Technical Budget paint options?

My ‘51 Plymouth really needs some new paint as it was someone’s quickie paint job and it just looks okay. It shines up nice and it looks sharp but get up really close and you can see the small amount of trash that someone painted over.. it’s also not the right color. It’s good enough but not at the same time.

Im looking at either Trinity 1945 Starfire urethane single stage in their apple green or TCP Global Restoration shop in a similar color in single stage Urethane, and using one of the offshore inflatable spray booths.

I only have an old 10 gallon HF oil type compressor, that last I painted would ‘keep up’ with one of the HF purple guns. I’d like something better than the HF purple gun but I only have 5.6 SCFM or something like that at 90 PSI…. What do you all do with budget paint? I’d paint in my garage but it’s too narrow

 

It sounds to me like you are concerned about the last part of the job.
The old repaint needs to be removed, the surface prepped properly, at least one layer of good primer, more sanding, then a sealer to lock in over all this before the color goes on.
While the gun, compressor, and room all need to be decided, those are way down the road from where you are. If you are diligent, this will be a couple month process that can't be rushed. That puts you into Fall, later if issues pop up. Will the bouncy booth work then?

 

Been so long since I painted, all I remember is it was single stage acrylic enamel, Crossfire probably. Layed out nice. I do know that compressor will have a helluva time keeping up with a D/A if you're using one for prep. Used a purple gun for primer with great results, color I broke out the ole #7. Lotta work, take your time!

 

I’m looking at possibly painting in the spring. It’s still nice weather and the car is still nice enough. I can sand and prep in my garage just not paint. I gotta practice on my beater daily driver as I know I’ll be out of practice

 

There are a lot of threads here about portable/ inflatable booths. Adequate ventilation is the key. My last paint job was done in a DIY paint booth fabricated with reuseable lumber and 5 Mil plastic sheet. Created positive ventilation using fans thru filters.
The purple gun works well for the most part. HF carries a little better-quality gun. A step up from there is the Devilbiss starting line gun kit. It works well for the price point and comes with two guns, one with a 1.4 tip, 1.8 tip on the other. Guns go up in prices from there.
I have shot the Crossfire paint, and it does lay down well. It has a unique mixing ratio though. Just bought some TCP lacquer for a trial, and as many have commented it is thin. The instructions say 5 coats.
Your compressor (10 gallon, 5.6 SCFM) will have a tough time with any HVLP gun.

 

For your compressor, watch marketplace for cheap broken compressors and plumb the tank into your unit. The extra air storage will make a big difference. Knowing how to properly set a gun is more important than the quality of the gun, YouTube videos can be a big help there. The best paint and the best technique can’t hide what’s underneath though and theres there’s the rub.

 

I would be using TCP’s urethane instead of lacquer. I used it in the past and it worked okay but that was probably 10 years ago. As for my compressor. I remember the purple gun running at 40 PSI or whatever it calls for was sufficient and it kept up, but I’m actually thinking of tying a second similar size compressor together along with a condenser setup attached to something like a hand truck or a wooden frame just to trap water. I’d just need to run power off 3 breakers

 

I know, I gotta fix some stuff and get it looking good before the paint. The cars not perfect and never will be. It’s just fun

 

If all you have is a small compressor, get a LVLP gun.

 

I know it can be tough doing things like this but I would try to do the following.

I'd see if any of my friends had a garage/shop or even a carport I could use for a weekend. If so I'd buy some walmart plastic drip cloths and cover the walls and ceiling with it. Carport would work this way too.

That would save you the money of a portable spray booth. I'd take that money saved and probably pick up a HF black widow spray gun when they put out a 20% off coupon. These guns have very good reviews.

Then I'd up the quality of paint with any extra money, I prefer base/clear. It's more user friendly for first timers and beginners.

Now compressor, id again check with friends to see if they had one you could hook up in unison with yours or see if any place local had a rental that would work.

Painting is one of those things that don't require a lot of equipment but what it does require is big and some can be quite expensive...

Good luck !!

..

 

Realize that about 85% of a good paint job is preperation. Strip, sand, prime then a lot more sanding and blocking to get panels straight. You spend most of your time in preperation if you want just a decent job.

 

If the compressor is 5.6 SCFM or something like that at 90 PSI it should be more like around 10cfm at paint pressure of 40 psi. Recheck compressor label. HF gun should work fine.

 

I'm not a painter but the guy who painted my Ranch Wagon outside my shop used an inflatable booth. Had to start early before it got too hot in the booth. Used a toilet paper water filter and an IR 80 gallon 5hp compressor. Happy with the result.

 

You may want to determine, if you think the car was prepared well. For the current paint that is on. And what type of paint was used. You may be able to just prep it. For a re-color/change. Rather than a complete ground up new paint job.

As far as painting over a little trash. That may be, that they painted it outside or in a garage. Or they were not aware, of how to clean a car properly, for paint. If its a clear coat or solid color single stage. You may be able to do some de-nibbing and buffing. To clean it up some. Or reflow the clear coat. It kinda depends on what/how bad the trash is.

 

Air compressor rentals are cheap.
But you have months of prep work beforehand.

 

It’s really not that bad. Was for sure a garage or outdoor paint job. You have to get pretty up close to see that the rear fenders has a couple nibs and such. 90% of the car shines up great and it all looks largely good enough from 5-10’. It was definitely a budget paint but for what it is, it turns a lot of heads. I really don’t like the color that much. My wife likes the color. I could probably take it to the body shop that my dealership works with and have them fix and blend the imperfections and it would look even better.

 

I have done a lot of sand mask and shoot paint jobs in my life. It is hard to find a shop to do those jobs these days. Macco still does them. If you have one near you it can be the way to go. Talk to their guy. You want to do the sand and mask ( take off what you want, mask the holes, ect) The guys that paints for them are usually ok. Unless it is his first week.
If not talk to the body shop your dealer uses and ask to rent the booth. They have a good air compressor. And maybe even see if their painter will work for cash. He has a good spray gun.

 

Nibs and dirt can be leveled off with some wetsanding and buffing, have you thought about trying that on the current paint job? I understand the desire for a different color, but if the paint is thick enough, the flaws should level off and polish out.

I painted this car in my gravel parking lot with an HF purple gun and paint I mixed up from bodyshop leftovers I got for free. Came out very dry and blotchy (only painted about half the car, the rest of the paint was intact) but after a good deep wetsand and buff job, it looks fine. Far from pro level but cost almost nothing but my time.



How tight is your budget, and how much time can you spend? Those would be the real determining factors.

 

If you don't get the moisture out of your compressed air, it'll ruin the paint job. The gun will periodically spit very finely atomized water onto the surface which gets covered with paint. During the wet sanding process, those thousands of teeny tiny embedded water droplets get exposed and become thousands of teeny tiny pits. These pits collect rubbing compound and wax which dries white. The effect is the look of little puffy "ghost" clouds all over your car. Semi interesting, but I'm sure not the look you're wanting.

Water separators and filters will not work if the compressed air is not cooled. In fact, if the air is cooled enough, there's almost no need for filters or dryers, only the ability to purge collected water from the plumbing.

The action of expansion as the compressed air leaves the piston and enters the tank cools the air to quite a degree. That's why so much water is dropped in the tank and frequently needs to be blown out.

A very effective way to cool the compressed air is to be sure you have enough plumbing. The further away the spray gun is from the compressor, the cooler the air will be. It's necessary to run a portion of the plumbing up and down at least once and maybe twice. Place your purge valve(s) at the lowest point of the plumbing. The added benefit is that water droplets can't easily follow the air when it's traveling upward.

Plumbing and fittings and hardware isn't inexpensive, yet you've got me telling you that you need a lot of it. But that's the way it goes. You can get inventive to keep costs down and make the system somewhat compact. A coil of copper tubing hanging from the ceiling works pretty good and isn't too terribly expensive and doesn't take up a lot of room.

Good luck with your project.

 

Exactly what I was going to say, an extra air tank in the line will add to the volume of air you are able to use.

 

I planned on using some sort of air drier setup with a filter and standard water separator at the end. half way between the compressors and the gun. Probably use ‘25’ section to the drier setup and then 50’-100’ to the gun, and then have a separator filter, and regulator at the gun as well. I could even throw some of
The hose to the drier in a kiddie pool of cold water

 

Sounds like you have the basics covered, know what you are up against. Lots of good pointers here too.
The big thing is limited resources. I agree that doing a Dexter (plastic sealed space) in a solid area is probably better than the bouncy house. Price each out. The rental compressor is a good idea too, so long as it isn't a beat up unit.
You can do this, it's a matter of planning then doing it the best you can.

 

Kiddie pool is a good idea. A long ago friend ran his air line from the compressor through an old refrigerator THEN to the storage tank.

Ben

 

I am just a hobby painter and work at my house. I have a bouncy house to paint in, I added a fan and box of furnace filters to keep the air clearer. It works good unless the sun comes out from behind a cloud or you have a power outage. Can you imagine watching that thing deflate on your wet clear?

Electronic air dryer, water in scotch is permissible, water in paint is not.

I use a Sharp primer/base gun and Iwata clear gun (I used to spray single stage Centari back in the day, I like shooting base/clear these days).
All in, this was a $5000 paint job. That doesn't count the 2 years of my life to prep the truck and a month to wet sand/polish/re-***emble it after I sprayed it.

As said you can rent a compressor, hell, you can rent a paint booth in most cities. Better still, you can rent N2 (nitrogen generators), no water, no oil, cool technology. I have friends with proper booths that offer to let me paint there. If you were closer, I would lend you the bouncy house. The cheap guns from Horror Freight are likely fine for most jobs, but there are reasons we pay $500 and up for proper guns. Borrow one, you'll be glad you did.

As for paint products, I recently did a front-end strip and paint using Shop Line paints, turned out real nice. I also did these flags using Shop Line base/candies/clear. Their clear lays down nice and I like to wet sand and polish the next day as sanding scratches come out easier before the clear gets rock hard. Their clear allows for that and looks much nicer then the price would suggest. Not that anything is cheap these days, they still get $150 a quart.

The paint on the truck is Lumabase, spendy but very nice products, well worth it for a nice paint job. It is not production paint like the Shop Line. Good luck on your paint job @Matt Dudley, and like the teacher used to say in math cl***, show us your work.

 

...about 5-7 years ago, I painted my 55 Chevy pickup for $11.00, including a $3.00 brush.
Used Walmart house paint, came out real nice and looked better than the 4-5 colors it was before. I weathered the edges a bit...
paint mite cost more now

 

Black widow gun from hobo freight is what I use.

 

be sure to factor in that Mother Nature has changed her ways a big bit. look at high temperatures and wet weather having this so called Summer. things be changing.

 

I would probably make the painting in April where it would be cool enough that I wouldn’t need to worry about super heating it, but I could easily keep it warm with a couple electric space heaters if need be ( not on during painting )

that said. I took it to a car show today and everyone liked the color. It actually got a lot of attention

 

Forgot to add a picture

 

JMO but if you do use an inflatable booth make sure it has 2 blowers. 1 to inflate the booth and 1 for the air filtration.