Paint Prep need some advice

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Any sage advice on spray technique?

I'm interested to hear Steiny's advice, but back when I painted a few cars back in the 1980s, several things were critical: a good quality paint gun, mixing the paint to the right consistency, bright but even light from all angles, and an air compressor that could supply both the needed pressure as well as sufficient (and sustained) flow rate. 90 PSI at 12 CFM is what I recall, although that may have changed with modern paint guns and paint formulations. Those little air compressors that you roll around on wheels might supply enough pressure, but the flow rate isn't enough.

I've heard that a 6 HP, 60 gallon 220volt air compressor will suffice for a DIY paint job.

-Bryan

[wetminkey]

I've got a 6Hp 80 gal 220v and it will keep up with anything that I am doing,...! My HVLP gun requires 9.55 cfm,...many require more. Oh, and gosh,...you won't paint at more than 30 psi with HVLP,...the ol' high pressure spay guns are rarely used nowadays - due to the amount of volitiles (paint/solvent) that they spew into the air!
You can paint with a small compressor, but you will be stopping to let the compressor catch up, and paint will only give you so much time to place it and blend it.
Bryan's advice is correct! Gun, mix, lighting, compressor, and all that after a REALLY GOOD PREP! And don't forget cleanliness.
I would recommend base coat/clear coat urethanes. Multi-stage, but great results that LAST,...!
3M makes great respirators,...
I'll be finishing my 'Grigio metallic' paintjob (base/clear) when the weather warms enough,...I had enough time to get the trunk and hood done last fall and the car has primer 'polka dots' (fine bodywork spots, primered) right now,...
PREP, PREP, PREP, and then plan before you paint. Best of luck with your paintjob!
Todd.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

PREP, PREP, PREP, and then plan before you paint.

Todd makes an excellent point. 90% or more of a paint job is preparation, and the actual spraying is a couple hours. As for compressors, yes, modern guns and formulations are likely very different than what I was "trained" on. Go with the current state-of-the-art.

-Bryan

[SteinOnkel]

Like I said the HTE guns they got now use 50% the amount of paint as an HVLP. And ditto for pressure and volume. I think our compressor was set to 20psi with the HTE gun, 30 with the HVLP that we used for primer.

Trust me, you want an HTE gun. They are amazing and not that pricey. A decent one from Specter is $130. You need two though, one for primer and one for paint.

Agree with Todd, if you want longevity you can't beat two stage paint. But there was a budget in my paintjob, so single stage it was. I paid $300 in materials for primer and paint and got really, really nice stuff. Hilarious, by the way, the California VOC laws and how paint stores bypass them. The vendor goes "Hey, so do you have an out of county address I can bill this to? Then I can sell you better paint." I go "How about out of state? I got an address in Mobile." and he's like "Oh, is that right, hold up lemme scrap this purchase and get you the really good stuff." The paint had a VOC of more than 6.1

If any of y'all want enough Grand Prix White to paint a Fiat spider exterior with three coats, let me know. Come on up and grab it for free. There's that much left over.

[wetminkey]

Cool! I'll look for an HTE gun before I do the rest of the car. Thanks!
I've got two 2qt pressure pot guns, two old HP siphon guns, and a gravity-feed HVLP and HVLP detail gun (both "Spectre"s). Why not an "HTE"?
Guess I better find out just WHAT an "HTE" gun is!
Happy painting!

[wetminkey]

HA! My HVLP Spectrum IS the HTE! Not sure about my Spectrum detail gun,...
I still find that the best pressures to paint autos at (due to the consistency of the urethane primer, base coat, and clear coat that I use), using the HTE HVLP, is 26 psi for the base,...clear coat at 29 psi. I shot primer at about 29.

[SteinOnkel]

Whatever you do, do NOT use paint from restoration shop. Just painted my brother's Studebaker. Absolutely atrocious paint.

Same people, same gun, same garage; it's gotta be the paint. Every single panel has runs in it that were NOT present when we were done shooting. But they showed up an hour into the curing process on their own. Simply horrible. Thank goodness it's single stage so we can sand it out.

[wetminkey]

Naw, I get mine from my long time buddies at a local NAPA. Known the owner for 35 years,...the sales folks have auto-paint training.
Sorry to hear about the paint. Good that you can smooth it and repaint. I just didn't get my pressure correct on one of the mixes of clear coat on my '72 SuperBeetle, so I've got to scuff with 1000 grit, and recoat. At least it's JUST clear! But I can feel your pain,...
What Studebaker? My first car (in 1973) was a '53 Commander,...233 cu in V8! 3 spd with OverDrive!

[geospider]

At some point in this post, Steiny, you mentioned NOT going down the rabbit hole with sanding.
HA; I have not only gone down the hole, but found the entire Rabbit highway of holes.
having said that, I believe the project is going well., \Pain prep, fix some issues like the upper door hinge repair and will prime/paint/clear soon. btw: not a flat panel on these: everything has a curve or style line.

still need a driver side handle spring ('79)

Geo

[18Fiatsandcounting]

still need a driver side handle spring ('79)

Geo, remind me again, which spring are you looking for? The spring mechanism on the inner door handle, or a spring on the outer door handle?

-Bryan

[geospider]

the outer handle is "flapper style" there is a spring inside that is broken.
wondering if I can fab one. $13 at Midwest, but out of stock. They also are rivetted? on.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Geo, I'm thinking pretty much any spring of the appropriate size/shape should work. Do you have a clock repair shop nearby? They almost always have tons of springs of various sizes.

-Bryan