Re: [T3] Body Work (kinda long)

[stans4@ix.netcom.com (Stan Schaefer)]

I've been doing my painting in my one-car car port.  You just take a
section at a time, don't try to cover the whole thing at once.  I
expect I've got about $400 in the compressor, gun, fittings and prep
stuff.  I can also run air tools, too, so it's a multipurpose thing.
I made a mistake and bought too small a compressor, 4cuft/min, not
enough to run a really big spray gun, so I've been making do with a
touch-up gun.  I can get twice the compressor now for about the same
price.  Basically, I've been stripping the stuff down to bare metal
using aircraft stripper, then going from there. I've taken the fenders
and doors off and done one at a time.  You can seešCìÌbeen done to
things, then.  One fender I thought was pretty clean turned out to
have lots of rust underneath and a lot of bondo.  Took a long time to
get that prepped.  Prep time is the big thing here, painting doesn't
take much time at all. I figure about a week per fender, working on it
after work. The touch up gun doesn't put out a very big cloud of
overspray, it's more like an oversized airbrush and very controllable.
If you hang tarps over windows and doors and use the proper breathing
protection, you should be able to do stuff in your garage.  Depends on
what you want to do.  I'm using acrylic lacquer, not as durable as the
two-component urethanes, but a whole lot easier to apply and you don't
have to bake it like enamel.  Lots easier to repair than the
clear-coat stuff, too.  I've found, though that the temp has to be
around 75 degrees to get a good job, lower than that and I have to put
in more fast solvent and I start getting droops and runs.  Higher than
that and I have to put in slow solvent and the gun starts shooting
"noodles", lacquer dries in the air before it hits the surface.  Over
90 degrees forget it, do some more prep work.  Depending on where you
are, lacquer may not be an option, can't get it in CA at all.
If you just want a quicky, go look up Earl Scheib and company.  In my
area, we've got some outfits that will rent spray booths, that might
be another option for you.

On Thu, 18 Mar 1999 17:44:16 -0800, you wrote:

>
>I kinda wanted to do my own painting as well, but the spraypaint worries
>me - where can I do this without painting the neighbours' cars, houses,
>pets, children etc. at the same time? Doesn't spraypainting cause a cloud of
>spray? I'm assuming my garage would be too tiny for that stuff.
>I think if I had a big enough shop I would go for it. oh well, I still have
>some time to figure that out I guess.
>
>For me, everything else is fair game for do-it-myself :)
>
>Cheers,
>-Nico
>

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