Painting question

My baby still has her original paint from 76. It's in pretty good shape, but there are a bunch of small flecks in the paint that I would love to fix. I'm debating on repainting the entire car though. I am activy duty so I have full access to an enclosed paint booth and guns. I pretty much just have to buy the paint.  I've been reading online that the painting process isn't too difficult, but I'll be honest. I know very little about painting. I've looked into having it done for me, but a good paint job is going to run me $2500-3500+, which sadly isn't in the budget right now and I refuse to take it to earl schwabs or maaco. They butcher cars.

hardest part may be in the prep work. i here prices around $5000 here in Illinois. watch out for runs and putting it on too thick.  any painters around illinois that can paint a vette for 2500-3500, please chime in.

Rick, 
   Where are you stationed?  I did my time in the Army and know that some shops around the bases are "rip-offs."  I'm sure you're familiar with all that.  But especially with the fiberglass, you have to make sure that you don't take it down too far when preping, etc.  That is great that the craft shop has a spray booth still.  Most of the Army bases (here at Ft. Hood), and even Barkesdale AFB (just left there this past Sept. 7th.) did away with their paint booth.  Maybe you could talk to the guys at the craftshop and see if any one of the regulars up there are familiar with fiberglass, or atleast one of the guys could point you in the right direction.  All in all, research and wait until you feel confidnet that the job will be done right, whether you do it or you farm it out.  Always better to wait and finally get it done right, rather than get it done right away and have a mess that you'll have to do over.

It's all in the prep. The paining isn't so hard. I can squirt a pretty fair coat, but like I said, the prep has to be meticulous to get a great finish. The major cost, like any job, is in the labor, not the paint.
It's all prep until the final coat.

I'm currently stationed at Hurlburt Field in Florida. I've been asking around town and found a guy who through word of mouth is supposed to be good and fair. The only problem is the guy listed a ton of cars he has done, but when I asked if he has ever worked on fiberglass he said no.

I've been looking online and have found a ton of different guides for the prep work, but each differs and I don't know enough to know what's good and what's when it comes to following one of them.

The overall paint is good. Should I maybe just look into getting a colour matched pint of paint from napa and do some touch ups?

Well, if there are no cracks or detrimental damage to the body then the fiberglass won't be an issue. If the paint is solid then the prep work will be the same as any other car. If you are going to paint it the same color, all you will need to do is perhaps remove any chrome and trim, tape off the glass and tires, sand it out completely with wet 320 or 400 paper and apply your paint whether it is gloss one shot or base clear. just remember to have the paint shop add the correct amount of flex agent in all your paint. Have fun with it, Cheers

Hey Rick, if you haven't done any auto paint work then I would farm it out to a shop that can show you some of their work, especially if you're going with any metallic top coat, just my 2 cents.

Strongly recommend taking the car down to factory primer.  No matter how much sealer, primer, etc you put on top of the original paint, it will eventually show thru.  I know as I didn't heed this advice when I painted mine.  Also proper seam repair is crucial as if not done right, they come back to haunt you.
 
BTW  a good paint job in KC area for a Corvette runs around $7K.  That's a basecoat/clearcoat job.

Damn!......I'm in the wrong buisness......Last truck (S10), I painted I only charged the kid 300 beans pluss paint. Maybe I'll turn my second shop into a custom bodyshop. Food for thought...I guess!

Hi Rickcusaf, (the usaf rules), You say that you have original paint and it's in good shape, I had new paint 7 years ago, my car is a daily driver and each time I wash the car I find another chip, but thats going to happen.
I went to a paint supply and they mixed a small can of touch up paint, from 10 feet away it looks great and I'm sure your car does too. From 50 feet away you can tell people you just got it at Barret-Jackson!
So if your looking for perfect paint and a show car start reading about painting Corvettes. Mabye a boat yard has some info.
I could Not spend $2500 to $7000 and continue to drive as I do, that would just be a waste of money for me.
What are your plans for your car? PG.

quote:

ORIGINAL: blueshark

Damn!......I'm in the wrong buisness......Last truck (S10), I painted I only charged the kid 300 beans pluss paint. Maybe I'll turn my second shop into a custom bodyshop. Food for thought...I guess!

 
Yeah but I'll bet you didn't pull everything off the S10 incl. doors, strip to factory primer, fix seams (oh yeah it's metal  ), cocoon the interior to keep the dry overspray out of everything, wet sand and buff, etc, etc, etc.  Believe me, it's a you truly get what you pay for situation.
 
You're probably on the right track re: custom bodyshop but I'll bet a good downflow paint booth ain't cheap.

Well. I did take it to almost bare metal. did all the body work(lead filler) needed and completely painted it from selfetching primer, sealer, mid coat, color base, pearl blender and 6 coats of clear two of which were tinted. Didn't need to cocoon the interior because it and the glass were out. wet sand to 1800, buff,seal and wax. Steel cars have seams too, fiberglass is easier to deal with in the area of body panel seams. Hell, if Chevy wasn't worried about mass producing and high production numbers they could have made the corvette without any seams to screw up.

Don't see a need for a high dollar "down draft spray booth". good lights and a couple of your standard 24" barn exhaust fans work just fine with double AC filters on them and the feed vents. You can build a booth better than you need for about 2500 bucks with materials from home dpot or lowes.

It's always been my practice to give the customer more than he pays for. No complaints and lots of repeat buisness that way. It was a friend of mine's grandson.

But I'm no expert.  Cheers

Then the kid did get one heck of a good deal for all that you did.    Just mentioned the booth if you were going to add it to your business.  I painted mine in a barn with a concrete floor.  We did have lots of lites all around.  Just wet the floor down before painting.  Only found one speck in the final job. 
 
As far as seams go, I think the new ones don't have any as I was watching a show where they were pulling fenders, quarter panels, etc off and  then bolting back on.  I know on ours that usually just filling the crack in the seam is temporary cuz the reason it cracked in the first place was because the bonding strip is coming unbonded.

Yeah he got a good deal, but I made hime help with the sanding so he would appreciate what it took to do a good job and maybe he would take care of the truck when it was done.
 
I did a truck in my old barn. Had to run 600 feet of garden hose just to wet down the dirt floor and another 600feet of airline to spray it. Only problem was getting enough seperators in the air line to keep the water out.
 
I'm looking into a media blaster, just to do all the cars I have. I'm tired of sanding, LOL! Thats the only way to go if you're gonna take it down that far. might as well take it all the way as most factory primers suck anyway, especialy the stuff on older cars. I think if I could find one reasonable it would pay for it self real quick as the closest one around here is about 80 miles away and they use sand so it's kinda rough on the car. I could probably get a lot of work from the many body shops aroud here.
 
As for the OP's original post. It's my humble opinion that if he is not doing a color change and the paint is still adhered well to the car he won't need to takeit down that far. if he is changing the color he can still leave the original paint and just do a double shot of sealer and mid coat to get a good cover. About 15 mil film so it can be sanded. Clean it good and and apply your top coat. if the Paint is questionable have it blasted with walnut shells or baking soda or hand sand it all off. Cheers

okay blueshark...your tempting me. maybe i'll drive done to your place for new paint on my 78.  Something like a deep sea blue, or whatever the stock color that year was.  let's do it. but if the car breaks down before i get there, the tow truck may need directioins.

Bring it on down Dan, We'll get right on it. Bring your check book, LOL  If ya break down, just call and I'll come get ya. How much time ya got free? Cheers

quote:

ORIGINAL: blueshark

Bring it on down Dan, We'll get right on it. Bring your check book, LOL  If ya break down, just call and I'll come get ya. How much time ya got free? Cheers

Hi blueshark and Happy Holidays, You sure have a lot of nice toys in the photo gallery. How do you figure out which one to drive? PG.

I put all the keys in my pocket each morning and jump up and down to mix them up and which ever one I pull out I drive. Only problem is my favorite shorts have a hole in the pocket so I get stuck at home a lot. LOL!
 
Naw, Most are "works in progress" so I only keep two of them insured pluss the '87 so I've got something to drive, remember the newest one(the '87)is 20 years old. LOL!

Rick, Can you post some pictures of you car so we can see what the paint job looks like? How are the door jams and rocker panels? Does it still have the original flex bumper covers?, are they all cracked up?, areas around any moldings?and window sills? headlight doors, edges of the hood, etc.? are you changing colors or just keeping it original? Cheers
 
Marc, Don't get me wrong, Painting cars is not really part of my business, although I'm seriously considering making it one. That and custom body parts. Right now it's just a hobby I'm very fond of doing. The biggest part of my work is painting and sanding, but most of my experience is with poly-ester and epoxy primers and topcoats on boats and plugs and molds. My experience with automotive paint on Boats, Cars and Planes makes up only about 5% of total gallons of paint I've sprayed. That would only be somewhere around 6.5-7000 gallons of automotive paint, and not every day. Not much considering.... There's guys out there in busy body shops that have sprayed twice that if not more. I'm by no means an expert with painting cars...I just think it's fun and I love doing it. Cheers

blueshark- how long does it take? I remember Earl Sheib in by 9 out by 5.

Well it all depends on the prep work. Earl Schibe and Maaco didn't used to do any prep work. You had to do it. Don't know how it is now. 9 to 5 doesn't seem to be enough time for any prep work to me, unless they have a 15 guys working on it and either way that's not good. LOL! They just spit it on and bake it smooth with heat lamps. The actual spraying would only take a few hours for a base /clear job. About the same time it takes to hand wash your car for each coat of paint plus set up and clean up. most paint manufacturers suggest letting the car set for 3 days before you touch or drive them but I like to wait 6 just to be sure. Earl Schibe and Maaco Jobs usually flake of with in two years from what I hear. I don't think I would take any car I cared about to either of them. You'd be better of spraying it your self. Cheers

Alright, I'll be over about suppertime. 

Cool! Ya'up for some fresh venison fillet mignon? That's what's on the menu for tonight. Cheers

wow!!! unfortunately i'm stuck in illinois. salt, freezing rain, cold. i think the car (and me) will be hibernating with the bears for the next couple months. but it sure sounds good. thanks anyway blueshark. 

Be careful with the bears,....they snore real loud and fart in their sleep. LOL!...So no smokin' in the cave. Cheers