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240 Amateur Paint

theknave

theknave

New member
Joined
Mar 25, 2014
Location
Seattle
I'm sure I'm going to get plenty of eye-rolls for this, and I'm sure at least five thousand 240 owners have done this, but I'm going to paint my car myself.

The current 29 year-old paint is, well, 29 years old, and out of curiosity, for fun and a desire to learn I'm going to hand sand, fill, prime and rattle can this thing. Having it painted "the right way" by someone at a shop just does not inspire me for this car at this point in time.

That being said, I've done a little reading, but this is what I'm planning on doing:

1. Sand with 40 grit
2. Sand with 80 grit
3. Sand with 180 grit
4. Body fill where desired
5. Epoxy prime
6. Some other primer?
7. Rattle can flat black (multiple coats)
8. Clear coat or no?

Do I have this right?

Thankya.

Edit: Yeah, I think the sanding is supposed to go between applications... except for the 40, which gets you down to the bottom.
 
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Sounds like a lot of work and money only to end up with ****ty results.

If you overall sand with 40 grit good luck getting the scratches out.....maybe just use a course file?


Why would you use flat black/clear?
 
Lol, of course I have it all wrong... :roll:

Miracle Auto Painting? I don't think we have that up here...
 
Dicktater said:
Sounds like a lot of work and money only to end up with ****ty results.

If you overall sand with 40 grit good luck getting the scratches out.....maybe just use a course file?

Why would you use flat black/clear?
Click to expand...


You think that'll add up to more than $500-ish?

You're not listening, the work is part of the fun/curiosity/learing, lol.


Well a buddy of mine flat-blacked his engine bay. Said it was nice, but didn't hold up to grease/oil. I was wondering if the clear coat would help that scenario. It probably wouldn't be 100% flat after that, but maybe still not high gloss but with more protection?
 
Check out some you-tube videos first. Maybe DIYautoschool.
Also miracle paint = maaco
 
theknave said:
You think that'll add up to more than $500-ish?

You're not listening, the work is part of the fun/curiosity/learing, lol.


Well a buddy of mine flat-blacked his engine bay. Said it was nice, but didn't hold up to grease/oil. I was wondering if the clear coat would help that scenario. It probably would be a 100% flat after that, but maybe still not high gloss but with more protection?
Click to expand...


Not if you prep it yourself and take it to Maaco.


theknave said:
Lol, of course I have it all wrong... :roll:

Miracle Auto Painting? I don't think we have that up here...
Click to expand...

Miracle / Maaco / Schieb any of the cheap complete paint places.
 
Spray can job just isn't worth the effort.

Do you have a good air compressor? Buy a cheapo harbor freight HVLP gun and some entry level single stage; if you're going to do it at least take a shot at it doing it the "real" way.
 
Body work done as in 1st post.
Primed and wet sanded with 600 grit.
Pop up tent in back yard.
Water lawn.
Roll car in.
tack off with tack cloths x2 (do this very early in the morning for somewhat bugless paint)
Spray with real paint 5 coats for non metallic (so you can wet sand the bugs out) .
let cure overnight.
Wetsand car with 1000 grit over the week that you have in between weekends.
spray 1-2 more coats of base color with normal flash between coats, giving double flash time after last coat. this will self "level"
spray 5-8 coats of clear.
let cure for 1 week in covered pop up tent.
Wetsand, cut/buff/polish.

3 weeks and it'll be pretty damn good.
 
I think 40-grit is way overkill.

If you have paint on the car now, 240 to 320 should be sufficient to just give it a key. Even 180 can leave sanding marks. You just want enough for the new paint/primer to etch into.

Unless you're using body filler to correct some issues, anything less than 100 grit is overkill.
 
Stiggy Pop said:
Spray can job just isn't worth the effort.

Do you have a good air compressor? Buy a cheapo harbor freight HVLP gun and some entry level single stage; if you're going to do it at least take a shot at it doing it the "real" way.
Click to expand...

I'm in an apartment with a storage unit and a deck and they're already full of car parts and tools (with a few camping items to keep the gf happy). I think a compressor is out of the question, not to mention running multiple extension cords around the apartment building. :rofl:

For as cheap as these cars are off craigslist, all you Tbrickers sure must have property with nice, giant fancy garages...
 
cwdodson88 said:
Body work done as in 1st post.
Primed and wet sanded with 600 grit.
Pop up tent in back yard.
Water lawn.
Roll car in.
tack off with tack cloths x2 (do this very early in the morning for somewhat bugless paint)
Spray with real paint 5 coats for non metallic (so you can wet sand the bugs out) .
let cure overnight.
Wetsand car with 1000 grit over the week that you have in between weekends.
spray 1-2 more coats of base color with normal flash between coats, giving double flash time after last coat. this will self "level"
spray 5-8 coats of clear.
let cure for 1 week in covered pop up tent.
Wetsand, cut/buff/polish.

3 weeks and it'll be pretty damn good.
Click to expand...

Nice, thanks! ...but see above post, lol. Need to find a donor lawn hah.

What's flash? and "real paint"?
 
Ursan said:
I think 40-grit is way overkill.

If you have paint on the car now, 240 to 320 should be sufficient to just give it a key. Even 180 can leave sanding marks. You just want enough for the new paint/primer to etch into.

Unless you're using body filler to correct some issues, anything less than 100 grit is overkill.
Click to expand...

Got the grit numbers from here:

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/sandpaperselection.aspx

I do have some body filling I'd like to try.
 
theknave said:
For as cheap as these cars are off craigslist, all you Tbrickers sure must have property with nice, giant fancy garages...
Click to expand...

Nope, I work in the driveway or in the dirt. I had to back my car onto the sidewalk to replace my u-joints.

Go to a local storage unit place, ask about a storage unit with power (200.00 per month max)... rent for a month, paint it the right way and you will be happier for longer... Not to mention that you will spend about 700.00 in rattle cans if you go with black... 7.00 per can, 100 or so cans to do the job with enough coverage to get rid of tiger stripes.
 
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