952door4x4

I'm not sure if this is in the right section, feel free to move it if it needs to be somewhere else.

I'm definitely going to be painting my Jeep sometime soon. I am almost 100% uneducated when it comes to auto paint, so this should be an interesting experiment.

So far I have a small air compressor, I'm not sure if it's big enough but I was thinking if I go slow and do one panel at a time it should be able to refill in between. I'm looking at buying this paint gun http://www.harborfreight.com/high-vo...gun-66222.html. It's an HPLV, which I hear is the way to go. Do I need multiple guns for the different coats of paint, or do they have interchangable tips for spraying the heavier base coat and the lighter clear coat?

As far as my "booth" I'm planning on taping up garbage bags OR tarps and making a room in my garage. This was all I was able to come up with, if someone has a better idea I would be very interested to hear it. This doesnt seem like it's going to work very well, but If I get paint on my dads gold clubs, I'm a dead man.

I'm also planning on doing a matte finish (Olive drab). Any info about ratios for mixing the flattening agent into the clear? Any input on better brands to use? Any different techniques for painting it this way? Any general tips or tricks for an idiot trying to bite off more than I can chew? I'm just trying to get a better look than if I were to use 100 paint cans.

diskman

If your going olive drab, then roll it on..

1 quart Rustoleum Dark Hunter Green Gloss
1 quart Rustoleum Red Primer
1 can mineral spirits
4 inch high density rollers
tape
newspaper
laquer thinner


Before:



during...



The supplies...



After..

DaddyCat

wow diskman that looks great! and no expensive tools to buy!!

OP How small of a compressor do you have? CFMs cubic feet/minute is the number that will tell if you can paint with it.

The spray gun you linked to doesn't say what size fluid tip it has. Kinda important bit of info you need. The $16.47 gun at harbor f. at least tells you the nozzle size (1.4) and that's a good compromise nozzle size. Most cheap guns only come with one nozzle size, if you want different tip/nozzle size you need to buy another gun. And forget about getting parts for cheap guns, they are considered disposable. BTW base coat paint is thinner than clear coat, so base coats need a smaller fluid tip/nozzle, usually 1.3 for base and 1.4 for clears.

I have some links for you, now get reading.

http://www.autobodystore.com/forum/index.php

http://www.autobody101.com/forums/vi...45f267f5ae959f

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/

DaddyCat

Just so your Dad doesn't kill you, go to homedepot or other building supply store and get some plastic sheeting in the paint dept. I bought 5mil thick x 8' x 150' plastic for ~$30

xj guy

Diskman thats an awesome job! How did you take care of the rust? I saw some above your tire in the before snapshot. I have some rust on my XJ that needs to be taken care of STAT. Did you just grind it down and then sand it down? and then paint it with the rest of the jeep?

952door4x4

Diskman, that looks great. I read up on a bunch of articles about rolling on paint and I thought it was really the way to go. The deeper I read into the thread, the more it seemed like there was a pretty big learning curve. I was reading the thread about the 68 Charger he painted orange. They said to do a mixture of like 3:1 paint:thinner? Do you have any sort of ratio you used? It sounded like a lot of people had trouble with little bubbles when they rolled it on, like the roller would pick a little bit of the paint up on the backside when it rolled around if the paint was too think. Did you use any clear coat on it? Or maybe some other type of sealant? Those pictures have me second guessing myself again..... From what I've read it seems like spraying gives you, generally, a smoother and more even finish, but the rolling on is just so much easier because you dont have to worry about overspray. I am thinking about painting my other car depending on how well this turns out, so if I were to invest in a few spray guns and materials, I would really mind.

Thanks for the plastic idea daddycat. I knew there was a better idea other than tarp haha. Thanks for the links as well, I will definitely get reading! I have done a little bit of bodywork in the past, but that first link to the autobodystore forums seem very interesting.

DaddyCat

I was where you are about a year ago 952door4x4, hoping to fix some rust and repaint my car. I bought a 25 gallon Craftsman compressor like this:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...=1298988546968
and it was too small for painting. Trouble with a small compressor is as they run alot they heat up the air and you get water in the lines. Not good for paint! I found a 60 gallon compressor on craigs list for $250 that worked well for painting my car. You want a compressor that has a CFM 2X what the spray gun you're using needs. Some hvlp guns are rated at 5 CFM but most use more air. HVLP mean high volume, low pressure = they need lots of volume of air.

I have the little brother to the gun you were looking at (purple touch up gun) and frankly it is a POS. The purple coating constantly flakes off from inside the gun when I clean it.

The gun I have with 1.3 and 1.4 tips for base and clear coat
http://www.paintsprayersplus.com/pro...e-Gun-Kit.html

And this Astro for high build primer with a 1.8 tip
http://autobodystore.net/Merchant2/m...gory_Code=LESE