Projects Painted my 1954 Chevy Bel Air in the garage (what not to do)

Just painted my 1954 Chevy Bel Air in my garage.

If you are about to try to paint a car in your garage, and you've never done it before, maybe you'll find this post useful.

If I were to do it over again, here is what I would do different.

To get all the old paint off I used Aircraft paint stripper and a sander. If I could do it over again I would have had it bead blasted and sealed. I try to do everything cheep but in the end this is one step worth spending the extra money on.

I bought a stud gun from Harbor Freight Tools. (Great tool and worth the money) If I could do it over again I would get the insurance on this tool. My gun died. I was able to get it replaced but just saying I would buy insurance on this tool if I could do it over again. The gun requires more power than my outlets were putting out which caused it to not work right. It still worked but not as well. If I could do it over I would find an outlet with enough power.

I tried to use as little body filler as possible. I think I accomplished this goal. If I could do it over again I would apply a thin shim coat of body filler on most of the panels and sand it paper thin. I spend months on the body filler stage and once I had the primer on the car it exposed imperfections that I just couldn't catch with my untrained eye. If I could do it over again I'd just do the thin coat approach.

At one point I tried to sit on the dash to sand the roof. Don't do that. It dented the dash very very slightly. I pushed it out and applied a paper think coat of body filler to fix the damage. The dash looked to me like it can support some weight. It can't.

I put down a coat of reasonably thick primer and started sanding. If I could do it over again I would have put down 2-3 coats of reasonably thick primer. The body of a 1954 Chevy Bel Air has so many curves it's very hard to get the car glace smooth and not sand too thin in certain areas. I ended up painting the car in primer, sanding, sanding too much in areas, putting down another coat of primer, sanding, sanding too much in areas, etc. etc. Areas like the roof I didn't have this problem but other areas I did. If I could do it over I would just put a ton of primer down and give myself some buffer.

My friend did the first coat of primer on the car but I did the rest. In the end, I came back and did several coats because I kept having such a hard time sanding the car and not sanding down to metal. At one point I applied a coat of primer and I started to get drips. Instead of stopping I kept going and ended up with a ton of drips in the primer. At the time I didn't realize how hard it is to fix drips. The second you see a drip, ***uming you can stop, stop. Figure out how to solve the problem or you'll be sanding off the entire coat of primer just to fix all the drips.

My friend helped me paint the car. We let it get too cold before we painted. We did it in September in Seattle area. We took two days to paint. The weather changed the second day and it got too cold. Paint in the summer or don't paint in your garage. Because it was too cold the clear coat started to orange peel. (paint went on before it got too cold so no problem there). To account for the orange peel we added some thinner which solved the problem but we ended up with 9-11 drips. We did several coats of clear coat to get it on fairly thick so that when I come back and sand and buff I might be able to sand the drips out.

If I could do it over again I would have stored the paint in a very warm room. I did this the first day but forgot to do it the second day (when the weather turned cold) and it added to the problem. I actually put the cold paint next to a heater and it seemed to help.

If I could do it over again I would have put my space heater inside my car and covered the car with car covers and blankets. This may when we pulled the blankets off and started painting the car the metal would be warming. That would help the paint go smooth on the car. The first day we painted it was warm and this wasn't needed. The second day we knew the weather would change and I should have done this step.

If I could do it over again I would have started painting at 6AM the second day. We started closer to noon. We knew the weather was changing. I should have accounted for how cold it gets at night. By 6pm the temperature dropped an extra 10 degrees and that's what hurt us.

If I could do it over again I would have removed the doors. We tried to paint the door jams with the doors on. On a 1954 Bel Air 2 door sedan you can't get the gun in between the space where the door meets the body real well. Looks OK but would have been smarter to pull the doors.

I don't think I changed the air filters in my mask as often as I should have. Stupid. Good way to get cancer. The second you can small something with the mask on, change the filter.


If I were to do it over again, here is what I would do the same.

I painted the car in my garage. If I could do it over again I would still paint the car in my garage. I built a paint booth. I put in a air filter. I put in a high powered fan. I covered the floor. I setup a ton of lights. It was a fair amount of work but it worked out well.

I did a ton of metal work on the car. I spent months with a stud gun and other metal working tools trying to get the metal as close to perfect as I could. I would do this again. Worth spending the extra time to get the metal just right.

The inside of the roof of the car and the floor of the car had some surface rust so I painted it with POR15. Later I painted over with primer and finally with two stage light blue. Seemed to work out OK.

I used Evercoat Rage Gold body filler. That stuff is amazing. I'll never use anything else.

When I put body filler on a panel I pretty much covered the entire panel and just tried to get the filler paper thin. If I did it over again I would do the same. My friend tells me I did great body work. First time doing it. I think one of the reasons it came out so well is that when I used body filler I did the entire panel in most cases (or at least a very large area). As per my note above, if I could do it over again I would just do the entire car this way.

When it came time to sand the primer I used 200 (lightly), 320, and 400. In most areas I was able to get the primer like gl*** which is a must before you paint. I took lots of time sanding the primer. If I could do it over again I would still spend the extra effort on this step.

When I took all the trim off the car I marked everything. Good call. You should do the same. I took a ton of time on this step and it was still hard to put everything back to how it was.

We painted the firewall. At first I wasn't going to. I'm so glad I did. I would have been crazy not to. It looks nice with the firewall painted. I pulled the engine before painting. Obviously a good idea.

We took off the hood and the trunk lid. Good call. If you paint your call I suggest it.

When we painted the car with the two stage paint we lifted the car up on jacks. We did this after we painted the roof. Good call. Made it easier.

I setup a ton of light. If you think you have enough light, you don't. Get more light.

I replaced most of the original trim screws with stainless steel screws from Tacoma Screw. Super cheep and they have screws that are a perfect match but stainless.

On the outside of the car we went with two stage Dupont paint. I liked the paint. I would use it again. On the inside I used a cheep paint to save some cash. Seemed to work out OK.

In the end, the car still looks really good. Pictures attached. I still need to wet sand and buff. If you are curious what color light blue I used I attached a pic. Note that I used the paint color shown in the pic but I went with a higher end Dupont 2 stage paint.

The last thing I'll say is that there is nothing in this world more valuable than a good friend. One of my best friends helped me paint my car. He taught me how to do the metal work and the body filler. He taught me how to paint the primer and how to do the sanding. He did the final paint and did a great job. The time I got to spend with my friend was worth more to me than the paint job on the car. If you have good friends you are blessed. Never forget how lucky you are.

Cheers!

 

I really like the color combo. Thanks for the tips. I am waiting for the "roll it outside and get a daylight side view" picture.

 

The car looks great. I'm glad you're hard work payed off


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tl;dr

 

Thanks for all the great tips.

I will be painting a van soon and I intend to wet sand the entire van with 320 first before applying a few coats of 2k primer. I will then sand the primer and apply a few coats of enamel paint which I know is a little different but here in Florida I see cars with a base/coat clear lifting all the time and since the van is kept garaged and it's only a work truck it should be fine.

I will be using a HVLP Turbine 3 stage to spray the van.

I am still trying to figure out which brand of paint to use.

Please keep in mind this is a work truck.

Jimbo

 

thanks for the tips this will be helpful when I get to that step !

 

welcome to garage painting , each one is a learning lesson, i've done it for 34 years

 

Don't just take off sanding on the sags and runs. Get a "run file" and shave them down 1st. Yes indeed, such a tool exists, mine is like a little 2x2 wood block with a small fine vixen file bonded to it. You'll be amazed, trust me. Use it on trash spots too, and no it will NOT damage the area around the sags.

If you simply sand on the sags, even with a firm block or paint stick, it will take down way too much next to them and you'll blow through your clear with the compounding stage. My verbiage may not be the best, but I hope it makes some sense.

 

X2, excellent advice.

 

For all those mistakes it looks like a decent job. It does look like you spent too much time spraying stuff inside that will never be seen.

 

Nothing wrong with skim coating..best way to get it straight...not talking cave and pave, but do your metal work and than skim coat it. Another thing primer doesn't straighten panels. If the panel isn't right and you put 3 coats of primer on it it still isn't right. Be careful chasing runs like highlander said. As for garage painting...best day is low humidity and about 75 degrees, or make sure you use the proper hardness and reducers to compensate for the weather changes. Good call making sure ya got enough clear on a garage job to allow a good cut and buff, just make sure you gave those multiple coats time to flash and breath.
Car looks good...awesome to say you did it yourself. Have fun sanding and polishing, now the real work begins. Remember to refine your scratches and don try to go from 800 to 2000. Some great paint finishing tips on www.3mcollision.com

 

Excellent job. Nothing like being able to say that you painted it yourself. I like the way you laid out your pros and cons. Excellent advice as I have found out the hard way all of your lessons too.

 

Nice! Easy read and helpful advice.

 

Good read! Thanks for sharing.

 

Several thoughts....

Great at***ude about the whole ordeal I've seen so many posts from"anybody can do it" to "painters charge too much".....there's a whole lot to be said for a guy sharing the honest truth with experience to back it up.
And speaking of experience, highlander and my Poor Boy brother loveoftiki know their stuff, so heeding their suggestions will help anybody with the drive to 'do it yourself'. I might personally add, your car looks pretty good in the pics, and you should be very proud of what you accomplished. Keep in mind color sanding and polishing can make a lot of turds look like diamonds(not that yours looks like a turd...on the contrary) Cut & polish--I've tried a new compound from Mothers here lately, 81232 Heavy compound, in place of 3M Fast cut 6060, and got really good results. It's a little "greasier" for lack of a better word, cuts back to 1500 easily, and cleans up nice.
Thanks for sharing in detail--I'm sure a lot of guys who read your experience can learn a lot...even if they see your pics and gain confidence. Paint and body is an art, but not black art or some kind of magic.

 

Thanks Highlander for the tip. I'll give it a shot. I figured I was going to have to super glue a piece of sand paper to my pointer finger and go at it but I'll try your trick.

 

Tman's comment about spending too much time painting the inside is spot on. Buy a can of rustolium and roll it on. Good call.

 

Thanks for the feedback and the tip Earl. I'll come back to this thread and post another pic when I am done polishing. And if I learn anything on the way I'll share that. Sure I'll make lots of mistakes.

 

Thanks for the good read and advice. I painted the 55 Chevy wagon around 1990 in my garage. Far from a show paint job but it's seen many miles and smiles.
I agree on using a good body filler. I didn't want any but just had to use it in low spots. Now I see where I should have skim coated everything like many pro shops do. Inside on dash and window trim I used Krylon spray cans. Still lookin good.
Your honest descriptions mean a lot to us shade tree mechanics.

 

On the dreaded cut and buff...

I found a long time ago that I thoroughly hated using any kind of compound. My old stand by was the PPG 55. I'd mix it with some form of glaze to reduce the grit some, but invariably when it came time for the clean up/glaze part of the job some leftover pieces of grit would leave that 1 ****in scratch, and usually right where you can't even begin to just forget about it. Well before all the high-tech goodies came about I had my own "1-2-3" method of never having to deal with that again. 1 was 1000 grit paper, also I'd keep a worn 1000 handy for finer "cutting". 2 was 2000, and again I'd keep some worn paper handy for the final finish which was done light, fast, and lots of soapy water. 3 was Meguires 3, my favorite final glaze. I could CUT the 2000 scratches with the M3 using a Souix 1211 wool bonnet. On the lacquer back then a simple rag application of M3 followed by your favorite wax or final finish would net incomparable results. This was especially nice to do to the old beloved DAU82 Delglo clear.

Fast forward to today's crop of "4 to 1" clear and SS finishes, the same principles apply, but now there's a cornucopia of glazes and compounds and everything in between. We see and hear of "die back", as if the finish went back to dull after glazing the next day. It didn't die back, the scratches STOOD BACK UP when they cooled down. Old finishes were like gl*** compared to new finishes being more like Lexan. The scratches got chopped off because the old finish was hard enough to allow it, but even fully cured those scratches on today's clear will simply soften up and lay down, and once cooled and all the oils are dried out they come up again. The only defense is ever finer sanding and lots of dry/cure time to get the hardest possible finish that you can hone to a deep shine, or more accurately, a flat surface. I still 1-2-3, but now there's a 4 and 5. 1-2-3 has become sandpaper as in 1200, alternating 1500/2000, then a final go-over with a 3M Trizact 3000 Hookit pad. Lots of soapy water, a very short stroke DA sander like a Dynabrade, and enough speed to make the uninitiated run for cover! The only trick is that you have an infinite amount of control with the paper vs compound which will bite you in the *** in less than 10ths of a second. The final shine before the wheel comes out resembles the patina (I hate that ****in word) that so many seem to love these days. I still use the wool bonnet and M3, then I switch to a foam pad and slowly crisscross all the wool swirls out. I've yet to see the dreaded die back using this method. The clear you use has a lot to do with it too. I prefer DC4000 (very pricey) because of the final hardness vs the popular DCC2021. I'd rather paint with a brush than use 2021, yes I hate it that much. To me it's nothing but labor for the sake of labor, where the "Velocity" line DC4000 hones out like the old Delglo. The initial set up for all of this is a bit pricey. The 3000 pads are right at $100 for 45 of them but they go a long way. The other fine grit "Hookit" papers can be used sparingly or exclusively if you're not going for an ultimate finish.

I've posted enough finished pictures over the years that I won't bother here. Have fun...

 

Great tips and love the color combination!

 

Thanks Highlander. I won't buff for a month or two. When it comes time I'll pull this back up and go through it in detail (again). If I have questions at that time I'll post. Thanks again.

 

Hey we make 5000 grade Trizact now! Ya wanna try some send me a PM and I'll take care of ya. I'm in the middle of doing some work on a 40 Ford hood and fenders...single stage acrylic urethane, the usual dirt, and some peel. I hit it with 1000 grit, 1500, 3000, 5000 and no kidding its shiny!

Think about this they use finer grades of abrasives to polish granit.... That's where I see paint finishing heading

 

Hilarious! I use 2021 almost exclusively....but I always supercharge it.
Well, somebody's gotta be the traditional caveman...might as well be me

 

I don't know if I would wait a full month. Might be harder than you like to cut and buff.

 

In my experience, harder is better for a nice deep gloss. My angst against the 2021, it's very resilient. W/out supercharger it will stay 'flexible' and cause what I described above. You can bend lexan pretty far before it breaks, plexigl*** bends less, gl*** almost not at all. I'd rather knock down "gl***" than "lexan".

'tiki, 5000? Holy ****munch, I couldn't imagine it but would like to try.

 

great tips, your car looks great. the colors are spot on. i also wanna see the out in the daylight pics!

 

Looks great. Good job.

 

A lot of great advice, worth bookmarking this page if you plan on painting yourself


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thanks for the tips and everybodys followups, I hope to have the truck ready in the spring for paint so I'll save this thread for future help.