Painted mine in a two car garage......even got a first in class first time out in the Cleveland Autorama...click on my sig for a pic

 

It can be done but man are there ever a lot of pitfalls to avoid. I also painted my car myself and I think it turned out pretty good for my first effort. I had people at car shows asking if I would paint their cars. If you are one of those meticulous people you can achieve very good results. Laquer is pretty easy to shoot and very forgiving. The secret to success is in the prep and polishing. If you decide to make your own spray booth be sure to use an exhaust fan designed for an explosive atmosphere. The project can be very time consuming and frustrating at times but when people compliment the paint job and ask you who painted it and you can answer "I did", the feeling of pride is fantastic.

 

I have a friend that painted his Vette in a carport and the car turned out to be perfect!!! Now he has a garage.. and his work is unbelievable.. If I keep my '68 - I will have him repaint it..

 

you didnt mention what color youre going to go with. reason i ask, solid colors are a lot easier to shoot than metalics, and much more forgiving in the color sand and buff stage.

i agree with the posters who said prep is 90% of the job. BUT, thats if the painter is a good , experienced guy. for instance, on metalic paint, if you shoot it too wet, the metalic particles in the paint will lay down. most the time you get an even spray pattern that way, but it lacks some brilliance. lay it on too dry and the base wont stick to the sealer well and a few months down the road it will peel. what you want is to lay the color down so the metalic particles stand up without any spray patterns ( stripes in the color coat), and still go on wet enough to stick well. very difficult to do for a rookie. would be pure outhouse luck if you got it right.

solid colors are a different ball park. lay the base on fairly wet to get a nice, even coverage, let it flash and lay on the clear coat. if the base is done right , you can lay on 3 or 4 coats of clear and color sand most of the imperfections that are bound to occur. there is no such thing as a perfect paint job. i dont care if you spend ten grand on a paint job, the painter will be able to walk the car with you and show you some flaws. the mark of a true proffesional is how well he hides his mistakes.

so i guess it depends on what you want. you should be able to shoot a nice 5 or 10 footer with a lot of elbow grease. if the car is a driver, thats plenty good imho. that way if some knothead opens a door into you , or you get behind a cement truck on the freeway, you wont have to kill anyone. a high dollar paint job on a daily driver is insane in my opinion. first time you get caught in the rain, its over. just pay attention to detail and use good materials, and you should be able to do a presentable job. you may want to consider renting a spray booth from a body shop and shooting it there rather than your garage. no ventilation in your garage, so the overspray goes all over the place and it will settle on the car even after youre done shooting. not a tremendously big deal, but more difficult to buff and you will no doubt end up with a few more buggers in the paint. good luck, theres a lot to be said for " i did it" regards, fng

 

It doesn't take long to determine if the spray pattern is too dry, too wet, or just right...clearing the gun will indicate that...but here again, one has to have the ability to read the spray...in any case, the first pattern laid on the panel will tell the home painter what mix the paint is...a helpful rule of thumb is 25% paint and 75% thinner..and use a good thinner...at least medium dry.
I like to lay down a good solid base, usually 3-4 coats, then start applying a wet coat, mixing 15-20% paint, rest thinner....if done right....when dry the lacquer will be extremely shinny, almost as shinny as enamel, and be free of orange peel, at least the the peel will be to a bare minimum, and buffing will be a walk in the park.

 

Thanks for all the advice, info, and added knowledge. The color would not be changed and is not metallic. I am not expecting a "perfect" job, but a good quality job where at least the imperfections ARE hidden. I do very much enjoy cruising in the car, driving to shows, and drag racing the car. So I am not expecting "World of Wheels" paint job. After all of everbodys input I still do not have the b*lls to paint the car myself.

 

...but here again, one has to have the ability to read the spray

exactly right. thats the problem most rookie, or one time painters have. ive been in the auto body biz for 30 years as a body man. i can get paint on and make it look ok, but by no stretch of the imagination do i consider myself a painter. im a body man.

a good painter is every bit as much of an artist as a technician, and they are few and far between. pretty much anyone can get paint on a car, hell , even i can!! but a really nice job takes talent and skill. thats what ya pay for when you take in your car for a paint job.

btw. i havnt used laquer for ages. doesnt hold up well here in the desert, but damn it looks pretty when its done right. if i was to do a weekender or a show car, would probably use it. cant beat the depth and shine of multiple layers of the stuff. anyway, regards, fng

 

Here in Nashville,it is probably easier to obtain plutonium (definately easier to buy crack!!) than it is to get laquer paint. I have been told it is no longer produced, but I'm not really sure. A can of DuPont 3602 laquer thinner cost about $19 a gallon retail now(it used to be about $10-$12). If it is still produced, it is limited production so why fight it. I think I will be going with a single stage urethane paint this time.

 

I totally agree!! I have always considered a painter an "artist" and a body man a body man. Definitly two diferent worlds and BOTH compliment each other ( as long as both are good). The only type of paint I would consider is polyurthane bc/cc especially here in Florida. The brand, obviously the painter will have his peference. Just as I thought, EXPERIENCE (in painting) is everything, the mixing of the paint, the quality gun used, the tip used, the stoke in how the painter lays it on, all this is critical and it all comes with experience and you guys confirmed what I knew and that's why I still have never painted a car. Probably if I was building, lets say a back-halfed 9 second C3 I would definitly experiment on that. Where the car would be worth time and effort, but at the same time if it's not up to expectations (with some noticable flaws) it really doesn't matter, but the car will "hopefully look better than what I started with. I figure a daily driver C3 doesn't have that kind of down time for an entire paint job to experiment. But in the mean time I do not own a 9 second C3 nor a C3 daily driver so I am S.O.L. for an experimental Corvette paint job to do myself.

 

Here in Nashville,it is probably easier to obtain plutonium (definately easier to buy crack!!) than it is to get laquer paint. I have been told it is no longer produced, but I'm not really sure. A can of DuPont 3602 laquer thinner cost about $19 a gallon retail now(it used to be about $10-$12). If it is still produced, it is limited production so why fight it. I think I will be going with a single stage urethane paint this time

:lolg: lol , yea, i can remember when a 15 gallon drum of the stuff was 13 bux and that included the deposit on the drum. showing my age here. i can still get laquer, but im in the biz. a friend of mine lives in kalifornia and he had to come up here to get some old 131s primer. the times are a changin. single stage on a solid color works good, painted my black cad with it and it sparkles. paints about 5 years old and still looks great. course it lives in the garage and it gets waxed when i gets washed. upkeep means a lot to paint longevity too. btw, how much is a gallon of plutonium these days?? :jester

regards, fng

 

Wet sanded, polished, and buffed out 98% of everything yesterday. The painter and I worked on the car yesterday and I actully wet sanded with no problem which I already knew that is something I can do. The painter put it perfectly (in my book). "An imperfection here or there is OK, but when there is alot consintrated in on area, that would definitly need to be addressed and it was. Car looks great and I am very pleased. Until I get a second Corvette (C3 project of some kind) I will let the painting and body work to the expert.

 

I basically poured the paint on. I had a low pressure high volume gun and just kept going around and around the car until I had used up 7 liters of paint. I wanted a good job, didn't want to pay a fortune and wanted every nook and cranny painted.
The buffing out afterwards covers most mistakes. I wet saned the car with 1000 then 1500 then buffed. It took about 40 hours to wet sand and buff but you judge the quality.
Double click to enlarge

 

buy a junk car and practice painting on it!

when I want to paint and refinishing school at the local college all for auto body we practiced on junk cars that were donated... shoot it and practice practice!

plus you can use cheep paint and its a junk car no need to mask it off just shoot the darn thing and get your skill down :cheers:

 

just as a heads up i went to a well respected corvette shop that does good paint. I talked to them for some time and they told me that there was no way they would paint a car where someone else did the body work. Why you ask. Because the key to a good paint job is the prep work. Now if they were to paint a car i prepped and it turned out bad cause of my work and i told people thats where i had it painted, then would peopel want thier car painted there. That seems reasonable to me, plus id rather have it done right the first time, but have always been interested in doing it at home.

MAtt

 

I will be painting mine myself. I might be using my garage or I might be renting a booth (preferred)

I am doing my own body work, and I will be painting black PPG ( maybe HOK if I get Brave)

Painting isn't all that hard. Just follow the directions and do a little practicing first. I painted my mailbox, with flames, a 6' long lighted arrow and the engine compartment.

I've learned a lot, like make it easy to reach whatever you're spraying!
But I can do it, no Prob :smash:

If I screw up, sand it down and spray some more...