How much paint to buy?

[cvacca]

Hello. I'm building the 33 hotrod as a roadster with a completely open engine bay and bike fenders. I plan on painting the body myself, but have never painted a car before. I've looked into a few online paint supply companies like Eastwood and TSS (The Spray Source). My question is, how much paint do I need to order? Assuming I'll be spraying 2-3 coats of epoxy primer/sealer, 2-4 coats of basecoat and 2-3 coats of clear. I'm sure every brand of paint has slightly different guidelines for coverage, but with the wealth of experience on this site I figure there has to be some general guidelines for car bodies of this size.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Well for starters epoxy is for metal, not fiberglass. From bottom to top; polyester high build primer such as Evercoat Slick Sand followed by 2K catalyzed urethane primer surfacer then urethane sealer in the proper shade for your basecoat color. Three coats of base minimum followed by 3 coats of clear. For a hot rod body including inside the cockpit, inside the doors and and trunk lid along with the fenders I'd think you'll need 3 quarts minimum unless it's a very transparent color (again, this is why your ground coat shade is important). Personally I am not a fan of "mail order" paint suppliers like Eastwood, TPC, Spray Source and the like. Find yourself a good local PPG, Sherwin Williams, Axalta, Sikkens, etc. distributor.

Jeff

[cvacca]

Jeff, thanks so much for the reply. Sorry, the epoxy was meant for the engine block, transmission and few brackets. Is the Surfacer used to smooth the high build primer out more even though your block sanding it? OK, I'll look around locally and see what I find. There's a NAPA not to far from me.