repainting car, need advice

omegagodly · 06-10-2008, 10:56 AM

i wil have a 1993 lx, and it has a few spots of rust, i have to replace the hood and both front fenders but i already have i guy i can get those from, once i get those i was planning on donig the body work my self, even though i have no previous experience of actually doing it myself. i was reading one of sleepers articles that he responded on and he said something about sandblasting, if i could get a sandblaster would i blast the entire car? or if i just used sand paper to do the rust and bodyfiller then primer and ect. would that be sufficient? i do want the car to look beautiful eventually when i get it painted. also could i paint it myself if i got a gun and paint? would all i need is room to do it in? thanks in advance for the responses.

07 Stang · 06-10-2008, 12:46 PM

If you really want your car to look gorgeous, you should consider taking to a professional. If you want to run the risk of wasting money in paint, then try it yourself, but I wouldn't try it.....and I have seen how it's done.

Years ago when I owned an '82 GT, my neighbors brats scratched the side of my car with their bikes. I was pissed because the car was always kept immaculate!
I took it to a guy who paints show cars for a living to have the whole car repainted. He charged me $2k but he was a professional and did a great job. The difference between someone who doesn't know what they are doing and a professional is like night and day. A pro will take the time in the prep and will paint the inside of the doors, trunk and hood.
You also need a space that is dust free. If dust gets in the clearcoat you are crap out of luck!

Here's a picture of my '82 GT. I sold it four years to a car collector;

omegagodly · 06-10-2008, 12:54 PM

man that car is beautiful. i was thinking about just taking it to a professional but i'd thought i'd ask anyways. i could still do the body work my self though right? or would you just completely recommend a pro?

Stang2.3 · 06-10-2008, 01:04 PM

if your good at body work, you could Prep the car then take it to a pro, that'll cut down on cost big time, but just remember prep work is MORE important that paint work

omegagodly · 06-10-2008, 01:06 PM

thats true. thats the only thing. i know getting a car painted is going to cost a some money, but im sure i'd be able to prep the car i think. i mean i have not done it before but im always up for the challenge. and i think i'd be able to do it.

Stang2.3 · 06-10-2008, 01:09 PM

just be ready with alot of sand paper and plently of primer

F1aReD · 06-10-2008, 01:58 PM

Well, what kind of shape mechanically is your car in? I know mine was in pretty decent shape, but I just didnt feel like I should spend close to what the car was worth on the body..

It would be even better if there was a vocational school in your area, so you can get a decent paint job for pretty cheap

I do agree with doing the body work yourself and then getting someone to spray it. I don't think youd have to sandblast the entire car, just attack the really rusty areas and make sure ALL the rust is gone or else it will come back...think of rustlike cancer

F1aReD · 06-10-2008, 01:59 PM

BTW, a couple of weeks ago I decided to have at it with a couple of body peices.it turned out like crap, and I ended up waisting alot of money trying to spray the peices myself

07 Stang · 06-10-2008, 03:48 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: omegagodly

man that car is beautiful. i was thinking about just taking it to a professional but i'd thought i'd ask anyways. i could still do the body work my self though right? or would you just completely recommend a pro?

Thanks for the compliment.
I have been told that a good paint job is 90% of the prep work. You could try it on your own. I'm sure if you did some Google searches on it you could find a lot of info on how to.

Here's a couple more pictures of my '82;

Black is a hard color to paint if your body is not in good shape. Red used to be (and maybe still is) the most expensive color to paint
because of Gold pigments in the paint. That may be different today.

omegagodly · 06-10-2008, 05:09 PM

i was going to paint the car black actually, and the car is in great shape mechanically, the engine was rebuilt 40k miles ago from the ground up, clutch is in good shape. there are only seriously a couple minor spots of rust. ill try and take pics soon. also i think their may be vocational schools somewhere around my area, ill look into it and give them a call. also 07 stang that car is just gorgeous. i love it especially because mine will be black too. why did you sell it?