painting your car at home suggestions

[carnut04]

hey
this summer my dad and i are planning to paint our 79 chevy truck at home in the garage. I was wondering if u guys have any suggestions on this and maybe some tips.
thanks

[jveik]

im in the same pickle with my 73 chevy im painting in the garage. im using por 15 on the frame and underbody, but i still dont know if i am capable of doing a good diy paint job since ive only used spray paint before on stuff like garden chairs and pinewood derby cars from the cub scouts lol. i have a compressor and i am planning on using a gravity fed sprayer and ill probably be using a gm pewter color for it. its gonna be tight and if it turns out good then im buying a crate engine too.

[Oscuro]

If you have the equipment, go down to the local junkyard/scrapyard/auto recyclers and pick up a few spare panels off of other vehicles. Just use them to practice your technique so and get used to your equipment so that you know the distance needed and how 'light' to spray so that you can avoid drips and lines.
It'll cost a bit more in paint and time, but atleast you'll be practicing on scrap metal that doesn't matter.

[kenseth17]

Okay this post is a little old, but some things to help you. First off, you are going to need as much lighting is you can there is never enough. Some lighting low too, so you can see the lower sides of the car. Also a big fan for good ventilation. Remember there are nasty chemicals in the hardeners in paint, mainly isocyanates. You should do some reading on these so you know what you are dealing with. Too much exposure and they can possibly kill you or ruin your health. They effect everyone different, and the effects are not always immediate. At the very least get as much ventilation as possible and a respirator that fits well with new cartridges and filters. Better is a air supplied respirator but they are not cheap. Another saftey concern is explosion possibility if you have overspray built up. Make sure there are no open flames or pilot lights. Even a spark from the switch on the compressor or lights can be a potential hazzard. Clean the area you are painting in well. Drain the air compressor before spraying and have a moisture trap located at least 25' of line away from the compressor. Also might be best to spray in early morning while bugs are still, At night they are attracted to the lights and will come for a free buzz and a swim in fresh clearcoat. Optimum temperature for painting is around 65-75 degrees with low humidity. Thats all I can think of now. Good luck and practice a lot with some cheap paint so you get use to using the spray gun before using the expensive stuff on your car you spent so much money and time getting ready.

[beef_bourito]

One thing you deffinately need to do in order to get a good paintjob, clean the room you're using extremely well. make sure there is no dust watsoever, no sand on the floor, etc. set up a fan sucking air out of the room and set one up blowing air into the room, make sure there is a filter on the fan that's blowing air into the room. I'd say let it run for half a day or something and vacuum the room extensively. lay down some kind of cover on the floor to further keep stuff from flying off the floor, also it might help to just have a tent type thing in your garage with the fans on there rather than cleaning you whole garage. Any dust or sand that gets into the paint will stick to your car and could make it rough and a poor quality.

Before you start painting you should have it sand blasted and you should smooth out any imperfections on the cars bodywork or it will stay there, this is the best time to do it because once you paint it you can't fix it.

For actually painting, it's better to do too little than too much. If you put too much it can run and then you have to do the whole thing again. It's better to put many light coats. Practice on some metal sheets, for this you don't really need a clean environment, untill you feel comfortable. turn off the fans while you're painting and seal the room. wear a facemask, some clean cloths or suits that you dont mind getting painted on, and cover your shoes with tape or plastic wwrap. When you're done painting you'll have to wait many hours before it dries, check some of the earlier posts about it (i think it's either in this one, the fabrication one or the engineering/technical forum) one of them has some more specifics about how long you have to wait.