paint your wagon.

[canadian_Mk3 9]

Just my 2 cents, though I havent seen any in person, both Onix and Fern Green look very similar colors, and I find it hard to notice a difference. And theres plenty Mk3's in the lighter green variety.

 

But it is your car, and theres always extra points for keeping original :thumbup:

Edited July 24, 2012 by canadian_Mk3

[Duke Blues 15]

Just my 2 cents, though I havent seen any in person, both Onix and Fern Green look very similar colors, and I find it hard to notice a difference. And theres plenty Mk3's in the lighter green variety.

 

But it is your car, and theres always extra points for keeping original :thumbup:

Thank you for adding a little clarity and yet leaving things confused.

You should run for president. :)

[canadian_Mk3 9]

Tis what I do :P

What Im getting at is ultimately its your choice on what color to go with, but the light green Mk3's are over done IMO, and the Evergreen is a beautiful color.

 

Another thought, if you paint it other than fern green, your chassis plate would be incorrect...

[Mk1madness 1]

I'de like to get the car painted by October as the weather is normally quite warm and dry in October. What I don't wan. Is for the car to go through winter with nothing more than primer on it. As long as I don't have any delays/problems preping the car then it should be done by then. The only question is...... Am I doing it or is it going to a spray shop.

despite some peoples ideas of painting your car one panel at a time you'd be ill advised to do this with your car being its a light metalic colour, paint absolute minimum one side at a time so that the panels you see from the side are all the same colour, junk your hvlp gun they are rubbish for anything other than primer and totally unsuitable for a small compressor, despite being described as low pressure they consume 50% more air than a regular gun, buy a devilbiss gti if you can afford one , even a good secondhand is worth buying cos these give superb results with minimum air consumption, and if you look after it youll always get good money back for it, if you buy a second hand one itll always be worth what you paid for it round about £100.

primer absorbs moisture so dont leave it too long without painting because the bare metal areas underneath will start to surface rust and these manifest as microblisters later down the line,you can add up to around 10% solid colour like gloss black or white to a primer to help stop this. always use an acid based 2 part etch primer on bare metal and read the instructions carefully, they have a short pot life and some need leaving in the pot for 30 mins before use, ordinary 2 pack or cellulose based primers do not key to bare metal at all not ever so dont do it,

your car should be covered with 2 to 3 medium coats of base and a nice even drop coat which is applied the same as an ordinary coat but with the fluid delivery turned down to about 25%, you can flat basecoat between coats all the pro's do and use 1200 wet n dry but make sure the base is completely dry before flatting, after basecoat is applied you must laquer within 45 mins to avoid poor laquer adhesion. hope this helps, regards craig

[Duke Blues 15]

despite some peoples ideas of painting your car one panel at a time you'd be ill advised to do this with your car being its a light metalic colour, paint absolute minimum one side at a time so that the panels you see from the side are all the same colour, junk your hvlp gun they are rubbish for anything other than primer and totally unsuitable for a small compressor, despite being described as low pressure they consume 50% more air than a regular gun, buy a devilbiss gti if you can afford one , even a good secondhand is worth buying cos these give superb results with minimum air consumption, and if you look after it youll always get good money back for it, if you buy a second hand one itll always be worth what you paid for it round about £100.

primer absorbs moisture so dont leave it too long without painting because the bare metal areas underneath will start to surface rust and these manifest as microblisters later down the line,you can add up to around 10% solid colour like gloss black or white to a primer to help stop this. always use an acid based 2 part etch primer on bare metal and read the instructions carefully, they have a short pot life and some need leaving in the pot for 30 mins before use, ordinary 2 pack or cellulose based primers do not key to bare metal at all not ever so dont do it,

your car should be covered with 2 to 3 medium coats of base and a nice even drop coat which is applied the same as an ordinary coat but with the fluid delivery turned down to about 25%, you can flat basecoat between coats all the pro's do and use 1200 wet n dry but make sure the base is completely dry before flatting, after basecoat is applied you must laquer within 45 mins to avoid poor laquer adhesion. hope this helps, regards craig

Thanks for your help craig,

I've spent half the night reading up on different forums about spraying metallic paint. It would seem that it either goes ok :) or it really dos'nt. :(

Being a bit short of funds I need to at least do as much of the prep work myself and in the meantime hopefully a solution will present it's self. I don't see the point in asking you how much it would cost to paint my car. As I know you would have to see it first before you could give.an estimate. And then I have to factor in transport costs. I'm trying not to ponder on it too much as it just gets in the way of progress. For now I just have to soldier on an hope for resolution.

Graham.

[canadian_Mk3 9]

Craig touched on a good point about the panel rusting under the metal. Your old paint will act as a sealer, so anywhere that the car is taken down to bare metal you should prime. I use an epoxy primer, it sticks to everything and everything stick to it and its also a great sealer.

[Steve 5]

despite some peoples ideas of painting your car one panel at a time you'd be ill advised to do this with your car being its a light metalic colour, paint absolute minimum one side at a time so that the panels you see from the side are all the same colour, junk your hvlp gun they are rubbish for anything other than primer and totally unsuitable for a small compressor, despite being described as low pressure they consume 50% more air than a regular gun, buy a devilbiss gti if you can afford one , even a good secondhand is worth buying cos these give superb results with minimum air consumption, and if you look after it youll always get good money back for it, if you buy a second hand one itll always be worth what you paid for it round about £100.

primer absorbs moisture so dont leave it too long without painting because the bare metal areas underneath will start to surface rust and these manifest as microblisters later down the line,you can add up to around 10% solid colour like gloss black or white to a primer to help stop this. always use an acid based 2 part etch primer on bare metal and read the instructions carefully, they have a short pot life and some need leaving in the pot for 30 mins before use, ordinary 2 pack or cellulose based primers do not key to bare metal at all not ever so dont do it,

your car should be covered with 2 to 3 medium coats of base and a nice even drop coat which is applied the same as an ordinary coat but with the fluid delivery turned down to about 25%, you can flat basecoat between coats all the pro's do and use 1200 wet n dry but make sure the base is completely dry before flatting, after basecoat is applied you must laquer within 45 mins to avoid poor laquer adhesion. hope this helps, regards craig

So your basically saying panel by panel is no good ? So you would paint a full car if just the wing was swapped?If the guy has limited skills and funds hes best to have a go ,To do a full side he stillneeds to be working on a panel at a time ? Do you walk up and down the full car top to bottom then ? ;)

Edited July 26, 2012 by Mk1Steve

[canadian_Mk3 9]

That is how most body shops will work, unless its a low quality fender-bender repair shop. You should paint the car with the panels on, and all in the same day, so it all matches best. If you are just doing a wing you can do a fade-in, but the fade process is done with it on the car

Edited July 26, 2012 by canadian_Mk3

[the-ford-cortina.com 226]

So your basically saying panel by panel is no good ? So you would paint a full car if just the wing was swapped?If the guy has limited skills and funds hes best to have a go ,To do a full side he stillneeds to be working on a panel at a time ? Do you walk up and down the full car top to bottom then ? ;)

 

I think the point is : if you paint one panel then come back days later and paint another the colour may look different.

[Duke Blues 15]

I think the point is : if you paint one panel then come back days later and paint another the colour may look different.

 

 

I think I'll be painting the engine bay and if I fk it up that's as far as I'll be going.

[Steve 5]

Years ago i used to have a halfords 50 psi compressor and the crappest gun .I worked a panel at a time and had good results ,Although the paints are all different now .Just enjoy your painting and if it goes to pot least its easy to fix ;)

[Mk1madness 1]

Years ago i used to have a halfords 50 psi compressor and the crappest gun .I worked a panel at a time and had good results ,Although the paints are all different now .Just enjoy your painting and if it goes to pot least its easy to fix ;)

youve all made sonme valid points, yes by not painting one panel at a time i mean one door one day then another the next day etc, however you dont need to paint all the car at once but certainly a full side at a time, most cars have a different angle where the bonnet and wings meet so even if you paint them at the same time the can look different colours when its a metallic or pearl etc, solid colours are ok to match and you can paint your car one panel per day if youd like with no colour matching worries, always use the same colour primer under the panels as different ground coates can alter the finished colour, yes steve its difficult to apply paint to all the side at once but certainly on a mk3 cortina you should be able to apply to 2 at once to avoid overlaps on panel edges, this is more of a problem in air dry conditions as it takes twice as long to dry, yes you should always paint panels as they would appear on the car eg doors facing forwards and bonnet and boot laid flat on metalics youd be shocked at the difference it makes,

have a go graham what have you got to loose other than time, if its damp dont wet n dry the primer before painting youll trap moisture in the job and youll live to regret it, use 500 grit discs to sand it with instead then rub over it with a grey scotch pad, october should be ok to paint because its not too hot but the paint will dry ok, if the basecoat dries too fast it can look patchy so in summer we use a slower basecoat thinner ,generally 20 mins between coates of basecoat and same for laquer, prospray ic6000 is a good laquer for a novice as it gives a shine really easy without having to work too hard, youll need a gun with a 1.3 or 1.4 mm fluid tip for this anything bigger and youll have to rush round it and you may end up with runs, a 3hp compressor with 150ltr tank will cope with a full respray if using a devilbis gti or jga, youll struggle with a hvlp gun and no chance with a sata spray gun as these gobble air. anything else you wanna know just ask, ive been spraying cars for 26 yrs so you can rely on my advice. regards craig.

[Duke Blues 15]

Having read through a few forums this week I know that what you are saying is right on the money. And I can see that you know your stuff. Any one reading this thread will have learned something. One of the things that I don't understand is that from what I have read you need to read the data sheets particularly in regard to flash off times. Generally you need to leave 15 to 20 minutes between coats (depending on the ambient temperature) so if your painting the whole car at the same time. Then the car needs to be painted in say 15 minutes. Sounds like a bit of a rush. As I understand it . If you allow the paint to fully dry then the next coat won't adhere properly. It seems that you need to apply 3 coats of base then 1 flash coat then 3 coats of lacquer. Leaving only 15 to 20 minutes between coats. ( no mention of tea and butties ) dos'nt that make it an Olympic event. For me the numbers don't add up.

Graham.

[Mk1madness 1]

Having read through a few forums this week I know that what you are saying is right on the money. And I can see that you know your stuff. Any one reading this thread will have learned something. One of the things that I don't understand is that from what I have read you need to read the data sheets particularly in regard to flash off times. Generally you need to leave 15 to 20 minutes between coats (depending on the ambient temperature) so if your painting the whole car at the same time. Then the car needs to be painted in say 15 minutes. Sounds like a bit of a rush. As I understand it . If you allow the paint to fully dry then the next coat won't adhere properly. It seems that you need to apply 3 coats of base then 1 flash coat then 3 coats of lacquer. Leaving only 15 to 20 minutes between coats. ( no mention of tea and butties ) dos'nt that make it an Olympic event. For me the numbers don't add up.

Graham.

[/quote

dont worry about flash times for base coat generally basecoating a car in fair weather is a none stop process but if you wanna stop for acuppa after every full coat its not gonna cause problems till your last coat when the recoat window for the laquer is important, after the last coat of base coat has been applied wash out your gun thoroughly blow through some clean thinners when you already think its clean then mix up enough laquer to get round the job with one coat, check how dry the base is by touching the masking paper if its totally dry then you can tack rag your basecoat and apply the laquer, 45 mins is a recommended max to leave b4 laquering and thats from first applying your last coat of base not from when you finished. laquer is ready for recoating when you can touch the paper and its not too sticky and you can almost run your finger over it without getting any wet paint on it, about 30 mins between coats in autumn should be about right and again thats from starting a coat to starting next , your first coat of laquer will use the least amount the next two will use 30% more. about 4 ltrs of un mixed laquer should easily do a full respray on your car and give you plenty to flat and polish. start to flat it the next day dont be talked into leaving it for ages because the laq dries too hard and polishing up is twice the job, any dirt inclusions will not flat out entirely the next day but dont worry cos you can go back to them after the cars fully buffed a few days later and the should come out easily, use fairy liquid in the water u use for flatting. use 1200 paper then 1500 and buff up with farecla g3 paste or liquid. the finish will sink slightly over the next few days and haze over but it will buff out easily once its already been buffed. yes i know my way round a spray gun, i painted last years meguires concours winner at the nec in birmingham. and the autoglym 2010 special invitation concours winner.regards craig

[Duke Blues 15]

Another problem I found when priming the engine bay was access. Not so much of a problem with primer. But with met paint I understand that the gun needs to be about 8 to 10 inches from the panel. Sometimes I couldn't get that close without the top tank or airline connector rubbing on other parts of the bay. It's hard to imagine how you can keep an even distance from the panel with all those nooks, crannies and awkward to reach areas. I know I'm becoming a bit of a bore but there's a lot more to a paint job than first appears.