400 dry is fine for basecoat paint. Anything finer is just more work and overkill plus it dont get as good a bond to the paint. You are right that open coat 400 paper is finer than 400 black wet-n-dry. I never wet sand before painting except a panel im blending a spot repair into. I do that with a wet scotchbrite. It works fine for me on show quality paint jobs. You cant get it any smoother than glass.
On your gun Jimmy, I looked at the picture of it after we talked. I see the knob on the side for pattern adjustment and in the back I see 2 knobs, not just one. The lower one with the philips screw in the end should be the fluid control, and should be turned most of the way out. The one on the top should be an airflow adjustment. Its hard to tell from your picture angle.
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Owner / Operator Custom Paint and Body... specializing in Corvette & Higher End Autos for 40+ years Ferrari, Mercedes and Porsche Approved ____________________________________________ 88 Corvette convertible 05 Dodge Magnum Hemi R/T 66 Dodge Killer Bee Coronet
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 01-13-2009).]
GKDINC came over a week or so ago and we played with the gun a bit. We got it figured out finally and it turns out that I had the pressure a bit too low and was pushing too much material through the gun. I also did not have the fan adjusted right. I finally got the hood, bumpers and fenders re-primed and fully sanded. I sprayed all the edges and the underside of the front bumper with color and clear. I also got the whole underside of the hood painted black and coated with semi-glosss clear. I am very pleased with the turn out so far and my girlfriend is loving the color! I will post some pics later.
Looks good, but you made yourself a lot of extra work. When you trim in edges, either mask right on the angle where you have a sharp edge, or DONT mask it at all. I always get the panel all ready, spray the edges and let it overspray, Then just mask the trimmed area, scuff the panel again and shoot it. By masking the way you did, you now have a distinct line that you have to block out. Ive seen edges like that pop back thru finished paint. Not to where you can feel it, but in the light you will see the line. Same thing happens when you put striping on, even decals. We did semi cabs a long time ago, refurbished for used truck dealers. We chemically stripped the whole cab body, primered, sanded and painted them. Most after a month or two, you could look at it in the right angle and read the signs right back off it. And remember this was on panels that were stripped to bare metal. Block those edges and hope for the best. Lighter colors will hide it more, but very hard on dark colors like black. Looks like its going to be pretty nice though. I personally love any shade of maroon or burgandy.
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Owner / Operator Custom Paint and Body... specializing in Corvette & Higher End Autos for 40+ years Ferrari, Mercedes and Porsche Approved ____________________________________________
As for "where does the line start"? No where. I have no intention on painting someone elses car. I don't mind doing it for myself/girlfriend but I don't want the headache of someone else picking out little flaws and wanting me to repair them. I have never painted a car before so this is will be a major learning experience for me.
Heh, you suuuure about that.....? Methinks I should have #1 position if there ever was a line.... Keep up the good work! -Paul
Seat looks fantastic..now I would not have Stitch on mine but that does not take away from the fact it looks great...fine job on Mikes part and the installer.
Seat looks fantastic..now I would not have Stitch on mine but that does not take away from the fact it looks great...fine job on Mikes part and the installer.
keep the progress coming...
I tried very hard to get her to not have stich put on the seats but she would not give an inch on that. I was lucky enough to talk her out of pink for the paint.
She is a stitch fanatic. Our house is full of stitch animals, pictures, shirts, ornaments and all kinds of thngs. She is 38, I am 41 and we have no kids, but you would swear we did.
P.S. Ohana means family...it kills me that I know this only because i have had to watch all the stich cartoons and movies.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 02-18-2009).]
After talking with you, I see where you taped is not as wide as Id thought. It looked like a 1 or 2 inch border around the panel. 1/4" like you say wont be that hard to block off. I do still prefer breaking it right ON the crease line myself or not at all. Keep us posted.
Here is a general idea of the paint scheme we are going for. We did this with colored pencils so the colors arent right but it will give you a general idea...
That looks a lot like....
Only in reverse
[This message has been edited by Miach (edited 02-20-2009).]
Yesterday and today were very productive days. Yesterday, I got all the panels taken off the car and got 1 door panel sanded down. Today, I got the whole roof and rear clip sanded and ready for primer...
I also got 2 coats of primer on and block sanded and then got the last coat of primer on. Now it just need sanded again for paint.
Tomorrow I hope to get the other door panel and the rear decklid sanded & primered. Then all thats left, body panel wise, will be the rear quarter panels and rear bumper. I hope that by next weekend, I will be painting the main body colors.
What are you using to sand the factory Blue paint ?
The reason I asked is that you seam to have a lot of high and low spots after you sanded the blue. I am a little concern that those hight and low spots might show up after you paint it.
Dont forget to take the fuel door inner part out jimmy.. I made a huge mistake there... I had to change out my fuel neck and I took off a few chips of paint with it.. and I see red under it now!
Out of curiousity, why are you not painting it blue again?
Cause she doesn't want Blue. She originally wanted Pink! I'm just happy I changed her mind on Pink.
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Originally posted by 85LAMB:
What are you using to sand the factory Blue paint ?
The reason I asked is that you seam to have a lot of high and low spots after you sanded the blue. I am a little concern that those hight and low spots might show up after you paint it.
A DA Sander. There are 2 aftermarket paint jobs on this car. Plus the factory paint. I am sanding all the aftermarket suff off down to the factory paint and primer. As for the high and low spots... Thats what block sanding the primer is for.
quote
Originally posted by darkhorizon:
Dont forget to take the fuel door inner part out jimmy.. I made a huge mistake there... I had to change out my fuel neck and I took off a few chips of paint with it.. and I see red under it now!
Already done. Look at the first pic above of the roof and rear clip... you will see it has been removed. Trust me when I say... If it could come off, it did. The only pieces I left on the car are the roof and rear clip. Everything else got removed.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 02-22-2009).]
Already done. Look at the first pic above of the roof and rear clip... you will see it has been removed. Trust me when I say... If it could come off, it did. The only pieces I left on the car are the roof and rear clip. Everything else got removed.
Ah yes I see that in the other picture... I am most likely repainting my rear quarter at this point.. I need to fix alot of clear on that side as it is anyway.
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Thats what block sanding primer is for
But fiero SMC is MUCH cheaper than primer (as in free verses 130+ a gallon). If I was to do everything again I would forsure cut my primer use in half by sanding the hell out of the fiero parts.
Today was no where near as productive as I wanted it to be. It took me 7 hours and 13 sheets of sandpaper (5- 80grit & 8- 120 grit) to get it sanded down! The reason it took so long and so much sand paper is because a little over a year ago, I sanded it down and did a rattle can paint job on it. Rattle can primer, paint & clear. That sh!t is a mother $%^&#$ to sand off. Thank god I only rattle canned the decklid.
By the time I got the decklid done, I was in no mood to continue so I just called it a day. Tomorrow I will sand the other door panel and prime the decklid and both door panels.
Not much really to show you picture wise right now. I have been finish sanding the primer on the roof and rear clip. I should have that all done tomorrow and get the decklid and doors primered.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 02-26-2009).]
A little story... Since I have started this task, I have had at least 20 people stop in my driveway and ask if I paint cars. One person even rang my doorbell at 8:30am (I was sleeping) to ask if I paint cars. The answer is always the same... No I do not paint cars. This is my fisrt one and I am learning.
Yesterday afternoon, I was outside sanding when a truck pulled into the driveway of the house next to me. The house is empty (no one lives there). The driver of the truck starts walking across the lawn toward me. I say... Let me guess. You want to know if I paint cars? His reply was... no, I just moved into a house one street over and I have a 87 GT. I just wanted to stop and talk. I was like... Cool. He then asked me if I wanted to buy a spoiler. I asked how much. He said $50.00. I said $20.00 right? He said sure why not. He then started talking about my side scoops and I informed him that I sell them. I brought him in the house and showed him all the styles. He said he wanted a set like mine and asked how much. I told him $250.00 - the $20.00 for the spoiler so $230.00. He called it a deal and went home to grab the spoiler. 1/2 hour later he came back with the spoiler but no money. I asked him if he wanted me to just give him $20.00 and then he could buy the scoops at a later time. He said no...just take the spoiler, I trust you and know where you live. After talking for a few hours, we exchanged phone numbers and he left.
Now I have a spoiler to sand, prime and paint to put on Danielles car! She is happy cause I had been looking for a year for a good deal on one for her car. I am happy at the deal I got!
Today I managed to get the decklid and door panels primered. Tomorrow I will finish the sanding on the rear clip and hopefully the doors and decklid. I will post some pics tomorrow night.
Well I was going to post some pictures tonight but there really isn't anything to see.
Today I got the decklid and door panels sanded and ready for paint. I also got the rear clip block sanded. I need to wet sand the rear clip and then it will be ready for paint. I also got the rear quarter panels sanded and ready for primer. The only pieces left to sand down are the rear bumper and the new spoiler.
I am a little behind of where I wanted to be but I think I should have it all done by next weekend. I wanted to have it done by the end of this month but I fell a little behind schedule with all the cold weather we had.
If things go as planned, I should have some really good pictures on Sunday.
Yeah! Where are our pics? We need our pics! Just kidding. Nice story about the spoiler though. Made me smile to know that most of us Fiero folks are just good people. A little crazy, but good people.
Wow, looking good! I wish I has the patience for paint/bodywork....
Well when I went around getting prices to have the car painted at a shop, the prices ranged from $3,000 - $10,000. With prices that high, you tend to dig down deep and find the patience needed to do your own.
But fiero SMC is MUCH cheaper than primer (as in free verses 130+ a gallon). If I was to do everything again I would forsure cut my primer use in half by sanding the hell out of the fiero parts.
Thats why Ive used $30 @ gallon primer/surfacer for 40 years. You can even block out small dents just using primer. I do a lot of high dollar cars by dollying out a dent to nearly perfect and use primer to finish the job so little if any filler is used. Guys seem to not like 1/2" of bondo in their Porsches....LOL. Even with smaller hail dents, you still can have a slight ripple after pushing the ding out, several blockings of primer makes it perfect.
Thats why Ive used $30 @ gallon primer/surfacer for 40 years. You can even block out small dents just using primer.
I dont have the 2 weeks it takes for laqure to evaporate out of my cheapo primer.. If I can spend the extra and use a bit less when it comes to primer, and paint black over it without a hint of scratches, then i am going to do it.
Why did you clear the stripe? Also if there will be different colors on either side would you not want to put the stripe on last, to avoid having to tape exactly right?
Not knocking, just asking. Look really good so far.
Why did you clear the stripe? Also if there will be different colors on either side would you not want to put the stripe on last, to avoid having to tape exactly right?
Not knocking, just asking. Look really good so far.
Since this is my first time painting, I wanted to paint the color that is the lessor of the 3 just in case I messed up spraying. I figured it would be easier to fix the sivler than it would be to fix a huge amount of the other colors. The reason I cleared it is because I am spreading the painting out over several days. According to the spec sheets on the paint, it must be cleared within an hour of painting. I fully understand that I may not be doing this the most efficient way there is but the end result should be the same. As I get more experienced I hope to be more efficient.
[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 03-02-2009).]
Have you ever had one of those days where even the simplest of tasks don't go right? Things you dont even think about doing like picking up a glass or walking. Seems like everything I did today turned into a chore or just didn't go right. In light of todays events, I decided that it may not be the best day to spray a car. So I decided to spray it tomorrow. I did however get it all masked off and ready.
It is supposed to drop down into the 30's tonight so I may not spray till later in the day when it warms up.
Methinks I should have #1 position if there ever was a line.... 
but how can you not love Stitch 
