[babyface]

Read some of the old posts and went through the knowledge base, but still have a couple of questions.

I'm in the process of restoring my '89 Allante daily driver. Reached the point where I ought to consider painting it/having it painted. I'd like to do it myself, but I live in the city so I'm looking into what I can do myself, and what I can have done.

I want to paint everything, including the jambs and engine compartment, so I plan on removing the top, interior, glass, drivetrain etc.

Here's what I'm considering...

I have a garage that I can empty out, its a two-car, so I think I'll have plenty of room for the chassis, plus all the parts that are removed for painting. I figure I can do all the body work, priming and wet-sanding, then haul the body and parts somewhere to be painted (BC/CC metallic).

My questions.

- How important is it to use the same primer and paint manufacturer? Eastwood sells some priming products that claim to be compatible with all paints. Is "compatible" enough, or am I asking for trouble?

- Can I get away with primer in a spray bomb? A couple reasons I'd like to do this. First, I'll just be doing a little work every night. It's not worth the time to have to keep cleaning spray equipment. Second, I live in the city, so making a lot of fumes is bad. Lastly, I'm going to sand the primer anyhow, so as long as its "reasonably smooth" when applied shouldn't that be enough? Again, Eastwood appears to sell primer this way. It would cost a lot, but it might be worth it in my situation, if it won't affect the quality of the outcome. Another idea is to have the major assemblies primered by a local shop, then do the wetsanding myself and any further primering with a spray bomb. Is it "bad" to mix primers (by different manufacturers)?

- I don't have all that much bodywork to do (barring any surprises). One possibly challenging item is the aluminum hood. There's a ding from the inside out where someone must have closed the hood when something was left on the strut tower. Do standard bodyworking techniques apply to aluminum panels? Anything special I should be aware of?

- I read (in the hot rodding mags) that the best way to repaint a car is to paint it unassembled. Is this true? It doesn't seem like any shop is going to appreciate me showing up with a chassis in tow and a couple picup truck loads of primered body parts to paint. Should I have the "backs" of all the parts painted individually, then assemble the body back together and have the outsite painted all at once?

- I also read that baking the fresh paint is a big plus. Since I'll have just about everything off the body, I'll likely opt for this. Is it safe to bake the car with the tires on it? How about rubber suspension parts? Is it worth removing them to get higher temp bakes? Can I have the baking done later if I can find a way to do the paint myself at someone else's house?

- Lastly, assuming I do all the body work, buy the paint and clear and show up at a shop with all this in tow, roughly how much should I expect to pay to have the actual painting done?

 

[mitmaks]

if you get Eastwood primer and put it on then put on like PPG topcoats that will void PPG warranty since they want only their undercoats/topcoats/clearcoats applied over each other. And yet many show car painters mix different manufacturers' paints, but voiding warranty.

Baking your car wont require removing your tires, etc. since baking temperatures are at about 175F. It would be best to bake your car after its freshly painted not after a few days.

Id paint underside all parts and then put it together and paint it like you said since you want to paint it metallic base and metallic bases require to be shot inline with each other part/sheetmetal. If you dont do that your metallic flakes will lay different ways on each panel and when you put it back together it would appear different shades.

 

[babyface]

Thanks for the advice mitmaks.

I noticed that Eastwood only has the etching primer in spray bombs, so it looks like I can't do any other primering with spray bombs - I'll either have to spray it myself or have it done for me. The Eastwood etching stuff seems nice 'cause I could do a little at a time as I strip the panels.

I had thought about the warranty issues, I guess the importance of that is going to depend on if I end up having the paint done by a shop, or by someone as a "side job" (or by me, if I can swing it).

How bad are the fumes spraying one side of a single panel at a time with modern primers using an HVLP gun? Will I fume up the whole 'hood, or can I get by with spraying it, closing the door to the garage, and letting the fumes dissipate slowly.

 

[mitmaks]

you'd want fumes to escape as quickly as possible as they do in downdraft booths or you can do your own "crossdraft" booth by putting in few big fans at one end and letting it escape at other end, that should work out for primers but when you get to topcoat id recommend something more professional and cleaner. If you wont let fumes escape they will just settle back in the paint and will take longer to dry out and might cause problems afterwards such as bad adhesion/loss of gloss. Make sure to use good respirator.