I've painted a few of my own cars with good results. The first explanation
is with Tremclad, the second was metallic acrylic enamel, which I refer to
as "shine in a can." (my first paint job was laquer, which took tons of
time to wet sand and buff for the same results, but that was in the late
70's) Never tried the base/clear, because Acrylic Enamel looks good enough
for me.
I painted my son's car, a 78 Civic with Tremclad mixed with Varsol. I
bought a cup for timing paint viscosity from Princess Auto here in Canada
(the canadian version of Eastwood for tools) When you mix the paint, you
dip the cup in and lift it out of the paint and count how many seconds it
takes to drain as a steady stream. As soon as the stream first breaks and
starts to drip, stop counting. There is a chart right on the handle, and I
timed it as enamel paint.
I sprayed the paint with a Sears Craftsman suction type gun with a 3.5 HP
compressor, over rattle can primer that had been wet sanded. Tremclad does
not "flash like regular enamel, so I waited about 1 hour between coats, and
laid on 5 of them one saturday.
The car dried shiny and smooth, and looked great for about 2 years parked
outside every day even under the snow. After that it faded a bit, and my
son started to buff it with compound when he had spare time, and the shine
returned. He didn't finish the job though, as the car died.
I painted my wife's 82 Ford Granada (UGH) with metallic acrylic enamel,
which I bought from a body shop supply house cheap. It had been mixed to
the wrong shade for a body shop, and returned, but was close to the red
color originally on the car (no door jams to paint). Paint looked great for
7 years and 150,000 kilometers (95,000 miles). Motor and tranny died, and
car still looked great, sold it to a teen who had wrecked his similar car,
but had a good power train.
Garage prep was as follows:
With the car well outside, SWEEP, SWEEP, and SWEEP AGAIN. Not vigorously,
just thoroughly. Try not to raise dust.
Wash the floor thoroughly with a hose. While the floor was drying, I
stapled 6mil poly vapor barrier to 1x2 strapping attached to the ceiling
about 3 feet from the walls in the garage (2 car).
Once the floor was dry, I used duct tape and taped the poly to the floor.
This protected all the tools and contents. I left the compressor outside
the plastic, with a disposable plastic water trap in the air line at the
compressor, and ran the hose under the plastic, and taped it so it would not
pull,
The walk through door has a screened door and this became my air supply for
the booth (the poly turned and taped to the door frame. I taped disposable
furnace filters over the open screen, 2 wide, 2 deep. (about $5.00 worth of
disposable filters)
I lifted the double door about 10 inches, and had more plastic taped across
the opening.
I had 2 fans outside holes in the plastic, and placed cardboard boxes opened
at both ends over them to act as ducts. 2 more furnace filters in front of
the holes in the plastic under the door before the fans. The fans will
still get some paint on them, though.
This setup protected the tools, shelves and walls, and created a filtered
air flow.
Each time I went to spray a coat of paint, I used my wife's watering can and
SLOWLY poured water all over the floor, just enough to wet it. DON'T SPLASH
AND DON'T LEAVE PUDDLES. This prevents dust from being raised by you moving
and the air from the gun.
Go ahead and shoot the car.
When done, I carefully peel the duct tape from the floor and poly and roll
the poly up to the ceiling out of the way and tie it there ready to drop
again in just a few minutes when needed again.
Bob Winslade
1966-1600
1967-1600
Lorette, Manitoba
Canada
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