DIY Paint
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 11
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From: Austin, TX
DIY Paint New to the forum and I though I'd start a thread on sanding, prepping, and painting the TA. This will all be done at the house, in a normal garage with supplies available to almost anyone. I have never painted an entire car before and have been reading up/watching a lot of videos on it. I know there will be a lot of work ahead of me, but the plan is to save myself a few thousand dollars in order to get the heads/cam setup with the savings.
The car was purchased with a really good body, just horribly faded (candy red
) paint. I don't plan on taking it down to bare metal, but I will be taking all of the chips, scratches down and repairing the minor dings that are there.
Here is the progress so far:
I'm going to go back with red simply because I won't have to paint under the hood. I will, infact, have to paint the door jams and t-top frames though.
I'll update as I make progress. I plan on finishing the prep over the weekend and starting to spray it next week.
The car was purchased with a really good body, just horribly faded (candy red
) paint. I don't plan on taking it down to bare metal, but I will be taking all of the chips, scratches down and repairing the minor dings that are there.Here is the progress so far:
I'm going to go back with red simply because I won't have to paint under the hood. I will, infact, have to paint the door jams and t-top frames though.
I'll update as I make progress. I plan on finishing the prep over the weekend and starting to spray it next week.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Austin, TX
Teching In
Joined: Jun 2009
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Have you painted any thing before? Paint is a art form to get it right and it look good. A solid color is easier to paint than metal flake. Also make
very sure you have as dust free place to paint. Or you will be polishing forever if you don't. Good luck and take your time don't rush thought it.
very sure you have as dust free place to paint. Or you will be polishing forever if you don't. Good luck and take your time don't rush thought it.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Austin, TX
The plan is to make a booth with plastic, lightly wet everything in the garage down after a thorough cleaning, and to go back with the OE paint color (red) to make sure everything under the hood matches.
As far as painting goes, yes I have painted plenty of things just never the size/difficulty of a car. I'm not affraid of a challange. I can remember the first time I turned a wrench on a car I was quite intimidated... but I dove in. I think 20yrs later it's about time I took on the exterior challenge.
Teching In
Joined: Apr 2011
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Nice work.
The plan is to make a booth with plastic, lightly wet everything in the garage down after a thorough cleaning, and to go back with the OE paint color (red) to make sure everything under the hood matches.
As far as painting goes, yes I have painted plenty of things just never the size/difficulty of a car. I'm not affraid of a challange. I can remember the first time I turned a wrench on a car I was quite intimidated... but I dove in. I think 20yrs later it's about time I took on the exterior challenge.
The plan is to make a booth with plastic, lightly wet everything in the garage down after a thorough cleaning, and to go back with the OE paint color (red) to make sure everything under the hood matches.
As far as painting goes, yes I have painted plenty of things just never the size/difficulty of a car. I'm not affraid of a challange. I can remember the first time I turned a wrench on a car I was quite intimidated... but I dove in. I think 20yrs later it's about time I took on the exterior challenge.
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Good luck! I know the feeling, I really want to paint my car myself.... but i just cant bring myself to go ahead and dive in. My car is black now, and it looks like the PO painted it himself and it's got dirt and crap under the paint 
theres bumps everywhere and it's like nails on a chalkboard to look at it when I wash/wax it. I really want to do a satin finish but who knows. Maybe it will be a good winter project next year. Good luck and keep up posted!
theres bumps everywhere and it's like nails on a chalkboard to look at it when I wash/wax it. I really want to do a satin finish but who knows. Maybe it will be a good winter project next year. Good luck and keep up posted! LS1 Tech Stories
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Good luck! I know the feeling, I really want to paint my car myself.... but i just cant bring myself to go ahead and dive in. My car is black now, and it looks like the PO painted it himself and it's got dirt and crap under the paint theres bumps everywhere and it's like nails on a chalkboard to look at it when I wash/wax it. I really want to do a satin finish but who knows. Maybe it will be a good winter project next year. Good luck and keep up posted!
theres bumps everywhere and it's like nails on a chalkboard to look at it when I wash/wax it. I really want to do a satin finish but who knows. Maybe it will be a good winter project next year. Good luck and keep up posted!
We are in the process of painting my truck, Well the body work, then priming then blocking then painting, Man its a tough job its just me an my brother in law, we have to do the roof now where the hail dents are. good luck on it, ill keep checking for updates.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 11
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From: Austin, TX
Made quite a bit of progress over the weekend but still a long ways away from starting paint. I knocked out most of the wet sanding and in the process found a few little spots that I would like to take care of. I picked up some body filler and applied it to the areas that needed it and have begun smoothing them out. I'll upload pictures this evening.
