My first question is what kind of neighbors do you have? I did my 32 outside and was lucky. Live on a dead end street and two of the houses were vacant at the time. As mentioned single stage was best. I used BASF Limco Synthetic Enamel. Favorite time to paint was Sunday mornings around 10am. The bugs werent up yet and the wind was low. They were all sunny days, and as luck would have it, it helped UV Cure the hardender. The next car I am starting this month, but I planned ahead. I placed a craigslist ad, and found a local paint shop, about 8 miles from my house, that will let me rent their booth. I am paying by the hour, and the owner felt good enough about me to let me work on sundays by myself and even use his guns. (I am still bringing my own.) Plans are to do all the fab on the frame, mabey have the body ready to prime, take it all out and prime it on one sunday, then spend the week sanding it down for paint the following week. No rush, just to do the job right. Having a nice downdraft to use will be a treat. Even if you paint outside, its all about the surface prep. Know your gun, I used a TP Tools Paint Turbine and reccomend them. I painted two cars with them. You cant shoot heavy primer with it. I used a 1.8 siphon for the primer, 5 star hotrod primer, and 1.4 siphon for the paint. Follow the instructions. Wait the time you are told to between coats. You can apply a few more without penalty. You can paint the car in pieces if you like, but I suggest have the body bolted to the frame final like before you shoot it. Chances of your gaps being off are far less. I will never paint the body not bolted to the frame, especially with open cars. Good luck on what you want to do and post pics of your outcome.
Solid colors at first. You don't have to shoot the entire car all at once that way. You can mask it off and paint one fender or door at a time or even disassemble/reassemble afterward. Invest in a polisher, a cutting pad and a polishing pad (with appropriate cutting and polishing compounds). Also a good flexible sanding block and various wet/dry sandpaper from 600-2000 grit. Use the least aggresive grit you can to get results and continue using progressively finer grits and finish up with 2000. Put a little dish soap in the bucket of water. Soak the sandpaper a while before using. Change to new sandpaper often cause it will stop being productive after a while as it wears out. You will get dirt specks, orange peel, and maybe a run or sag or two. You can fix it. Use masking tape close to runs or sags until you sand them down close to level with the surrounding paint. The tape will get ragged, just replace it. This will help you not sand through the paint next to a run or sag while removing it. It's not that hard. If you really mess up, just block it down an re-shoot it. You can wet-sand, cut, and polish a so-so paint job to look professional.
Shot this one in my attached garage. Acrylic lacquer with a clear coat. If it is still legal to use it where you live, it is user friendly because it dries fast, keeping the debris to a minimum. Sand and rub when needed and you will have show results. Solid colors are easier to shoot. Light colors hide less than perfect bodywork. Metallics hide poor bodywork but are hard to shoot, and it is too difficult to sand out debris without ruining the paint.
Painted our 57 buick in double unattached garage,put fans in the side windows with filters one pushing one pulling with a couple fans on the floor for air movement two tone base coat clear coat. Prepared garage day before blowing it out and washing floor lined walls with white plastic for light reflection and dust control Next day was a long day of painting starting at 6:30 am thru 8 pm and it worked well
safety, neighbors etc are all factors, that being said i have done a lot of painting at home......the adage is true, prep 90 percent, paint 10 percent... cleanliness, filters to keep air lines clean and dry etc this year car is not hamb friendly I know, but posting for purposes of spray techniques/info...here is a former surfboard shaping room in my barn, I now use it for jambing all the small parts, small parts are up to door size...pics kinda stink, but this stuff came out perfect, it is base / clear PPG good lighting is also key, make sure you are spraying right, getting the correct coverage etc
I built a temporary spray booth in 1/2 of my small shop....put a couple of furnace filters up high on one end and some more low on the opposite end with box fans sucking out of the booth...made it out of pvc pipe and rope and 6 mil plastic.... it did work good.... I've since bought one of those cheap HF 10'x 20' canopys and will put it in the shop for a booth frame......
I do all my painting in my small garage.....I just protect up my knick-knacks from overspray and throw a fan in a window. I prefer painting late at night....
water on the floor.....and loop chain over axle.....heard that really does work and ive done it since i heard it
endura offers two day course....teaches you to use thier product...but will give you skills to be able to use anyones product..Canadian tire carries duplicolor laquer....very easy to use and spray....
Was doing some primer work outside when a street sweeper came by and dusted my ass pretty good. You can bet I called the City and got the sweeping schedule before I spayed the finish coat!!!!
Is the Duplicolor paint as brittle as the old style laquer? Would a clear coat protect it? 2x on the chain and the watered floor. First car I painted was metalic and it came out great with only one slight blemish that I took care of. Unfortunately my mask filters weren't new and I had one hell of a headache for a day. The last time I painted was about 20 years a go. Non-metalic single stage. Just before I finished the third coat my 6 year son paid me a visit. I yelled at him to close the door as I didn't want him to breathe in the fumes. Startled the little guy and he slammed the door. I had a VERY hairy paint job. Cleaned my equipment and didn't go back into the shop for 2 weeks. Started sanding with 600 and went to 2000, kinda zen like in the evenings. Learned how to polish on that car. Came out as good or better than a new vehicle. Try it; you'll like it!
I learned to paint cars years ago using Centari acrylic enamel, always used a rented booth as it didn't work so good In a garage. I recently used Duplicolor paintshop Lacquer in a garage, I highly recommend it.
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