16 replies to this topic

[Tom Hampton]

Holy moly! got two estimates to paint the car assuming I do all the prep work and disassembly. $1500 for a guy out of his house. $2500 for the paint shop up the street! Guess I'll be painting the thing myself.

[Johnny D]

Try this one.
Maaco - Dallas
3916 W Ledbetter Dr, Dallas, TX 75233
(214) 337-5640

Mine down the street says something like $299.

One guy I know painted his car green and blue but matched the colors to a can of spray paint he liked so touch ups were easy.
J~

[dstevens]

If you want to use auto paint and do it yourself these are the guys. Good, inexpensive single and two stage acrylics and even some lacquers. They've also got high end paints like PPG. They can match the Mazda paint codes even in the low end paints.

http://www.tcpglobal...estorationshop/

I've been using the low end HF HVLP guns on sale for about 10 bucks each. They're basically disposable after a few uses. http://www.harborfre...-gun-47016.html

The Maaco deals around here they want to upsell you on bodywork, etc. Painting is messy and requires some tools, like the spray rig. A couple of the hobby stock guys use rollers with Rustoleum and one guy used old house paint. They don't call it Vegastucky for nothin'...

[Mark]

A second vote for Restoration Shop / TCP Global. I use a Concours HVLP gun I purchased at Eastwood. Needs only 5.5 cfm or thereabouts so it works really well with my wimpy compressor and wastes a minimal amount of paint. Tossing the gun does sound attractive though. I'll have to look at the HF ones. I hate cleaning the gun.

[chris haldeman]

tom, if you are willing to put off the painting till the off season i will do it for you as cheap as i can.

[dstevens]

A second vote for Restoration Shop / TCP Global. I use a Concours HVLP gun I purchased at Eastwood. Needs only 5.5 cfm or thereabouts so it works really well with my wimpy compressor and wastes a minimal amount of paint. Tossing the gun does sound attractive though. I'll have to look at the HF ones. I hate cleaning the gun.

The HFs don't clean very well with the auto paint and the over spray is a bit harsh. I've got one that I use with can Rustoleum thinned with mineral spirits and it seems to do better though maybe time to replace. I asked my Dad, he was a commercial painter all his life and he suggested DeVilbis. They've got an entry level gun for about $80. http://www.tcpglobal...inishstart.aspx I don't use it that much, only for larger jobs or auto paint. It's such a pain to clean for the smaller stuff I go get a can of Rustoleum and shoot it.

[HoneyBadger - BrianW]

tom, if you are willing to put off the painting till the off season i will do it for you as cheap as i can.

+1
Tom, if you don't know Chris yet, he is a GREAT person to know (plus he is an OK guy ). Seriously though, give Chris a call he will hook you up.

[Tom Hampton]

Yep, totally agree. Chris found me a caliper bolt several months ago. I forgot that he does body stuff.

[Colby Scott]

tom, if you are willing to put off the painting till the off season i will do it for you as cheap as i can.

Hey Chris, I might need you to paint my car this offseason. I could do the job of getting all of that old flaky red factory crap off of the car if that would help.

[Alberto]

Yep. Paint and prep work ain't cheap. Maaco will do paint for $299 but they won't do much if anything in the way of prep. They wanted $1,600 to fill my car with bondo and paint over the rust and other crap. I got an out of work body shop guy to do it in his garage. Paid $600 in materials from Sherwin Williams automotive and paid him something around $800-1,000 (I forget exactly...)

My car when I got it:


My car after:


The car looks awesome.

More pics of the process on my flickr album here:

[dstevens]

Good looking paint job, Alberto. I went to the local Sherwin Williams auto paint dealer before finding TCP Global and they wanted more than a couple hundred a gallon, plus reducer and hardener. It's good paint, though. The local PPG dealer was about the same. I've been wanting to do the wheel wells so I can get the suspension back on but it's been over 100* for more than a month. I've only got fast and medium reducer and I'm concerned the pot will set too quickly. Now that the engine is out and starting to be reassembled I can at least prep the engine bay.

Not to threadjack Tom but what did you use to clean the inside of your bellhousing? I used Gunk Engine Brite gel at first, then switched to Seafoam. Seafoam seemed to do a better job but there is still some elbow grease involved.

Dave

[Tom Hampton]

Good looking paint job, Alberto. I went to the local Sherwin Williams auto paint dealer before finding TCP Global and they wanted more than a couple hundred a gallon, plus reducer and hardener. It's good paint, though. The local PPG dealer was about the same. I've been wanting to do the wheel wells so I can get the suspension back on but it's been over 100* for more than a month. I've only got fast and medium reducer and I'm concerned the pot will set too quickly. Now that the engine is out and starting to be reassembled I can at least prep the engine bay.

Not to threadjack Tom but what did you use to clean the inside of your bellhousing? I used Gunk Engine Brite gel at first, then switched to Seafoam. Seafoam seemed to do a better job but there is still some elbow grease involved.

Dave

I was looking at the paints from Summit. But, now that Chris has offered to make me a sweet deal...he may have his own line.


Dude, I'm all about the threadjack. Stream of conciousness-r-us. Gunk Engine Brite, plus water, plus brass bristle brush, plus elbow grease. I plugged and taped all the openings so I could spray with wild-abandon....okay, cautious abandon.

Alberto, that's some serious rust! You did a nice job. I've only got one dent, and one spot of surface rust to deal with. Man that looks like a lot of work. Looks good in all white. My wife likes the "all white" paint scheme, too. I just can't. Gotta be flashy!

[chris haldeman]

i'm all for trying the summit line.im pretty sure it is the global stuff but im not positive.we can use there basecoat and the clear i have been using and am familier with.

[Alberto]

Good looking paint job, Alberto. I went to the local Sherwin Williams auto paint dealer before finding TCP Global and they wanted more than a couple hundred a gallon, plus reducer and hardener. It's good paint, though. The local PPG dealer was about the same. I've been wanting to do the wheel wells so I can get the suspension back on but it's been over 100* for more than a month. I've only got fast and medium reducer and I'm concerned the pot will set too quickly. Now that the engine is out and starting to be reassembled I can at least prep the engine bay.

Not to threadjack Tom but what did you use to clean the inside of your bellhousing? I used Gunk Engine Brite gel at first, then switched to Seafoam. Seafoam seemed to do a better job but there is still some elbow grease involved.

Dave

Thanks Dave and Tom. I have never had a car painted before. The only time I have ever had to deal with a body shop was to fix collision damage and insurance was involved so I was/am almost completely uninformed about what is involved. I do know that what matters most is the person doing the job. Personally, I don't want to learn any more about body work and stuff...

As for the rust, I wound up replacing the subframes and control arms b/c the rust had permanently attached the shocks to the control arms. I have some pics somewhere. It wasn't fun.



On the bellhousing, I just used "elbow grease" and lots of paper towels. Bounty should have sponsored my build... Whenever I tried to use Gunk, SImple Green, Brake Cleaner or any other chemical, it would just gunk up the oily residue and make it harder to get off. With it in a semi dry / caked on oil state, I was able to rub it off pretty quickly using just paper towel. YMMV. You can see how dirty my bellhousing was in the photo stream I posted above on my Flickr account.

[Alberto]

Here is a direct link. Just noticed that it was streaming pics instead of linking to the album.

http://www.flickr.co...57623372416915/

[dstevens]

On the bellhousing, I just used "elbow grease" and lots of paper towels. Bounty should have sponsored my build... Whenever I tried to use Gunk, SImple Green, Brake Cleaner or any other chemical, it would just gunk up the oily residue and make it harder to get off. With it in a semi dry / caked on oil state, I was able to rub it off pretty quickly using just paper towel. YMMV. You can see how dirty my bellhousing was in the photo stream I posted above on my Flickr account.

The bellhousing is nice and clean. A clean car is a more easily maintained car.

I like the Wypall X80 red towels. I get them at Costco in a small box but they have them in bulk at the industrial supply. They're tough like cloth though I think are a bit more absorbent. http://www.google.co...ved=0CFwQ8wIwAQ

For cleaning crust and carbon off I like Seafoam. I've been hearing about it for a few years but didn't use it until this build. It's meant as an engine additive but works great as a cleaner. Finished the pistons earlier today, now cleaning the valves and head. I soaked each piston for about an hour, most of the carbon wiped right off. Easy brushing and very light Scotch Brite to finish it off. I'm trying to catch up on the build today as it's cooled off a bit. It's only 102* today...


cleaning pistons by Dave Stevens, on Flickr

[Alberto]

^Nice.

I have the original 180k motor from my car in the garage. When you are ready in the off season, I'd love to read about any "lessons learned" so I can contemplate what to do with it.