. Thx.
I typically have a booth available to me to paint my cars but i painted this Viper in the garage you see it in with a 6hp 33 gal craftsman oil-less compressor and an older SATA 1.4.
much like the corvette it could be painted in sections (front and back) as they don't actually connect with the paint finish. To avoid running out of air i based and cleared in sections over two days, same can be done with the C3 corvette as the front and rear of the car don't connect with a painted suface with the doors open... just a tought.
you still want to apply base color across the panels to assure color match if its metallic but can be cleared in sections without running out of air or long waits for the compressor to carch up.
I cannot believe you park a VIPER alongside a ladder hanging on the wall! In my house someone would slam the door and it would be all over. Ha Ha. And thank you for the additional paint info. It is becoming clear to me that the size of the tank is almost as important as the HP of the compressor. Thanks.
I cannot believe you park a VIPER alongside a ladder hanging on the wall! In my house someone would slam the door and it would be all over. Ha Ha. And thank you for the additional paint info. It is becoming clear to me that the size of the tank is almost as important as the HP of the compressor. Thanks.
No worries, the ladder anchers are pretty secure to the wall studs and they are hooked up at the ends... but same comments have been made in the past with vehicles parked there.
the smaller compressor and tank can be done especially wth the right (low volume) gun and if you can break up the clearing job in sections, if you take on the project best of luck.
Not to hijack this thread so this will be my last about my issue. I currently have 2 smaller compressors, 2.5 and 1.5 hp with a total of almost 50 gal tank and I am thinking of hooking them up parallel. Thanks again for the thoughts and info from all of you.
Not to hijack this thread so this will be my last about my issue. I currently have 2 smaller compressors, 2.5 and 1.5 hp with a total of almost 50 gal tank and I am thinking of hooking them up parallel. Thanks again for the thoughts and info from all of you.
technically that will net you about 14-16 CFM and with the right gun that would work but you may start running low on the capacity... for the basecoat (if that's your direction) it's not that important to stop and let the compressor build up again but for clearcoat or singlestage it will start to give some texture and low atomization till you stop and let the capacity build again, also may dry too much, that's why the suggestion of clearing in sections, you can clear the hood and parts at one time, the front end and doors another time (unless doors are off) and whole rear section a third time of clearing... will take a few days but that's how I did that Viper, two days of painting including doing the stripes down the center.
I personally use Devilbiss DV1 guns which will run well on low CFM but they are very expensive, i would perssonally try to borrow a good devilbiss, Sata, Iwata etc gun over just buying a cheap one (if you were close I would let you borrow them) might even consider looking on offer up or something for a good used gun even if for one application, 3/8 air fitting will help also.
the one thing your concerned with is laying out the clear or single stage with enough atomization to not get large orange peel, runs, dry etc... the section clearing could fix all that... smaller tip and needle will help... no bigger than 1.4
the OP did it and the right way, car looks great so it can be done
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81 C3 Exterior Progress
