Paint

How many layers of paint and how many layers of clear is usually applied to these cars. I saw a car on TV that they said had 13 coats of clear applied to it?????????? It did look really cool!!!

Depends on type of paint, color and how much color sanding is done between coats. Suspect normal with enamel is 3 + 3. I've painted cars with acrylic lacquer - it takes 8-10 color coats with sanding in between and up to 5 clear coats. More clear than that and it will crack and craze. I would sand between coats and at end sand with 1200-1500 wet sand paper.

I think he was using ppg but i dont really know.........so ill those extra layers of clear will be a problem later???

I have a local shop that has done seven of my speedster projects in epoxy primer followed by urethane enamel 3-4 coats, 48 hour dry time , color sanded and gently buffed out to an absolute glass like finish

I painted my car recently with ppg urethane single stage color and did 3 color coats.

IM's are "factory" painted using Glasurite (expensive); quite a few coats and clear coats.

I used Deltron 2000 on my CMC - 4 base color coats - each sanded between, 3 Pearl coats - Rubbed after the top coat, then 3 clear coats.

John Steele paints all his cars using Glasurite also, gives a really nice, deep paint job. I always get lots of compliments on the paint as probably all other JPS owners. I think it is a urathane paint. I had that paint put on my Avanti and it really was beautiful and held up very well over the years.

Bruce

I used a single stage enamel with urethane hardner on mine. Not alot of "depth" but pretty good gloss characteristics. Plus it was easy as heck to apply in my driveway!

My current speedster gets the urethane paint on Sunday, after it is buffed out I'll try to post some good quality close ups to give an idea as to what is possible at a reasonable price.

Jeff,
Which paint manufacturer and product did you use?
Your body looks v. good from the photos.
I am planning my own driveway paint job soon...
Cheers,
Jim.

You guys really painted your cars in your driveway? Wow. How many bugs got imbedded in your paint? I painted mine in a rented booth and still had tiny things in my paint.

Actually, the 'plan' is to construct some kind of temporary booth out of 1" x 2" and a LOT of plastic sheeting. Adding a fan or two to provide some circulation (I was going to cover the inside fan areas with furnace filters) and an HVLP spray gun.

If it does not work out, then I can always go rent a spray booth somewhere... No idea how much that would be but figured if the garage doesn't work out then I've only lost the cost of the paint and the time to sand it al down again.

BTW Chris, I looked at your photos of your paint job and now plan to follow your inside only followed by outside all-in-one methodology.

Cheers,

Jim.

I used Sherwin-Williams Acrylyd Enamel with the better urethane hardener. Yeah, I really painted it in my driveway. I have some additional pictures of the set up I used. I built a rack that I painted the hood, trunk lid, doors and bumpers on, and the body was done on the rack in the picture. The paint has a pretty quick flash time, and I try to time it for a slightly breezy day to keep the bugs down. I also put on alot of coats and wet sand my arms off. Bugs aren't that big of a problem for me. Don't get me wrong, this IS NOT a show car finish. I can certainly find a good amount of defects in the car, but you have to look poretty close. I am not even going to come close to the quality of construction on most of the cars on this board, but I also have kept my total build cost very low. Different bites for different likes right? The paint goes on very easily. I woudl recommend the better hardener as it seems to make a big difference in the gloss. The paint also wet sands well. I start out with 1500, then 2000, then 2 different rubbing compounds, and finally a sealer/glaze.

Start with an extremly well prepared surface. Even use 400 grit in the finish sanding. You can sand it after the sealer, but only necessary if it's not smooth when you have it wet with the sealer. Use enough urethane color to cover the sealer completely and uniformly. Then at least three, maybe four, coats of clear. Get it wet. Gently sand it with 2000 and then buff it with rubbing compound. Finish buff it with a glaze. It should shine and look very deep. Keep you finish sanding and buffing away from the edges of panels.

My paint job came out well mainly because I found this great guy just north of me in Everett who rents out his paint booth. He is from Egypt and has been in the states for quite a while, and has a pretty good sense of humor as well as a very stright forward way of telling you, that you don't know anything and to pay attention if you want to learn anything.

Renting his booth cost me $100 day. In the beginning I planned on 2 days. 1 to prime and 1 to paint color. The first visit I primed everything. After I was done, Amir looked at the car and gave me some pointers on wet sanding, and then off I went back to my garage. After a TON of wet sanding over the next week it became apparent that these fiberglass cars are not very true, so visit #2 to the paint booth was to build up another primer coat. This time Amir showed me some techniques in the booth. I had a full supplied air system and here he was in the booth with a smoke in his mouth, no repirator, showing me how to lay on the primer. Guess he must have been used to the stuff.

After visit #2, Amir looked things over and said "get to sanding". Then I said I would be back to do all the color in visit #3. Oh no, he said. You need to come back and just to the jams and back sides of the doors, hood, etc. Then put the body on the car and bring it all up at once and paint the outside. His logic (and what he does all the time for a living), is that the outside is the most important surface, and if you paint the entire hood, doors, etc, then while you are assembling the door, hood, etc to the body, you will, no matter what ding something.

So, I took his advice and came back for #3 and painted the jams. Then I went back, assembled everything (and did bump some primer like he said I would), and then once I got the body onto the pan, and the wheels on and everything, I wet sanded, and sanded, and sanded, 320, then 400 till I had a nice smooth surface on the outside.

Then it was time for trip #4, and the color coat. The big thing of the day was "take your time". In the end Amir said I did a very good job for my first car. It's not a show quality job, as there is some orange peal, but he said that was better than runs, and some of it could be buffed out.

I have not gotten to buffing yet, so hopefully that will make it really shine.

Oh, nice color by the way Jeff!

It's always a joy to work with someone who knows what their doing and learn something from them.
ed

Thanks Chris! I would like to say that it is some exotic color, but I think it is just ba Ford Truck Blue. I am terribly color blind and choosing color is almost impossible for me. I know I wanted blue (have done to many red cars it seems) and after searching through books and books the guy at the paint store just gave me some color samples like you get at Home Depot. All the blues were in one grouping so I could compare shades (thats about the only difference i can see between individual color variations). I thought I had actually picked out a much deeper navy blue, but I guess not!