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Cheap Paint Job


Guest Mike

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If you're going to paint in your garage, I'd make damn sure to poperly vent the fumes. If it's a two-car garage, I'd place four (or however many will fit across) really big fans on one side and seal between each one and the walls... these pull fresh air IN. Then I'd put a 2x4 across the top and lower the door just until it touches the 2x4 then seal there too. Then I'd tape large filters across them to filter out any dust/bugs. I'd follow the same procedure on the other side but set them up as exhaust fans... filters are less important on those. You'll want to staple plastic sheeting on the walls if you want to preserve the paint. BTW, this will help prevent junk coming drifting off the walls onto your fresh car paint too.

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Well its good to know that it can be done in a garage, but mine is a one car, and i'm not entirely sure that it'll fit with room to manuver; i'll have to get in there with the tape measure and figure that out. My question would be "Wouldn't the exposed electric fans on the exhaust side be an explosion hazard? wouldn't it be best to have a passive exhaust for saftey reasons?" The intake fans wouldn't have fumes cming trough them, but the exhaust fans would; and i've learned in the past that solvents + air + ignition souce = training for local v olunteer fire squad...

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If you have enough air coming in, there won't be enough paint/thinner in the mix to cause problems. It's when you allow the mix to thicken that causes safety issues.

 

With a one-car garage, I would open the door fully and build a temporary wall to hold the fans. Put one row low on the ground and mount at least one fan up high.

 

But... I like overkill.

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Sweet! Thanks so much for the help Mike, I have a walk in door opposite the garage door so exhaust wo't be an issue, i can put it there. Now for the followup questions..

 

How long do the fans need to run? just while spraying, or 24/7 because of drying?

and...

How warm does it have to be to spray? Something tells me that colorado in december probably wont be the most hospitable temp for spraying, but i'd really love to get this finished.

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I'm not expert on spraying, Dave. The door on the opposite side sounds like an ideal location for exhaust air. I would clean the garage, hang the plastic, and water-spray the floor to clear out dirt and dust, install the fans/filters and let it dry. Then I'd spray with the fans on, and allow a few minutes to vent any remaining fumes and shut them down. Again, I'm no expert but I've read a bit and this seems appropriate to me.

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Yeah, that sounds like the plan for now. I can use heatlamps in the garage to keep the temp up near 55-60F so the paint cures well, and to avoid a source of ignition. Hopefully it will warm up a bit around here, we get 300 days of sun a year, so we get nice warm spikes in the middle of winter, but all i need is one or two good days to spray, and i can sand and fill when its cold out, thats not a huge deal.

 

Thanks again for everyones help, i usually have a general idea of what needs to be done, but the wealth of experience around here just makes it so much easier. I guess i'll get to sanding as soon as the engine and tranny are pulled for service!

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yes i did hang plastic and cleaned everything!

i had 2 box fans/ one for in one for out, seemed to work pretty good!

just make sure that your plastic is secured! i came out one morning after applying the 2nd coat i think and boom the plastic had fallen on my fresh paint. Whcih by the way i almos left looking liek that kind of marbalized anywho Good Luck.

P.s. counting plastic and paper and paint and the HVLP gun (mix was30/70

odorless paint thinner/Rustoleum) tape and paper i might have spent 75 to 100bux on this project. the body work? a whole lot more . my car had holes in the doors and stuff :( redneck before me put it in a ditch and ran a mailbos through the hood/ and the drivers sid edoor, then let it sit so needless to say the rust killing steps were many. And then all the welding and filling , was a m,ajor learning exp!

ron

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I planned on putting a few hundred dollars into it, i'm just not in a situation to spend $2K on a shop job. I'm going to spray and wetsand and clearcoat, hopefully it'll come out nicely. Theres a Sherman Williams in town that'll sell me the gun, and hopefully rent me the compressor to run it.

 

Thankfully i'm pretty rust free, it was garaged in Colorado for about 10 years, almost no humidity ever, and i've yet to see any significant rust besides on the hood where some paint chips are, but i plan on sanding those out. I hope to keep the welding to a minimum, i can weld, but i'm not great at it!

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I planned on putting a few hundred dollars into it, i'm just not in a situation to spend $2K on a shop job. I'm going to spray and wetsand and clearcoat, hopefully it'll come out nicely. Theres a Sherman Williams in town that'll sell me the gun, and hopefully rent me the compressor to run it.

 

Thankfully i'm pretty rust free, it was garaged in Colorado for about 10 years, almost no humidity ever, and i've yet to see any significant rust besides on the hood where some paint chips are, but i plan on sanding those out. I hope to keep the welding to a minimum, i can weld, but i'm not great at it!

 

ithe gun i use was an electric one, and worked much better than i thought. my compressor died on me in the first coat, older than hell anywho, so i sptn 10 bux on an electric one and finished the job!

ron

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Some of the best "sprayers" are the guys in the low cost corporate shops. They are spraying constantly all the time and will get fired in a second if they mess up. If you are furnishing all the actual work, good paint, etc. then you are just asking for a guy to spray the paint on for you in his booth. All of these painters can paint on their own time on the weekends, when the paint booth is not in use. Talk to the Manager only and tip him $50 and pay the sprayer $150. DO ALL OF YOUR OWN TAPING WITH THE BLUE TAPE OR WHATEVER RACERX SAYS. At least in Orlando this has worked for me very well for years. The paint stays on the car, there is not overspray on every damn piece of weatherstripping and piece of chrome, and the paint flows out better than I could do it. Be prepared to be available to help at the end of the days they spray on it to slip it in and out of the spray line at their command. This also helps you keep an eye on it. The actual spraying and flowing mixing, etc. takes a lot of experience and these cheap paint shop guys have a lot of it. The body work, prep work like taping, and cheap paint, is where all the cost cutting is for the corporation. If they screw up, it is your problem.

Tell them you will sign a wavier on the guarantee.

 

THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO MAACO AND NEVER WILL. I TRIED THEM FOUR TIMES AND GOT SCREWED FIVE TIMES.

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Okay folks... please don't flame me:flamedevi

 

I have an Alpha 1, which needs some minor body work and I'm installing a trunk kit. The car will need new paint, of course.

 

I'm not in the best if health but I can do some light-duty work. I also just don't have the time to do everything. However, I'm also on a budget and must save $$$. If I take the following route, I'm sure I can keep my paint/body work under $1500 or so.

 

Here's my idea...

 

(1) I do all the meticulous time-consuming body and prep work

(2) supply high quality paint and clear-coat to a cheap paint shop

(3) have them shoot two coats of paint and five coats of clear

(4) I do all the wet sanding / blocking, etc.

(5) pay someone else to buff and polish

 

What do you think?

I spent $1500 just in material for my Z. Im sure you could do it but your going to have to get just alright material.

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