>I will second Jarrid's view that you might want to at least consider doing
some of the work
>yourself. Talk with your paint/body friend. I have performed body work
(bumping/straightening
>through painting) on a couple of vehicles and I enjoyed it. But it did
take me a long time.
Some good advice, Roger. I also did my own body and prep work, and color sanded and buffed the PPG Deltron acrylic urethane paint after a pro sprayed the top coat. How valuable is your time, and how much of a perfectionist are you? You will need to put in considerably more time for a first-time do-it-yourself paint job than a pro would. I did mine as an education, and did save some money over a commercial paint job. You'll need access to an air compressor, a spray gun, and a suitable place to shoot the high-build (high solids) sanding primer. I sprayed and sanded 3 separate coats. I would recommend the epoxy primer as a sealer.
You can find suitable tools in the Harbor Freight and other catalogs. The newer high volume low pressure paint guns seem like a good deal, since they conserve paint. Figure on laying out $200 - $500 in tools, and a similar amount in paint, sandpaper, tape, solvents, and other supplies. PPG has some very nice paint systems and its Concept line has replaced the Deltron paint I used. It is safer to use, and more environmentally friendly. They have an excellent manual that gives you a step-by-step procedure. I like the ease of repair of these acrylic urethane paints. Chips can be retouched fairly easily, and the paint can be color sanded to erase orange peel. This is the difference between a 50/50 paint job (looks good at 50 ft. or 50 MPH) and a show finish. I stayed away from the base coat-clear coat systems, because the solid paint is easier to repair. It was also what the factory used. We can't have our cars looking better than original, can we?
If you're after Carnival Red look-alike, Scott Woerth (master Sunbeam Restorer from Christiana, PA) told me to use Porsche Guards Red. Don Sesslar, who won the 1964 SCCA F Production National Championship in an Alpine, and who now works for PPG, told me that red paint is more expensive because it takes longer to grind the very hard vermilion colored rocks used for its pigment. My red paint cost 50% more than most other colors.
If you decide to do the prep yourself, take Jarrid up on his offer. You'll need a guru. Mine was John Lorenzo, who has restored several Tigers and Alpines. Keep in mind that there are some jobs that are time sensitive, and won't wait. You might have to use some vacation time or burn the midnight oil to get blocks of time, or to complete a job before the paint dries. At times your wife may feel like a painter's widow. Plan your project carefully, and be realistic about how long it will take.
The up-side is the satisfaction you feel looking at the final product. A labor of love can sometimes look as good as a $6,000 job.
-----Original Message----- From: Roger Gibbs <rgibbs(at)pacbell.net> To: Jay Laifman <Jay_Laifman(at)countrywide.com> Cc: alpines(at)autox.team.net <alpines(at)autox.team.net> Date: Tuesday, August 18, 1998 6:59 PM Subject: Re: Yeeeouch!
>Jay Laifman wrote:
>>
>snip
>> On the negative side is the bill. The guy said to do my car "right"
would
>> require covering the entire car in a type of bondo/primer and sanding it
>> flat. This is because if you slide your hand over the surface of the car
>> you do feel waves and bumps here and there which would show once painted,
>> especially with the dark color I want to use. He also felt there would
>> need to be a bit of time to make sure the hood, doors and trunk all lined
>> up perfectly. So, he put in 95 hours for this work. At $25 per hour,
that
>> hit my estimate up $3,000! That's almost as much as I figured I'd pay in
>> the first place.
>>
>Jay,
>
>First, on the positive side, congratulations on locating such an excellent
specimen of a shell.
>Whatever happens with your adventure you have the pleasure of knowing that
the paint is put on a
>stong, rust and accident free base.
>
>Second, I suggest that you take a look at
>http://www.horizonweb.com/wwwboard/Spray_101/wwwboard.html
>
>This bulletin board concerns itself with spray painting cars and there is a
wealth of
>information contained there. Plus you could post any questions that you
may have to Len and
>probably receive an answer within a few hours.
>
>If you were to ask there what the procedure should be for your car the
answer might be:
>
>1. Strip the paint to bare metal (done)
>2. Perform all welding and major sheetmetal bumping (done?)
>3. Clean, clean, clean the metal and give it a prep wash, then prime; or
skip the prep wash and
>prime with an etching primer.
>4. Maybe seal the primer with an epoxy primer, maybe not (how compulsive
are you ?)
>(somewhere in here you fit hood, doors, etc and check for fit)
>5. Spray on a high solids fill/sanding coat, cover this with a contrasting
color guide coat.
>6. Block sand until flat, if you sand through the sanding coat, repeat
steps 5 & 6.
> Note: Step 6 can take a long time. How perfect do you want the finish to
be ?
>7. Seal the primer/surfacer/guide coat, then
>8. Spray on the color coat; depending upon the type of paint chosen
(lacquer, acrylic enamel,
>urethane, etc.) this might be the final coat or it might have to be clear
coated.
>9. Polish the paint (depending on the type of paint this might not need to
be done, might have
>to wait several months).
>
>The quality of finish on a car is a very subjective thing. How nice do you
want it ? The
>extimate that you were given doesn't sound all that out of line. If you
negotiate the price down
>the workman spends less time on preparation. Only you can determine the
level of quality that
>you want to afford.
>
>I will second Jarrid's view that you might want to at least consider doing
some of the work
>yourself. Talk with your paint/body friend. I have performed body work
(bumping/straightening
>through painting) on a couple of vehicles and I enjoyed it. But it did
take me a long time.
>
>Some of the major drawbacks to painting IMO are taking the car apart (yours
is already apart)
>and the threat of having to do major body work, which as Chris pointed out
is sometimes tough,
>(but your shell looked very straight).
>
>Good luck ! Have fun. (Maybe AAA would be willing to give you some more
money if you ask
>nicely ?)
>
>-Roger
>