Paint estimate Options

[Cracker]

I applaud your effort Dave! Bravo!

Tony

[914dave]

Thanks guys!

[lonewolfe]

Thanks guys!

Great job and a beautiful car. Was the $300 for a paint booth rental or to build your own temporary paint booth?

[mepstein]

Had to chime in since I just finished painting my car. If I'm honest , I spent close to $5k just doing it myself. That is including all the tools (except the compressor) and supplies that I used. At home in my garage over a 3+ year period. I won't count all the rust repair work but will count installing the flares. I had 2 quotes. Both had the car being delivered to them on a rotisserie totally stripped including wiring removed. both quotes were for full paint trunks, engine bay , underside of decks and bottom. Neither quote included the price of paint which I already had. First quote $12k for narrow body. Second was to install flares and full paint $19500. Since I didn't have the $$ and wanted it nice, I went ahead myself.
So here's a bit of a breakdown to give you an idea. I used all PPG paint products, Deltron clear, Shop line color (custom mix) dp90 expoxy primer and PPg satin clear on the bumpers. rockers and roof. 3M sand paper. I also used a 20% discount at our local supplier because of my school affiliation.
I believe in buying good tool and product. My inexperience was enough of a handicap. I didn't need cheap tools or product messing me up. So here goes

1) $2200 for 4) 60 hour semesters of body shop classes. Got to do everything first with supervision before I tried it at home
2) $1400 for color, clear and special clear for bumpers. Keep in mind the bumper were painted three times before they were good. The outer shell twice and the front deck three times. After I had stripped it down to primer
3) $500 paint guns . Devilbiss starter kit primer/finish $189 and a divilbiss GTI finish gun for $320
4) $300 for paint booth
5) $400/500 for sandpaper, solvents, sanding blocks, tape, masking paper and plastic.

I couldn't have afforded the quality of job that I have. There are minor flaws because I'm a rookie. Nothing glaring. Friends who've had cars done in the last few years have either paid dearly or been disappointed with the results. I can always repair or redo if the need arises. That being said, I probably won't do another one.

I was penciling myself in for this summer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[altitude411]

^^^ get in line (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Nice work, great color (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[saigon71]

Your car looks fantastic Dave! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[saigon71]

To address the original post.

I was looking for a nice driver quality paint job and was fine with single stage paint.

I handled all the prep work and shot the primer. Things went bad when I tried shooting the color myself. I stopped in at a local restoration shop and talked to the owner. We sanded the botched color coat down to primer, I bought more paint and he shot the color coat in his booth.

All in, including paint X 2, primer and paying the guy to shoot color...I'm at about $950 and quite pleased with the results. The paint job is holding up well after 3 1/2 years of driving.

I see you are in Virginia. If interested, PM me for the contact info on the guy who painted my car. It may be worth a trip north.

[forrestkhaag]

Hey Eddy: You have seen my clunker paint job. I agree with your assessment.

but. On a budget and living on a fixed income in a tiny one bedroom house built in 1935 on a dirt road (PCH) I can tell you that you can beat the 4 dige numbers but you have to be prepared to live with persnickety examinations at your local Cars and Coffee etc.

I built my booth in my carport with 8 dollars worth of HFT plastic and a few 2x4's to secure the booth from blowing away in the afternoon gusts....

I then purchased a disposable top load gun, a gallon of acetone, mixing cups and a few 914-event tee's cut into 6" squares. In my case, I took off the doors and the lids. Then prepped the jambs and other hidden things.

Prep is everything in any half decent paint job.

If you have a good rust free car, take it to bare metal with twenty dollars worth of sanding disks (or in my case bead blast) then have the door dings and others rolled out w/o any filler or mud. If rust issue show up fix them while it is easy.

Spend good money on a good two part epoxy primer.

After that I mixed and applied epoxy primer then sprayed a float coat to find the little imperfections here and there.

Sand to level and get ready for the pucker phase.

Do not have a beer or joint here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif)

This is the phase of beating-the-5k-norm-cost is beat.

I mixed up two stage paint in several batches. Have many plastic cups from the paint store ready to mix properly and efficiently.

On trunk and hood, spray flat on sawhorses. If your lovely earning Wife is away from the home, use the living room or study for curing of parts in the primer stage... and the paint stage after.

On the car prep, cheesecloth all dust away and make sure now wind storms are imminent. In my case, they showed up.

Anyway. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif)

So clean guns and mixing pots / spray and set the part aside for the next panel. Then on to clear coat. Same thing. Clean gun and mixing cups and mix ratio is everything in success.

Once all is together, assemble everything and call in the critics.. They are everywhere.

In my case, my lovely Wife wanted a red 914 / .......verses gold..... It is red... and I saved 6K to invest in the 6 build and future paint job... . The 914 shows up at our drives with a half decent paint job and 5K in the wallet for another day.. The engine bay and body are banked on not spending money on eyeliner before the beauty pageant.

I am focused on mechanical workings of the 6 conversion. Excellent Paint can wait my rattle can will do for now and base primer is good to go with any system.

[forrestkhaag]

Also check the weather................. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[forrestkhaag]

And the total budget was under 4 bills... not 4K.........

elbow grease is king

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

[Rob-O]

And the total budget was under 4 bills... not 4K.........

elbow grease is king

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

I painted professionally for 4.5 years. It was painting for cars and parts that weren't yet into production for the OEM's. You have nothing to be ashamed of there, your paint job came out very well.

But reinstall that rear trunk light! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[My 914]

Painting is fussy work and certainly not for everyone. A little dust in the air can ruin hours of hard work. Price is relative and has a lot to do not only with the total cost of the car, but also with how important color and finish quality are to the owner. After all, its the first thing everyone sees.

[Localboy808]

Have you thought about painting it yourself? I did the body work and paint on this Nova in my garage. It was my first paint job. Watched a lot of videos on YouTube first. Spent under 600.00 for the paint and primer. I went for it because I don't have 6 grand laying around for a paint job. It can be done!

[lonewolfe]

And the total budget was under 4 bills... not 4K.........

elbow grease is king

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

Forrest, you give me inspiration and your car looks fantastic. Great work!

[914dave]

Thanks guys!

Great job and a beautiful car. Was the $300 for a paint booth rental or to build your own temporary paint booth?

Randall
The paint booth was made of 2x2s, 6mil plastic, 4 box fans and heater filters and hinges to make a door.

[914dave]

I was penciling myself in for this summer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)
[/quote]

I didn't know you guys were lining up! hehehe Dion thinks I'm shooting his quarter and trunk when the bodywork is done. Won't he be suprised when I hand him the paint gun. PS Don't tell him.

Like the old saying goes " Speed costs, how fast do you want to spend" That includes time or elbow grease as it was stated here. Amateur painters like us have a higher chance of success if we use quality products and tools. Even pros chase their tails sometimes. They just have more experience to solve their problems. As long as your outcome expectations match your effort, you should be fine. If you don't want the mess( and there is mess involved!) and tools that you'll never use again, do what you can and hire it out.

We are all at different places in life that allows different resources and time. We all love our cars and want to have fun with them. Sometimes we can barely afford to put gas in them and other times we have lots of $$$ and time to invest. I say do what you can to enjoy the hobby. I really admire some of the posts I see here. Guys and gals who do so much with very little. There will always be people who haven't done anything willing to tell you how your project has flaws. Forget them!! There are plenty of people who are just here to enjoy there cars. I know there are plenty here in the northeast. So get out those paint guns. All you need is nerve and beer, plenty of beer!

[87m491]

Very cool/unique color, also very cool wheels. Nice!

Had to chime in since I just finished painting my car. If I'm honest , I spent close to $5k just doing it myself.

I couldn't have afforded the quality of job that I have. There are minor flaws because I'm a rookie. Nothing glaring. Friends who've had cars done in the last few years have either paid dearly or been disappointed with the results. I can always repair or redo if the need arises. That being said, I probably won't do another one.

[jd74914]

Dave-Have to chime in here...I think you might have my favorite flared car ever and it's not even assembled! The color is just awesome and the gold Campagnolo wheels match so perfectly! Really incredible!

Thanks everyone for the tips! I painted my gar in the garage too with a makeshift booth but the quality really isn't near some of the DIY jobs here. I agree with Dave on materials; I went with all PPG stuff (the mid-high grade) because I didn't want any more handicaps than experience. In the end the whole job ran ~$1200-1400k in materials and guns (I used the same Devilbliss that Dave did actually and had to repaint the whole car twice). It wasn't perfect then, but was pretty good and I was happy to drive it for a number of years. Hopefully round 2 will come out better.

[saigon71]

And the total budget was under 4 bills... not 4K.........

elbow grease is king

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

Forrest:

I am completely impressed with your DIY paint job and the amount you spent on it. Well done!

[914dave]

Dave-Have to chime in here...I think you might have my favorite flared car ever and it's not even assembled! The color is just awesome and the gold Campagnolo wheels match so perfectly! Really incredible!

Thanks everyone for the tips! I painted my gar in the garage too with a makeshift booth but the quality really isn't near some of the DIY jobs here. I agree with Dave on materials; I went with all PPG stuff (the mid-high grade) because I didn't want any more handicaps than experience. In the end the whole job ran ~$1200-1400k in materials and guns (I used the same Devilbliss that Dave did actually and had to repaint the whole car twice). It wasn't perfect then, but was pretty good and I was happy to drive it for a number of years. Hopefully round 2 will come out better.

Jim
Thanks and a lot. I'll try not to ruin it for you during assembly