Jump to content
HybridZ

NERVOUS! Painting car today


RPMS

Recommended Posts

Hey, Guys!

 

I need everyone to fire up their Karma generators and point them in my general direction. I'm going to start painting my car in about thirty minutes, and I need prayers to the Great Paint Gods for smooth flowing paint and proof from dust and flying insects!

http://www.powerbear.com/der4.htm if you want to follow along!

Went to Home Depot this morning and invested in a couple of reflector lights, plus a big double headed halogen utility light so we can see what we're doing in my garage. I'd though that four 8-foot fluorescent bulbs would be adequate for the task, but when shooting the primer I realized that I still had a bunch of shadow areas at the bottom of the car. Not good!

 

I've taped up poly sheeting over the walls and everything else in the garage to dustproof it, and I washed down the cement floor this morning. Geez, I hope this goes well. I've been prepping the car for over two months now, and I'm nervous as a miniature poodle on speed right now.

 

WISH ME LUCK! icon_smile.gif

 

[ August 18, 2001: Message edited by: RPMS ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish you all the luck I have. Make that all the good luck.

Since your garage is already set up and everything. Can I bring my Z over? icon_rolleyes.gif

Are you using the same gun for painting that you used for primer?

BTW, if you need some help with anything this weekend, let me know.

 

[ August 18, 2001: Message edited by: spotfitz ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

*Whew!* I'm glad that's over with!

 

No explosions took place, much to the delight of my neighbors! I wasn't aware that halogen lights posed a problem in high explosive areas. Add that to the list of things nobody tells you until it's too late!

 

Here are some pictures of the end result. I apologize in advance if they take a while to load. I tried to shrink them down as much as possible:

 

This first one shows my painting setup, with reflector lights hanging from the garage door, a small halogen lamp hitting the tail, and two halogen stand lamps at the front of the car, pointing at the ground for reflection (out of sight). There are two large fans blowing out the bottom of the garage door through holes cut in rigid plastic, so air circulated in at the top, and went out at the bottom. It kept the air remarkably clear, and didn't admit a bunch of trash to bug up the wet paint.

paint6.jpg

 

This is how the doors turned out. Not perfect, but close enough for a 30 year old car! This is going to be a daily driver when I'm done, so perfection wouldn't last long anyway. You can't see it, but both doors have extensive rust in the lower sections, and I'm planning on replacing them within the year. The shot of the passenger door makes it look like there's a big dry spot at the front of the door, but that's just the reflection of the polyethylene sheeting.

paint2.jpg

paint4.jpg

 

And here's my favorite view of a Z-car, showing that gorgeous sail panel.

paint1.jpg

 

I ended up letting my friend Kirby shoot most of the car, after I helped with the preliminary tack coat. I was so nervous about screwing it up that I'd probably have messed up the whole job by dragging the air line over a fender, or something! I'll shoot the parts that can be removed and redone if I screw up, but the body was just to critical for me to allow my ego to get in the way. When Kirby shot the second coat, I watched as the PPG Concept paint just laid down as flat as you please over areas that I'd worked so hard to fix right. I thought of all the days and nights I've sanded and smoothed and primed, and it was all worth it. It was very much like birthing a child, to finish a big project like this!

 

I'll put up more pictures when I have the hood, cowl, hatch and headlight buckets painted (which will happen tonight and tomorrow afternoon). Thanks for all your advice and support these past seventy days! I couldn't have done this without y'all. icon_smile.gif

 

Scott Ferguson

1974 260Z - Now in STUNNING black paint!

 

[ August 18, 2001: Message edited by: RPMS ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Anonymous

Looks as though you have done some excellent body work, Black is so unforgiving. I think you have done a quality paint job, I know you are proud. Looks great! icon_biggrin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WOW. Like bbbowtie said, what I can see of your bodywork looks great! Is that black or a dark color?

 

That is one nice looking job for a daily driver! SHWEET!

 

BTW, my car go RE-PAINTED today also. THey will be wet sanding and rubbing it all day tomorrow. I should be getting it back this week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Anonymous

It looks like it turned out excellent. Mines a driver too pretty much too, and I'd be tickled with a job like that on it. Looks real good.

 

Pete, glad to hear its getting repainted, we'll keep our fingers crossed for ya, but I think the guy can spray pretty well from the first pictures, so I know it'll work out for you.

 

Regards,

 

Lone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...