I purchased a couple cans of Cortez Silver for my 70 to see what I can do with it. Ultimately I need to pint my hood even if it is temporary. I started with the fuel cap cover. Came out real nice, but this is base coat paint alone. I think I need to add clear coat. Do I need to sand it first even with fresh base coat? Should have taken a before pic. I shook the can constantly but it still shot out some spots of color that seemed to be unmixed. Maybe I need to shake it more at the start. I'm thinking of spraying the entire hood.

 

When you paint metallic colors the last coat is often referred to as a drop coat. You reduce the gun pressure and spray at a further distance. This helps to even out the metallic particles. You then start to apply clear coats, after waiting for the paint to dry. You do not sand base coat, prior to applying the clear coat. If there are flaws or orange peal in the base coat, you correct them by wet sanding, then spray another coat, plus the drop coat.

 

With rattle cans, you can only do small surfaces like your fuel cap. An entire hood will be very streaky because you can't maintain a wet line so the passes can blend with each other. It will look terrible.

 

That's what I was afraid of. I was wondering if I could sort spread it very thinly and enough that it would even out. I suspect you are 100% right on this.

 

I ended up redoing the gas cover since I waited too long before applying clear coat, so I scuffed it and repainted and followed with clear. It actually looked better the first time but at least it has clear on it now. I don't think the base was going to survive or shine. I will probably just keep this around for the touch ups.

 

I have a large chipped area on the front fender peak and wondering if I need to use some bondo to fill that or if it should be fiberglass repair. I'll try to blend this in with this paint since it seems to match the color and metallic really well.

I've never painted a car before. It's a feat I would like to do at some point.

 

I have painted a few cars and they turned out pretty good. The trick is not to spray it dry by holding the gun to far back. We you go back to color sand and buff a lot of mistakes will come out.

 

If you use a spray can get the good 2K because it's a 2 part with Hardner which will allow you to do the color sand as I had said

 

Rattle can paints work if you take your time and do many many coats. No clear coat. Then after fully dry, color sand all the way up to 2000 grit. then compound and polish. But honestly, it's easier in the long run, even with a $10 harbor freight hvlp gun, to use a single stage automotive acrylic enamel. The prep and primer is the hard part and will take 90% of your time.

 

I saw a video where the guy took a 2K spray can and drained the paint out. He then put the paint in a Harbor freight HVLP gun and shot a fender. The swap allowed him to keep a wet edge while using "spray gun" paint. With all the time needed for prep, I'm not sure I would take the chance.

 

Just tried this. It won't be anywhere near current standards, but it will be close to factory and so much better than primer yellow.

 

The YouTube rattlecan guys say once your first can is 3/4 empty, use a new can of paint to prevent spots and streaks. That's all I got .

 

I have a lot of imperfections but this hood is not my preferred piece. I may just put some LT1 decals on it. Always wanted an LT1 !!

These are before any polishing. I think with some wet sanding it will look pretty good. The paint is a surprisingly good match!

 

I have used Dupli color wheel clear coat on smaller parts. Works well and has a good gloss. Here is my lower filler panel the I cleared with it. I wanted something that will hold up. Guess we will see.

 

That looks pretty good in the picture so if in reality you think it's a good match, then you've done well. You might want to see what real LT-1 owners think about your desire for a faux LT-1 car however.. A picture indoors under fluorescents might reveal more just to spot trouble areas.

As has probably been said here, you don't want to sand metallic base coat

Are you aware there is a Paint/Body forum here? Good place to go for more help and advice, although it doesn't sound like you are wanting that just yet.

Getting to the point, what are you matching on the rest of the car? A repaint or original? Different gloss! And have you clear coated this? You can sand that after some time to harden.

 

Yes, I did spray with clear but only had one can so it is rather thin. My goal was set very low. Cover the primer and not stick out too much. I have already achieved that! I think I can do even better.

What am I matching? I thought this was an original paint car. The guy I got it from owned it since 1972 and told me he never had any paintwork done on it. But I'm suspecting it may have had some preceding his ownership. I'm still gathering clues. For instance, I had some spillage of this spray onto the fender and when I attempted to clean it off with 1500 grit it appeared to remove one layer. I need more time to evaluate. It will be a while before I can update further.

I realize it's blasphemy to put LT1 labels on a big block. I think both camps would be annoyed! It's a repro hood which I ultimately want to replace with an original, so I will eventually get it "right". Since there are no holes for the 454 I figured it might be fun for a bit.

I forgot about the paint forum. I'm not going past the hood. What I want is a decent cover that looks somewhat presentable. I have already achieved my goal. So any more I do now will only be an improvement. I am very happy with the result! I wet sanded a very small patch in the upper corner and realized I can get a shine on it so that's a bonus.

The sad part is I failed to get enough coverage in one area so now I'm wondering if I can scuff up that area and blend in some more base coat. I'm gaining some good experience to build on if I ever do attempt something more serious. Thanks for the comments and feedback!

 

I like that you are giving it a shot and making a go of it. Sometimes, with patience and carefulness, the low buck way can be made to look pretty dang good. Watching many rattle can vids on youtube and have heard that the rattle can paints have come a long way. Some pretty impressive hood and fender jobs in some of the vids.

 

I think gccch's results results here also lead me to recommend an inexpensive gun to break free of the limited spray can volume. Then you greatly diminish any striping, color mismatch from different cans, or dry patches because the can is running out of paint. The Harbor Freight Black Widow gun seems pretty well respected for it's performance.

 

It would be so much easier with a proper paint gun. But I don't have a decent compressor here either. The hood will be the largest part unless I get good enough results to go further. I'm mostly interested in doing some touch up blending if I can get away with that.

Next up is to see if I can re-coat where it was too thinly applied. I'm consulting the manufacturer but any tips from the forum will be great.

It will be a while before I do anything further on this as I am now away from the car indefinitely.

 

I have a buddy that painted his truck in open field with a cheap paint gun. It turned out really well. I asked what his secret was to which he replied- a lot of sanding.