Number of Hours for Paint

[Clover]

Hello again everyone. Been a while since I posted. Health issues have done a number on me and my family but I'm getting back on track with the finish line in sight which is exciting.

I have a gen 3 which I am getting ready to send it off for paint and I was trying to get an idea of the hours I should expect. I was lucky enough to have Brendan from Battalion Motorports and Mark the Traveling builder, who are both fantastic and were a huge help to me, help me get the body on with rear glass and doors. We also trimmed the nose and got it mounted, however, I did not hold my side just right and I think it needs a bit of an adjustment. I also wanted to add the gurney wing flush into the body.

I was hoping you all could give me a general range to expect. The painter I'm thinking of does pretty high-level work including a couple original Cobras and I'm a little worried the number of hours could push it out of my budget. I remember the Gen 3 had a lot better body to cut down on the hours of body work, but I no longer remember how many it took.

Thanks for the help everyone and I hope you are all having a happy holiday.

[Rian_Colorado]

All numbers I'm seeing/hearing for full body and paint probably average about 15K$. 20K$ isn't out of the question.....

I'm sure you could get it done for half of that, but I think the work would be questionable?

RR

[dstelter]

For me it was over 23K. not sure on the hours, mine sat for some time due to the paint booth being assembled. They had moved to a new location and had to re-build the booth. Body and Paint for me. Most of the gaps were pretty close when i delivered to them but they corrected and made them better.

Doug

[David Williamson]

the number of hours will depend on a few things. How good you made it before going to the shop, how good you expect it to be when finished and how much experience the shop has doing them.
Mine was the first and only one the shop has done and it was finished to a very high level so many many hours and expensive
David W

[edwardb]

As already stated, the number of hours is going to vary a lot. But it's going to north of 200. Probably by quite a bit. Mine was. Not cheap especially in today's tight market.

[AROCK]

As already stated, the number of hours is going to vary a lot. But it's going to north of 200. Probably by quite a bit. Mine was. Not cheap especially in today's tight market.

I prepared and painted my MK4 myself.. it took me a total of 4 weeks . And looks as good as any I have seen. It cost me $1500-2000.
But I spent 50 years doing Faux finishes al over the country. Google the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond Virginia. I. Marbleized the columns in the entire restoration.I sprayed all the columns and special finishes in Lacquer.
The Roaster is really a simple paint job. Not anywhere close to a $20000 cost. Somebody is getting ripped off.

[edwardb]

I prepared and painted my MK4 myself.. it took me a total of 4 weeks . And looks as good as any I have seen. It cost me $1500-2000.
But I spent 50 years doing Faux finishes al over the country. Google the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond Virginia. I. Marbleized the columns in the entire restoration. I sprayed all the columns and special finishes in Lacquer.
The Roaster is really a simple paint job. Not anywhere close to a $20000 cost. Somebody is getting ripped off.

Congrats on doing your own paint. I applaud anyone who has the patience for that. You don't mention how many hours it took you. That really is the most important question. Times whatever the shop rate is if not DIY. It adds up quickly. Material costs have also gone up quite a bit, and there's a wide variation in brands and colors. Although I see yours appears to be relatively recent.

But the OP is asking about a Coupe. Quite a bit more complicated than painting a Roadster. I've done both.

[AROCK]

Congrats on doing your own paint. I applaud anyone who has the patience for that. You don't mention how many hours it took you. That really is the most important question. Times whatever the shop rate is if not DIY. It adds up quickly. Material costs have also gone up quite a bit, and there's a wide variation in brands and colors. Although I see yours appears to be relatively recent.

But the OP is asking about a Coupe. Quite a bit more complicated than painting a Roadster. I've done both.

I painted my car in August, 2022.

Did you actually paint both cars yourself. ?

I can see 120 hours in body prep all the way to primer with car ready for base coat.
The coup would take probably another 40 hrs week.

I did everything on my car by myself and I am a young 79 years old. . I have build hundreds of drag car chassis and bodies. So I do know a little about cars.

[edwardb]

I painted my car in August, 2022.

Did you actually paint both cars yourself. ?

I can see 120 hours in body prep all the way to primer with car ready for base coat.
The coup would take probably another 40 hrs week.

I did everything on my car by myself and I am a young 79 years old. . I have build hundreds of drag car chassis and bodies. So I do know a little about cars.

No, I haven't done my own paint. Not my thing which is why I offered my congrats to you for doing it yourself. I've had five builds painted by three different local shops. I deliver with everything fitted, gapped, etc. They take it from there. In all cases, they welcomed me visiting as often as I liked and I'm convinced the hours charged were appropriate. Your number for the Roadster is probably a bit on the low side for shops that haven't done one before and most will estimate more than that. For those with experience (the Jeff's on here, for starters) maybe closer. One could always negotiate a cost plus deal, which I've done, but didn't change much. Although to be fair there's more work to be done beyond just getting it ready for base coat. Final spray-out of base coat, clear, sand/polish (usual for these builds), and assembly are added hours.

For the Coupe (what this thread is about) my experience (plus others) suggests your estimated add-on is too low. Especially if it's an early one (like mine) that required extensive repair around the B pillars. Factory Five has apparently addressed this with mold changes although I haven't personally seen the results. The added work to fit the doors, windows, and tilt nose of the Coupe is not insignificant compared to the Roadster. You're welcome to your opinion, and I can't argue with your experience. But the market is what the market is and more than what you're estimating isn't automatically a rip-off. I'm not going to argue the point.

I wish the OP luck finding a reasonable painter.

[jgray]

I was quoted $15k minimum to paint a Coupe. I’ll be doing my own with some help from a friend who has experience. I plan on tracking/autocrossing and generally using and abusing the car and for me I just can’t warrant parting with that much money. I am currently learning how to do body filler and spray primer on a couple of doors for a friends Baja Bronco. I have many hours in and they still are not done but I am learning a lot. And enjoying it. I like to learn.

[David Williamson]

In 2002 when my Mkll was painted it was 135 hours for a basic job, gap the doors, trunk, and hood minimal filler and paint. The coupe was about 400 hours. I did not get the body work as good as Paul did to start so they had lots more work to do. Also that included filler to level all the panels and many special items like lights in the side mirrors plus a week of color sanding and polishing, it's really a show car with 18 coats of paint and clear. The difference between the 2 cars is massive.
like I said above it all depends on what you want it to look like when it is finished and what level of fitting you do before giving it to the body shop.
David W

[jamminj]

I'll be painting mine to I will be tracking mine and I expect to mess it up and I would like to be able to touch it up

[AROCK]

I was quoted $15k minimum to paint a Coupe. I’ll be doing my own with some help from a friend who has experience. I plan on tracking/autocrossing and generally using and abusing the car and for me I just can’t warrant parting with that much money. I am currently learning how to do body filler and spray primer on a couple of doors for a friends Baja Bronco. I have many hours in and they still are not done but I am learning a lot. And enjoying it. I like to learn.

That is really great! Use your paint pro at the Sherwin William's Auto paint store. They have a world of knowledge and will gladly guide you through your paint process. Sherwin Williams also owns House of Color paints.Shwrwin Williams also has the latest fill materials and primers. Their Gold fill putty is suppose to be the same as Rage gold. Ii have used it and found less pin holes .
I feel anyone can paint a car if they take their time and use the resources available to them like Sherwin W
illiam's that actually teaches professional auto painters.
Good luck with your paint project. Any question you may have concerning paint send me a PM

[Clover]

Thanks everyone. I do wish I could do the paint myself, but I can almost guarantee I would not be happy with it. Between my vision problems and my tremor, that type of detail work is a weakness of mine. Plus, I'm pretty darn proud of this car and I want people to look at it and think Wow! So, I'm paying for a good painter.

Early on I had been thinking of using Jeff K and budgeted and saved for that. I was even on his list before the Covid stuff but my plan was to have the Traveling Builder come help get me over some last hurdles and help get the car ready to send to Jeff. With the lockdown, Mark could not come out to me and I had to drop off Jeff's list. Now, Jeff K is so busy and I guess I burned that bridge as I have not been able to get him to call me back since. I had that cost in my head with a little cushion as a good budget for a really good paintjob. I've seen some of Jeff K's work and it looked fantastic, so it is too bad if I burned that bridge by dropping off his list and falling out of contact during Covid.

The local painter I found estimate for hours seems to start around where a lot of you are talking about on the high end but could range a good chunk higher still. To be fair, the painter has only seen some pictures and a video so far and has not yet been able to look over the car in person. I'm hoping the top of his range is a worst-case scenario situation and not what I should expect. He also does some Pebble Beach cars, so I'm guessing the top of his range might be to an exacting level that I'm probably not going to need.

Paul, can you expand on the B piler situation? I don't remember that when following your build but there was so much detail on your build, and I no longer remember it all. My build was back in June of 2018 so I'm guessing it was an older mold.

Thanks again.

[edwardb]

...Paul, can you expand on the B piler situation? I don't remember that when following your build but there was so much detail on your build, and I no longer remember it all. My build was back in June of 2018 so I'm guessing it was an older mold.

The earlier runs of Gen 3 Coupe bodies had significant height differences between the various mold pieces behind the rear quarter scoops and the rear window. Including along the roofline in that area. Plus significant voids in the resin and glass around the scoops where they wrapped around inside the body. My body shop guys made it perfect. But logged some hours doing it. As I said, I know this was addressed with mold changes. Pretty sure I heard Dave say they also made an all new mold for the nose. Maybe addressed some of the asymmetry that I struggled with. Not taking anything away from the final product. We love our Coupe and I wouldn't change a thing.

[cob427sc]

I built an early coupe and the panels were they met in the B-pillar, especially the drivers side were not even close, probably 1/4 - 3/8" out of alignment. The seams along the roof over the doors were also bad. I did all the body work and paint myself and would guess I put in well over 200 hours to complete. Then came installing the windsheild which I never thought would fit as it was inches away from aligning. Not sure how the glass guys did it, but they somehow glued it in with 2x4's wedge against the ceiling of my garage. They told me not to touch it for 2 days and after that it worked fine. I've built 8 different FFR cars including a GTM but the coupe was the absolute worst by a long shot on the body work. Hopefully the newer coupes are better. I just finished and painted my 818 this summer and though I had little problem with the body work itself, the paint, primer, clear coat, and misc materials cost over $1000 in itself.

[JohnMac]

We started our gen2 kit in July 2020. It was a complete kit minus engine and transmission and the owner had passed away before starting the build. By the summer of 2021 we had the body mounted and were able to take it to a couple of events in its red primer. It had been inspected by our local DOT (a bunch of hot ridding Delaware state police) without event.This past summer we took it to Modern Street Custom in Newark Delaware for paint and a few other finishing touches. As we’ve all found out, the body fits like a cheap suit. A lot of work was done on the front clip in order to get the fit right. Everyone has their own way of dealing with correcting the fit issue. About every 2-3 weeks I’d get a call for “another check” and we’d drive over for a look/see. As with most shops, there are always multiple jobs going on at the same time and the boys at Modern Street we’re doing at least 6 different cars including ours. I wasn’t going to bring up cost until I read the other posts but I think ours is pushing 30.
Jamie Bartlebaugh, the owner, and his staff of 6 craftsmen had already built a FF5 cobra roadster that was beautifully done and his crew’s work on other jobs was above reproach. Jim did much of the fiberglass work and body adjustment, finished the windshields wiper installation, cleaned up some of the wiring clutter, did all of the hvac ducting, cut and replaced/repositioned the rear frame mounting plates to better mount the body, etc. They’ve gone above and beyond what I thought was needed.

On our visit yesterday Kevin, their master welder,fabricator was working on the FF5 window frames. They’ve been set up to be easily removed as driving the car in the summer is enough to give one heat stroke. Even though we were originally going to leave the interior somewhat basic with much of the aluminum panels exposed, Jamie’s upholsterer came in and covered everything with black vinyl and bound all the FF5 carpet.
As for color, we did a lot of research. We finally chose white with blue stripes.

Jamie felt the car would be done in a week… with a final check due.