Decided to paint my car myself.

MrBhp

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My car has several paint issues due to the high abundance of no insurance carrying crackhead fukahs around here. So now that I'm back in the shop in Texas I'm going to attempt to fix it myself. I've watched hours of video, and I worked at a paint and body shop 3 years ago for a month or two when I was bored. What could possibly go wrong???
First up: Building a "paint booth".

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MrBhp

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Yeah that's a "hoop house" covered in plastic. I built that inlet filter box.
Here's the exhaust fan box. Scavenged from an old hvac handler.
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I looked up how to make a transition fitting out of sheet metal. Not too shabby if I say so myself.
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Juice

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What could go wrong? Paint dont stick. But I have seen a few paint jobs that were done like you are doing it, and one in particular looked fine to me.
 

MrBhp

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Yeah. I figure it's already f'd up. It can only be exactly as bad. And I'll learn something. Which is the only reason to be alive. When you get tired of learning you may as well die. Clean up the gene pool.
 

tjm73

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It's all in the base prep. As long as you have enough clear coat you can save a pretty bad paint job. I've seen my brother make near disasters look great.
 

MrBhp

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It's all in the base prep. As long as you have enough clear coat you can save a pretty bad paint job. I've seen my brother make near disasters look great.
I keep telling myself that. But I really hate the look of high build clear on black. I guess it's better than no build runny hazy af clear that's too thin to cut.
 

MrBhp

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Got the exhaust box finished. I don't think I've got enough cfm. I have a fresh air supply I can wear but I'm afraid if this doesn't evacuate well enough I won't be able to see.
 

RED09GT

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With the price of bodyshop work these days, I don't blame you. I've been looking at compressor-less options right now as well to paint my SVT focus.
 

tjm73

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You definitely need a big enough compressor or you will be fighting having enough air volume at the correct pressure. You could have your compressor running almost nonstop. Or it could not have enough to spray and you have to wait for it to catch up to keep going.
 

MrBhp

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You definitely need a big enough compressor or you will be fighting having enough air volume at the correct pressure. You could have your compressor running almost nonstop. Or it could not have enough to spray and you have to wait for it to catch up to keep going.
That's actually the ONE thing I have that's right. My air supply is our big air compressor from when this place was the main office for our drilling business. I bought the property after my father died. I've ran out of the first tank into another 80 gallon tank with an orifice that causes a good pressure drop which precipitates moisture and then out of that tank with an inch and a half vertical drip leg. Then another drip leg before it goes into a separator, then into a large desiccant drier. Then thru my second regulator into the booth. I've got another desiccant filter and regulator at the gun. What do you think? It should be good. I'm about to go in and try doing the scoop first. (Off the hood) Wish me luck!!!
 
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MrBhp

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I masked off half the front bumper cover last night. The right side of it had slight damage. This is really an experiment to see how well I can blend into the other side. Also, the stripes on the front cover were painted, poorly, by the local Ford dealership. I wanted to see what happens when I lay clear over single stage paint. I painted the black this morning, this is the video of the clear. My pressure is a bit too high, going to take out about 3 psi. I have the original cover that came off the car before this one replaced it. I'll be repairing and painting the original once I get my sea legs.

 

MasterofDisaster

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I like your set up. A MSgt friend of mine painted my 86 Mustang GT in a similar set up, and the paint job was quite good - better than Earl Scheib anyway.

I also like your approach - painting small pieces first to get the process smooth. The parts you've painted so far look great.
 

WNYGT5-0

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About to do the same thing. Do the damn thing!!! Looking good so far. Did you put anything down on the concrete?
 

tjm73

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The guy that used to do the body work at my Dad's dealership growing up always watered the floor down before painting and let it get to the point where is was fully damp but not standing water around the paint area. The paint booth was the entire 3 bay shop. It pretty much stops dust kick up.

Must have worked as two cars came out of that shop that both won second place at the Pebble Beach Concurs d'Elegance in the mid/late 90's (forget the actual year). And 3 or 4 other cars that won multiple national AACA awards also came out of that shop.
 

MrBhp

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About to do the same thing. Do the damn thing!!! Looking good so far. Did you put anything down on the concrete?
I wet it down. The shop i worked at that has a high end booth still soaks the floor before every spray. I've yet to get a speck of dust in anything. And I just finished another panel. More pics to come!
 

Rick Simons

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Cool thread!! I used to paint cars in my added-on garage/shop in CA until my neighbor turned me in. If I had known she would do that I would have tried to bribe her with a discounted paint job.
Can't wait to see more photos/videos!
 

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