Decision time, prepping to do a body swap to include paint to match as well as painting the wheels to match the car. Not much experience painting parts and I only need a hood, mirrors, & fuel door painted the 85% of already great condition panels. Wheels have been stripped bare.

Questions have a shop do it or DIM? I still have dew wipes to replace, windshield needs replaced and a few other small items to address.

If do it myself paint brand/spray gun type recommendations. Horror stories or what not to do. I'm not looking for a custom color/paint scheme but putting it back to the way it should be.

thanks in advance

This is only my opinion but if that`s all you have to paint I would get a shop to bid it.
If you go with an HVLP paint gun you would need at least a 30 gallon compressor to keep the air volumn up.
I have a Devilbliss FLG3 HVLP gun and it`s not too expensive and does a good job.
I do have a 60 gallon compressor though.
If you went with a siphon paint gun you could use less compressor and probably a cheaper gun.
The good thing about paint these days is that if you get orange peel or dust nibs or anything as long as you get the paint
on thick enough you can wet sand it and buff it out.
But you are still looking at either borrowing or buying a buffer as a hood would take a while to polish by hand.

I sprayed my entire car a few years ago so here's my experience.

I have a typical smaller portable home workshop compressor. Pressure was fine but it could not deliver the air volume needed for typical HVLP guns. I did find a gun that worked at lower volumes but will have to find the make/model (may have been Grizly but not sure right now).
I used Eastwood two part single stage paint so no clear coat. Just primed (Eastwood again), sand, repeat then lay down the paint, let it cure then wet sand and polish.
For a first time attempt at painting a car, it came out pretty decent.

You'll need a proper mask with filters to protect you from the paint fumes. I did a quick spray one day without the mask and spent a week recovering from the effects of the fumes. Not good. Wear a mask, also one of those painters suits you can get from Home Depot etc to keep it off your skin.

Cover everything in your spray area with drop cloths or build a 'spray booth' of some sort because the paint spray will go EVERYWHERE. The garage walls/floor, pretty much any flat surface, were still red a couple of years later from my sraying.

Never done wheels so cannot comment.

It's very satisfying to do. Well, once it's done it is but not sure I'd do it again.

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Anything I might say is probably worth what you paid for it, so treat it accordingly!

Dave

www.ltlfrari.com

I’ve been around the body business quite a while. Painted a few fieros in my lifetime. I use satajets for all my spraying I use a 5000rp for my basecoats and my trusty sata jet 300rp chip foose edition for my clear coats. A couple items to kee in mind. Any raw substrates on the fiero require adhesion promoter before primer, also don’t choose a cheap clear coat, cheap clear coats are low solid clears and don’t hold up very long compared to the high solids. Feel free to pm me with any questions. Here are some examples of my work.

[This message has been edited by Awalker W02 (edited 09-25-2020).]

Air compressor covered, got a 6.5hp 80 gallon. I would need to buy/borrow/rent the spray gun, buffer, and other equipment. I will also need to paint the roof panel, if I tackle this on my own I think I would leave it on the car.

Assuming the panels to be painted already have base/clear on them I understand I would need to sand them to give the new paint something to bind to but would I need to go through and re-prime them? I don't anticipate having any SMC repairs to contend with.

What brand of paint do folks prefer, knowing that the hood has a little flex to it would you use the same paint on the wheel or get a hardener to do the wheels.

Awalker, nice really like the orange & grey.

Just did my 84SE. Used a 27 gallon Fortress compressor from Harbor Freight. Also used the HVLP spray gun from there, the cheap one with a regulator, $30. Got my paint from Eastwood, single stage paint, and Show clear that I added their tangerine pearl to, well 1 coat, then 2 coats straight clear.I highly recommend doing the car assembled if using a pearl or metalic in a clear to get a uniform coverage. I did not and it shows in a different shade from panel to panel, mainly on the door panels. I removed everything except the roof/windsheild panel. Will attempt to add a photo if I can figure it out.

[This message has been edited by Rick6375 (edited 09-29-2020).]

Here's a few pics of what I'm starting with, the swap in panels are white and what I'm missing is hood, power mirrors, & fuel door to match




Currently working on getting wheels polished and will look into getting a few shop quotes for comparison purposes. How much a pain would it be converting the current hood color over?