DAKSTER
Beam me up Scotty!
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- VS Berlina
Ok, because I am old and feeble of mind, I'm starting a how-to thread from the finish 
Its a basic backyarders guide to painting a car.
I would consider myself reasonably competent however I freely admit that I am not a professional.
In both the more than 30 years I have been painting project cars in acrylic, and the several years I spent spraying 2K in an industrial workplace, I've picked up some practice along the way.
There will be lots of experts disagree with my methods along the way, there is bound to be a debate on the benefits of cyanide, and no doubt some of the comments may be constructive or useful depending on how people choose to behave. I hope we can keep our comments civilized
I am more than happy to receive advice along the way, and I am sure anyone who becomes interested will also benefit from any constructive input. PLEASE dont turn it into an argumentative thread... for starters, I spray with acrylic, thats my skill and thats what I will be using. Not interested in the cyanide debate if it can be avoided, thanks.
I spray with acrylic. Its full of toxic chemicals, thinners can get you off big time in an enclosed space but there isnt any cyanide in it.. unlike most 2K (modern 2-Pak [2 part])paints which are isocyanates. Cyanide can be absorbed through your skin, you dont have to breathe it. Over time, it builds up in your system, and I choose to avoid that.
On the other hand, 2K definitely provides a much more low maintenance finish, and there are more user friendly versions (cyanide free) now available.
I dont have a shed readily available. I want to work when I feel like it, and the nearest decent shed I have access to is at the farm 20km away. This means I work at home, in an open carport, on a patio, and sometimes in an unfinished room in the house I am renovating.
I dont have any special tools, spray booths, or skills. Just a lot of practice and a desire to do it myself.
I am currently using a very nice (298L/min free air delivery) 3 cylinder belt driven 80L compressor ($1500), and a $50 Masters Hardware Rockwell gravity fed HVLP gun with a 1.4mm tip.
I also have a 20m reinforced air hose, a necessity in my view. Dont use those stupid plastic spiral things they give you free with a compressor.
A 5" Random orbital sander is the only other tool I need much here, you can put 6" pads on it which makes it quite versatile. Its just a $70 Ozito, but does the job well. I had bought myself an air sander but I didnt like it much, it was too slow. Thats what you get for being a cheapskate lol, I took it back. One day I might spend some money and buy a good one.
If you dont have access to a compressor with at least 200L/min free air delivery, then consider a normal gravity fed gun instead. HVLP needs a lot of air. You can get away with a $200 supercheap compressor and supercheap gravity fed gun, no worries. You just need to be a little more patient, and if you have a cheap compressor, do NOT buy a HVLP spraygun.
Ok, so starting at the end. I am going to show you bit by bit how to prepare a car for a backyard sprayjob. I am not going to do inside the doors, engine bay, etc, so it will be the original colour. The original paint on this car suffered the usual cracks, peels and blemishes that metallic paint suffers on older cars like this VR Acclaim.
The reason I am starting at the end is that I have only just decided to do a thread on this. Other parts of the car have had some work on them, but this part is close to completion so I thought I would throw it up now and maybe move it back into time frame when I get more of the thread up.
Heres a couple short video's of some of the things that needed doing to the Acclaim. I'll be removing the trolley strips and badges too.
I've been working on the bonnet, since a lot of that can be done inside sitting down while it rains outside yet again.
Unfortunately I didnt take any photos of the spray, hadnt thought of it, but I will get some as I do the rest of the car. If you have watched the videos, you will have seen the original condition of the bonnet. Its now relatively dent free (never was much good with bog lol), its been paintstripped, cleaned, bogged, undercoated, basecoated, and clearcoated. So I really am starting at the end.. how to finish the job! These methods could also be used for rejuvenating lightly damaged paint, or oxidised solids.
The photos below are the point at which I suddenly decided to make a thread, or I would have started taking photos earlier. The shiny bit is clear coat as it came off the gun, the only bit I hadnt sanded yet. You cant see it in the photos but there is a tiny bit of peel in it as I was spraying on my patio and it was raining lol..
Thats 800G w/d, just taking the tops off the peel. Note the residue is white, this is clearcoat I am sanding not basecoat.
With the whole bonnet thoroughly blocked back nice and flat with the 800, I'm moving to 2000G. This is a 6" 2000G RO pad, but because its 2am and my neighbours whine a lot, I am not using the RO (random orbital sander). I'm just going to do it by hand. I kinda prefer this anyway, 2000G can still cut through a lot of paint on a machine. These pads are awesome, they are about 5 bucks each but last forever. The pad I am using here has been used a lot already, both by hand and on an RO, and even been washed in the washing machine twice. Its furry on the back for hook and loop grips of course.
I rubbed back the whole bonnet thoroughly with it, and repeated the process twice more to make sure. Took about an hour all up.
Stick one finger under one side of the pad like this, and you get good grip and it helps the pad move better by breaking suction.
Rubbing back one side with the 2000G. The residue from the 800G is still visible on the right. I dont see the point in cleaning it off, its so fine it doesnt affect anything, especially since I am wet sanding. The 2000G bit is only shiny because its still wet, There will be residue when it dries, just less of it.
The whole thing rubbed back thoroughly with 2000G and cleaned. Sorry, the iphone doesnt like the light directly above the bonnet and goes all grainy. Its got a sheen, but the gloss is gone.
Now for the fun part. I am probably the only person in the world who does this, but it works for me.
I'm going to use these. Its a 4000G RO pad, and some mothers glaze. Rather than use a cloth to apply the mothers, I am using this RO pad. At 4000G, most toilet paper is more abrasive so my theory is that this helps the glaze penetrate and give an even smoother appearance.
Then again, I am doing this by hand, so maybe its just me being lazy and not wanting to rub it all down yet another time...
I guess the bottom line though is the end result. Once I've done all this, and the polish is buffed off (again, by hand, with a microfibre cloth) you can see the result. Obviously I have only done one side here.. I'll do the other side in the morning.
Tomorrow, after I do the same with the other half of the bonnet, the whole thing will get a buff with some nice wax on the RO, and if the sun shines, I will hopefully get some better pix of the finished product. Then I will start from the beginning and show you how to paint the rest of the car, step by step.
Its a basic backyarders guide to painting a car.I would consider myself reasonably competent however I freely admit that I am not a professional.
In both the more than 30 years I have been painting project cars in acrylic, and the several years I spent spraying 2K in an industrial workplace, I've picked up some practice along the way
.There will be lots of experts disagree with my methods along the way, there is bound to be a debate on the benefits of cyanide, and no doubt some of the comments may be constructive or useful depending on how people choose to behave. I hope we can keep our comments civilized
I am more than happy to receive advice along the way, and I am sure anyone who becomes interested will also benefit from any constructive input. PLEASE dont turn it into an argumentative thread... for starters, I spray with acrylic, thats my skill and thats what I will be using. Not interested in the cyanide debate if it can be avoided, thanks.
I spray with acrylic. Its full of toxic chemicals, thinners can get you off big time in an enclosed space
but there isnt any cyanide in it.. unlike most 2K (modern 2-Pak [2 part])paints which are isocyanates. Cyanide can be absorbed through your skin, you dont have to breathe it. Over time, it builds up in your system, and I choose to avoid that.On the other hand, 2K definitely provides a much more low maintenance finish, and there are more user friendly versions (cyanide free) now available.
I dont have a shed readily available. I want to work when I feel like it, and the nearest decent shed I have access to is at the farm 20km away. This means I work at home, in an open carport, on a patio, and sometimes in an unfinished room in the house I am renovating.
I dont have any special tools, spray booths, or skills. Just a lot of practice and a desire to do it myself.
I am currently using a very nice (298L/min free air delivery) 3 cylinder belt driven 80L compressor ($1500), and a $50 Masters Hardware Rockwell gravity fed HVLP gun with a 1.4mm tip.
I also have a 20m reinforced air hose, a necessity in my view. Dont use those stupid plastic spiral things they give you free with a compressor.
A 5" Random orbital sander is the only other tool I need much here, you can put 6" pads on it which makes it quite versatile. Its just a $70 Ozito, but does the job well. I had bought myself an air sander but I didnt like it much, it was too slow. Thats what you get for being a cheapskate lol, I took it back. One day I might spend some money and buy a good one.
If you dont have access to a compressor with at least 200L/min free air delivery, then consider a normal gravity fed gun instead. HVLP needs a lot of air. You can get away with a $200 supercheap compressor and supercheap gravity fed gun, no worries. You just need to be a little more patient, and if you have a cheap compressor, do NOT buy a HVLP spraygun.
Ok, so starting at the end. I am going to show you bit by bit how to prepare a car for a backyard sprayjob. I am not going to do inside the doors, engine bay, etc, so it will be the original colour. The original paint on this car suffered the usual cracks, peels and blemishes that metallic paint suffers on older cars like this VR Acclaim.
The reason I am starting at the end is that I have only just decided to do a thread on this. Other parts of the car have had some work on them, but this part is close to completion so I thought I would throw it up now and maybe move it back into time frame when I get more of the thread up.
Heres a couple short video's of some of the things that needed doing to the Acclaim. I'll be removing the trolley strips and badges too.
I've been working on the bonnet, since a lot of that can be done inside sitting down while it rains outside yet again.
Unfortunately I didnt take any photos of the spray, hadnt thought of it, but I will get some as I do the rest of the car. If you have watched the videos, you will have seen the original condition of the bonnet. Its now relatively dent free (never was much good with bog lol), its been paintstripped, cleaned, bogged, undercoated, basecoated, and clearcoated. So I really am starting at the end.. how to finish the job! These methods could also be used for rejuvenating lightly damaged paint, or oxidised solids.
The photos below are the point at which I suddenly decided to make a thread, or I would have started taking photos earlier. The shiny bit is clear coat as it came off the gun, the only bit I hadnt sanded yet. You cant see it in the photos but there is a tiny bit of peel in it as I was spraying on my patio and it was raining lol..
Thats 800G w/d, just taking the tops off the peel. Note the residue is white, this is clearcoat I am sanding not basecoat.
With the whole bonnet thoroughly blocked back nice and flat with the 800, I'm moving to 2000G. This is a 6" 2000G RO pad, but because its 2am and my neighbours whine a lot, I am not using the RO (random orbital sander). I'm just going to do it by hand. I kinda prefer this anyway, 2000G can still cut through a lot of paint on a machine. These pads are awesome, they are about 5 bucks each but last forever. The pad I am using here has been used a lot already, both by hand and on an RO, and even been washed in the washing machine twice. Its furry on the back for hook and loop grips of course.
I rubbed back the whole bonnet thoroughly with it, and repeated the process twice more to make sure. Took about an hour all up.
Stick one finger under one side of the pad like this, and you get good grip and it helps the pad move better by breaking suction.
Rubbing back one side with the 2000G. The residue from the 800G is still visible on the right. I dont see the point in cleaning it off, its so fine it doesnt affect anything, especially since I am wet sanding. The 2000G bit is only shiny because its still wet, There will be residue when it dries, just less of it.
The whole thing rubbed back thoroughly with 2000G and cleaned. Sorry, the iphone doesnt like the light directly above the bonnet and goes all grainy. Its got a sheen, but the gloss is gone.
Now for the fun part. I am probably the only person in the world who does this, but it works for me.
I'm going to use these. Its a 4000G RO pad, and some mothers glaze. Rather than use a cloth to apply the mothers, I am using this RO pad. At 4000G, most toilet paper is more abrasive
so my theory is that this helps the glaze penetrate and give an even smoother appearance. Then again, I am doing this by hand, so maybe its just me being lazy and not wanting to rub it all down yet another time...
I guess the bottom line though is the end result. Once I've done all this, and the polish is buffed off (again, by hand, with a microfibre cloth) you can see the result. Obviously I have only done one side here.. I'll do the other side in the morning.
Tomorrow, after I do the same with the other half of the bonnet, the whole thing will get a buff with some nice wax on the RO, and if the sun shines, I will hopefully get some better pix of the finished product. Then I will start from the beginning and show you how to paint the rest of the car, step by step.
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