HamadUP

I just fed up looking at the scraches, cracks, paint peeling away .. etc, on the car's body, and since I did everything on this car myself since I bought it, I'm thinking of getting it painted at home by me as well (thats including prepping the car, stripping the old paint, applying the new paint, wet sanding .. etc), of course I never did that before and I can only guess what I can do in that regard. Now for those of you who have done it before, did you learn how to do it by reading some books or watching some videos and then applied what you learned? or have you been painting cars before and knew your way through the process already? .. in other words, is it worth taking the risk to learn the how-to and then apply it to your dear car?

terry82

you will do better herehttp://forums.corvetteforum.com/paint-body-138/one of the tricks that i learned here was to buy a cheap tent ,and paint the car in it.you could even put the tent in the garage .

Sunstroked

I have seen some very nice looking paint jobs come out of home garages. We (a few of my buddy's) did my camaro in a garage in the early 80's. They had done the prep work on the 1983 ridler winner, so they knew the ropes. But we sprayed mine in candy in a 2 car garage. That paint still looked nice when I sold the car 8 yrs later.
Recently a fellow corvette club member sprayed his C3 in his garage. Paint looks fantastic, he credits his hvlp spray gun, but I think technique had more to do with it.
I will add, be prepared for 1 big mess. Sanding, primers, fillers more sanding, then the actual painting leaves a lot of cleanup. Best if you can dedicate or close off 1 side of your garage. Dust gets everywhere, regardless.

RobbSalzmann

BTDT, agreed on all counts, particularly the mess aspect. I built a homemade dust collection thing and tried to keep the dust level managable with it, but your daily shop sweep & mop will be serious chore.

Its worth it though!

Good workout for the arms and shoulders followed by lots of satisfaction.

John 65

Go for it ! You can do it and its well worth it. 1st timer here. Did everything to my 68 body from taking it apart, stripping, bodywork, priming, and then LOTS of blocksanding, to the point of wiping it with the tak rag moments before my buddy shot it for me here at home. Went with Dupont products, BC-CC. Was a lot of work, but only a tiny fraction of the price. With the HVLP gun the fumes really were not all that bad. Built a little wall around the compressor with plastic to keep the dust down.

sly vette

I found this for you in tech tips... under "OTHER" in the red bar at the top of the page.
I hope you find it useful!

https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...=111&TopicID=3

HamadUP

I didn't know that we have a separate section for the body and paint, I'll be there for a while.

Thanks a lot guys, it seems that I will start planning for it seriously from now on.

HamadUP

Wow, John! that looks impressive!, I hope mine will turn even half good as yours.

HamadUP

Thanks for the link, I went through it quickly and it seems it has all what I'm looking for, I'll make a print out and read it thoroughly.

Roco71

I have done several cars at home including my 71. One thing to keep in mind are the local laws most cities, counties and states have environmental laws that continue to get stricter and restrict the types of paint and how much you can paint in a residential area. Be aware of the health risk involved as well.

yellow 72

Painted mine (and a few others) in this little garage back in '94 using 'ol school tech. Razor blade striped, Ekler spray gelcoat, blocking 500 coats of acrylic lacquer primer surfacer follow by buckets of PPG 'Bright Yellow'.

RIO68

Did a lot of night work and hoped everyone was inside!!!

outlawkinser

Read this posting. Might have some useful information.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...with-pics.html

Mike

BOSTONCAMARO

90 percent prep, 10 percent paint

BOSTONCAMARO

Shot of the door of my 67 Camaro, sprayed at home in a little painting room I have set up.

Roco71

I really like your car from the color to the wheels and side pipes I assume that is a blower peaking through the hood!

MakoShark72

Ya think??

mikejpss

The blower belt & pulley are dead giveaway......::

RobbSalzmann

Yellow72, I think you're wearing a different scoop everytime I see your car! One for each day of the week?

markids77

Back on topic... yes you can paint it yourself. Read up on the many ways to strip it and use one of them, then repair any cracks/divots/damage. Prime it using whatever your local paint jobber recommends and block it out, and block it some more. Practice your spray technique during theprimer phases and see if you can get your last prime coat to lay down absolutely smooth and run free... if yes then I would say you're ready for topcoats; I would not purchase "shiny" paints until you are certain you will attempt it yourself.

If at any time during this process you feel overwhelmed or under-talented you can certainly allow a pro to take up the job... you will have saved BIG bucks no matter how far you get because paint prep labor is very expensive. There is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement to be had here on this forum, and I for one think you can turn out a pretty nice job.