Painted this weekend

[Dale Claytor]

Sprayed in my garage. Paint is Nason ful-base black with fine silver metallic base coat, Nason ful-base gray metallic stripes, and Nason select clear 2k, 2 coats each. A tiny spider and a tiny flying beetle landed in the base coat, which I removed, and there's a little dust, but other than that, no major flaws. Won't even be able to see it after cut and buff. Hope to get to that this weekend coming up.

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[DaleG]

Terrific. I'm impressed! Paint/bodywork intimidates me.

[WIS89]

Dale-

Looks like a terrific job! I like your color choices, and can't wait to see it close up after polishing.

I am sure the body work was a chore, but the payoff is that awesome job in front of you!

Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

Regards and S/F,

Steve

[Avalanche325]

Congrats!!! Looks great. I am doing my own body and paint also. Starting in a couple weeks.

Did you do a paint booth? Or just let it rip in the garage? Any advice for those coming after you?

[Gumball]

Awesome job!

[skullandbones]

Nicely done, Dale! I think I see the metalflake. That should be awesome when you finish cut and polishing as good as it looks now.

Thanks,

WEK.

[Dale Claytor]

Congrats!!! Looks great. I am doing my own body and paint also. Starting in a couple weeks.

Did you do a paint booth? Or just let it rip in the garage? Any advice for those coming after you?

No, did not paint in a paint booth, just in my open garage. I am no professional painter and the best advice I have is buy a video on body work and painting and watch it over and over again and read the forums about roadster body work until you understand what you have to do. Take your time preparing the body and spray a light coat of primer so you can see pin holes. There will be plenty of tiny pin holes, especially around seam areas. Also, use the largest test panel you can find to get proper paint gun settings. I had two four foot sheets of polycarbonate left over from a greenhouse project that I used for test panels. Once it looked good on the panels, those were the settings I used on the paint gun. Before body work and paint, I also did a complete mock up and drove the car for a couple of months to make sure I had all of the body holes cut properly and to make sure everything fit ok, and to work out any mechanical bugs. You don't want to have to cut or modify the body after paint. Other than that, good luck and have fun.

Dale

[Mslone]

No, did not paint in a paint booth, just in my open garage. I am no professional painter and the best advice I have is buy a video on body work and painting and watch it over and over again and read the forums about roadster body work until you understand what you have to do. Take your time preparing the body and spray a light coat of primer so you can see pin holes. There will be plenty of tiny pin holes, especially around seam areas. Also, use the largest test panel you can find to get proper paint gun settings. I had two four foot sheets of polycarbonate left over from a greenhouse project that I used for test panels. Once it looked good on the panels, those were the settings I used on the paint gun. Before body work and paint, I also did a complete mock up and drove the car for a couple of months to make sure I had all of the body holes cut properly and to make sure everything fit ok, and to work out any mechanical bugs. You don't want to have to cut or modify the body after paint. Other than that, good luck and have fun.

Dale

Looks great! I too will be doing the Body and Paint myself... I gain more confidence with posts like this! Thanks for sharing the pics and info! If you don't mind sharing, What compressor size and gun did you use?

[chopthebass]

Excellent! I'm not brave enough to tackle the paint myself. Hats off to ya.

[skullandbones]

Dale,

How did you keep the paint spray from coating the other items in your garage and the floor if you didn't do a temp paint booth?

Also, what are you using for compressor and paint equipment and the pressures and setup, if you don't mind?

Thanks,

WEK.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Looks great Dale, and will get even better after a cut & buff! Be sure to give us some more pics :) The next one that I have coming is supposed to get almost the identical combination, just a touch darker on the stripes.


Dale,

How did you keep the paint spray from coating the other items in your garage and the floor if you didn't do a temp paint booth?

WEK.

Can't speak for Dale but I'll share my methods. With a HVLP gun there really isn't much overspray. It's not at all like the old days where it seemed like as much went into the air as onto the body! Primarily I cover the floor. I've tried tarps...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/100_0912.jpg

...but they tend to bunch up as you walk around and drag a hose. I prefer to use red rosin &/or brown craft paper and tape it to the floor and itself as you can see here:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100_2512.jpg

I just move the go-cart to the far side of the garage and cover with plastic; in this photo you can see it it's just beyond the hood and trunklid up against the wall:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4464.jpg

After removing the plastic and paper the garage is pretty much clean! Once you give it a blast around the edges with an air hose followed by sweeping with a fine bristle broom you'd never know that paint was sprayed in the garage.

Cheers,
Jeff

[skullandbones]

Dale's floor may be painted or epoxied. That really makes them easier to keep the dust under control. But the paper on the floor is a great an inexpensive way to defeat the dust issue. I will do that for the real paint job. Thanks! WEK.

[cobraguy13]

Looks great. I really like the color combination.

[Dale Claytor]

Dale,

How did you keep the paint spray from coating the other items in your garage and the floor if you didn't do a temp paint booth?

Also, what are you using for compressor and paint equipment and the pressures and setup, if you don't mind?

Thanks,

WEK.

I used a Vaper HVLP paint gun with a 1.7 tip for primer and a 1.4 tip for base coat and clear. Compressor is a 27 gallon Craftsman rated at 150 psi which is more than enough for paint. I triple filtered the air to keep out moisture. I used slick sand primer so a 2.0 tip would have been better as I had to reduce the slick sand by 7% with acetone (which is the max you can reduce according to manufacturer) to spray well through the 1.7 tip. I had no problem spraying the base coat and clear with a 1.4 tip. With the HVLP gun I only had to use 18 psi of pressure so it produced very little overspray. This was a one time deal so I wasn't concerned about the garage floor so I didn't protect it from overspray, I will have to pressure wash it anyways after all is done. Any other items in my garage I was concerned about I covered or moved outside before painting.

[skullandbones]

Thanks for the details! WEK.

[chopthebass]

Jeff,

What blue and white did you use in last photo? Love that blue.

Ian

[Jeff Kleiner]

Jeff,

What blue and white did you use in last photo? Love that blue.

Ian

I'm not trying to step on Dale's thread but have received 2 PMs today asking the same so here's the answer... The owner was considering 3 different blues so I shot out test panels and sent them to him. He decided on Lexus Spectra Blue Mica, code 8M6 (which was my favorite as well). He pretty much gave me "artistic license" on the white so rather than just using a solid white I went with a pearl so that it would play off of the fine metallic in the blue. It seems that most of the pearls have kind of a creamy or gold tint to them but after viewing many I chose Nissan Pearl White, code QAC which is a 3 stage. Even with the pearl mid coat it remains a pure white and doesn't go to the gold or gray side like some of the others. I think it makes a really nice combination. The pearl in the white is apparent to our naked eye but doesn't really show up well in photos, at least not with my cheap point & shoot. This is about as good as I was able to get from inside the garage under fluorescent lights and will give you some idea of the two colors together:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4526.jpg

Here are a few others of the completed car right before the owner came to pick it up:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4530.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4521.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4514.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4505.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4540.jpg

Cheers,
Jeff

[Dale Claytor]

I'm not trying to step on Dale's thread but have received 2 PMs today asking the same so here's the answer... The owner was considering 3 different blues so I shot out test panels and sent them to him. He decided on Lexus Spectra Blue Mica, code 8M6 (which was my favorite as well). He pretty much gave me "artistic license" on the white so rather than just using a solid white I went with a pearl so that it would play off of the fine metallic in the blue. It seems that most of the pearls have kind of a creamy or gold tint to them but after viewing many I chose Nissan Pearl White, code QAC which is a 3 stage. Even with the pearl mid coat it remains a pure white and doesn't go to the gold or gray side like some of the others. I think it makes a really nice combination. The pearl in the white is apparent to our naked eye but doesn't really show up well in photos, at least not with my cheap point & shoot. This is about as good as I was able to get from inside the garage under fluorescent lights and will give you some idea of the two colors together:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4526.jpg

Here are a few others of the completed car right before the owner came to pick it up:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4530.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4521.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4514.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4505.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/RyanW/100_4540.jpg

Cheers,
Jeff

No problem, step on my thread all you want, lol. . . blue paint looks great. . .

Dale

[LuckyWinner]

so do you spray the stripes first...just wide enough on the body to get the stripes you want? Then spray the rest of the car after you have the stripes taped off?

[chopthebass]

Jeff,

Thanks for posting the codes. Really nice job!!

Ian

[stevem]

Looks Great. Do you or anyone else out there have a book or DVD to recommend for a novice doing his first car. I have sprayed plenty of lacquer on wood but have never tackled any automotive projects but am pondering doing my MKIV.

[Mslone]

Looks Great. Do you or anyone else out there have a book or DVD to recommend for a novice doing his first car. I have sprayed plenty of lacquer on wood but have never tackled any automotive projects but am pondering doing my MKIV.

I have not ordered this yet but was thinking about taking a look at the Eastwood Paint-ucation series

http://www.eastwood.com/paint-your-own-car-dvd-2009.html

[Dale Claytor]

I have not ordered this yet but was thinking about taking a look at the Eastwood Paint-ucation series

http://www.eastwood.com/paint-your-own-car-dvd-2009.html

The Paintucation series video's are the one's I used and are very informative. Plus they're fun to watch.

Dale

[Tocoti]

Very nice! I had a few things in the paint too while spraying. A pair of tweezers and a steady hand helps.

[Walt]

You guys have done a great job on the paint, is there a trick to laying out the stripes below the radiator opening on the nose?
Thanks
Walt

[Dale Claytor]

Walt,

One way to paint stripes:

http://www.ffcars.com/FAQ/stripes.html

Hope this helps.

Dale

[Walt]

Great, will help a lot.
Thanks