Trying to do this on the down-low at home.

Got a T-3 Squareback I wanna paint. Everythings off, so I can do this in little sections/jobs.

Is there a type of gun that doesn't create the cloud of toxic paint over the house?

Low pressure gravity feed?

Any advice would be most helpful!

I've painted a few cars in my life. Some of them even turned out really nice. So the prep and painting isn't an issue. Just the neighbors.

I make a mess no matter what i'm doing but my gravity feed gun is a lot better than my old suction feed as far as the cloud goes. Also found that a wallyworld box fan with some heater filters to suck the crap out works well.

I would suspect that your best bet for 'hiding' would be to paint in a closed garage with a single filtered ventilation path. House HVAC filter should work fine for the particulate, but if you want to reduce the smell you should look into activated charcoal filters.

besure your fan is a blow into teh paint area set up, not suck thru, unless the fan is explosion proof, you do not want to pull paint fumes thru it.

the low pressure guns are pretty good, just get the job done fast before anyone can take the time to complain. maybe do it the same day some one has an asphult roofing job near by, that stinks worst.


you might be best just to paint outside on a windless day, get it over with real fast, and be done with it, teh fumes will disappate, hopefully you will be done before any one calls the enviro nazi's on you.

With car on jack stands, I raised the garage door up a couple of feet, rigged up a plastic curtain and a fan under the car.

Fan created a downdraft to suck air down and blow out through the bottom of the door. Fumes didnt hit the fan cause it was under the car and the cloud wasn't too thick.

YOU WILL NEED A RESPIRATOR!

Smell wasn't too bad during the process and it dissipates quickly.

I did find that the car itself smelled for a few weeks after it was painted. That turned out to be a bigger problem...

Much of it has to do with where I live now compared to where I used to live. Before, I would use a draw gun in our 2 car garage. Just cleaned it all up, put a fan in the door etc. and painted. The neighbors in that area didn't mind, there was also more space between houses.

Now the houses are closer together and it would be harder to hide what I'm doing. I think most wouldn't care, but somebody would.

I may just bag it and rent a paint booth. Big PITA to haul a torn appart car and parts back and forth though.

I'll look into the gravity feed guns. I know a few that have used them, but I haven't ever used one myself.



Thanks for the ideas!

Paint roller.........

The guy that did my interior told me he would help me set up a good "home system" for around 3-400 if you want me to find the specifics for you. He does show car quality stuff so I am guessing his system is still effective.

You know, this is for the Monster SB project I've posted here and on thesamba.com

Given it's state of purpose.....I've wondered if I'm wasting time and money actually "Painting" the thing?

Should I just grab 10 cans of rust-o-elum and go to town? I would think that would last about a month before flaking off?

You can see there isn't any rust to speak of. I plan on painting the body first, then doors, fenders etc.

I figure if I can get the main body painted, I can put the windows back in, really clean and sort out the interior, then move onto the doors. It's gonna be a winter car, so it's gotta be sealed up.

Roller?

no...btdt

"don't do it!" like the song says...

It's best to spray the floor with water - helps keep down the dust and the overspray won't stick to the floor.

rolled...
Click to view attachment

I don't have an image of kicking myself in the ass!

Honestly i ended up spraying the car for a total of under $250 in materials.

biggest problem was my wife complaining about the smell; the house is above the garage.

I opened the windows and had the air going when i sprayed.

Watered the floor too! Actual "neighbor" risk was really only for about an hour during the spraying; have to wait between coats. I did it at 10:00am on a workday.

The HVLP guns will still make a lot of over spray. Best bet is shoot it late at night or early morning when everyone is sleeping.

Jerry

I thought about the old "Take the day off" thing. Just paint it early in the morning on a weekday. The rainy season is setting in here so that helps to keep the odor down.

I'm just not going to spend $2k on a paint job.

$200 worth of supplies and I can have every little nook and cranny painted on this thing.

If I try it, you know I'll post pictures.

Do you have a thread on this car? More photos please!

I've seen boat painters roll paint onto a car. One guy rolls with a foam roller, the other brushes it out with a beavertail brush. Car looked just like new and had a great finish. They used manine enamel too.

Check over on the samba for the Tremclad paint roller thread, a guy painted his bus (IIRC) then wet sanded the whole thing.
I'd never do it to my car, but it came out real nice for cheap.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic...4725744#4725744

Being somewhat of a fabricator myself, I've developed a deep appreciation for the person who went through all the work on this SB. Actually enlarging the wheel wells to accomodate 31 inch tires, box in the front, rear and update to T-2 stuff including an 091 tranny required patience and skill.

I found reciepts for tires dating back into the 90's, the first set was purchased almost 20 years ago, the last set in 2006 I believe? So almost 20 years of running 31 inch tires, wow!

I painted a good portion of our Audi under one of those quickshade 12X12 canopies, and I used the cheap painters drop plastic for the walls. If you had two of those to put together, I think it would be a solution to paint an entire car.

http://www.uber-werks.com/albums/a4_repaint/album/index.html

Another one from the weekends work:

One of my favorite shots right now:

Dan painting is so easy...its the runs that are a bitch
...you can do it, you've done it before
forget about the big bucks at a paint shop
save your money!!!
do all your prep
get polly as wide as you can
drape it all around
get the area nice and warm, but turn off the heater before you spray
wet the floor down
have an old fan vent out the air
do it on a cool nite /early morning when no one has windows open
or vent it out the front of your garage down the hill
buff the runs out
and voila


are you shooting a base clear
or enamel??

Single stage, no way I'm messing with doing this more than in one shot.

You've been to our place and know how close the houses are. It'd be on a rainy day for sure.

Probably a few weeks out from doing it, but I'll post progress here for fun.

Painting is easy, I haven't had a run on a job in years. I'm no paint or body guy, but if I spend the time on it, I can usually get stuff to turn out good. Even when you get close to it.

We need a painting smiley.

I think if the Werhmacht had that car during Operation Barbarrosa, they would have won the Eastern front!

My t3's are setting next to a 75 scout II and a 79 jeep j10 truck do you think if I leave them there long enough they will breed?

That is a hot sqback!!

Shoot it outside. You'll generate no more fumes than inside but they'll dissipate much quicker. Downside, you'll just be a little more visible to your nosy-a$$ neighbors. I shot 2 cars outside (and about to do my third) and they both turned out fine, you just have to be a little more selective of your day/time.

Tom

I've shot a car or two outside before. If you do it early in the morning (around here anyway), the morning's are best. No bugs flying around, no dust or pollen floating around etc.

This is a long weekend for me, so I'm going to try to at least get the main body painted. Roof, posts, cowel, door jams etc. No body work is required, just cleaning and light sanding.

So hopefully updated pictures in a few days.

Painted the main body today, turned out pretty good!

I used real autmotive paint, slow reducer and hardener to give time for the paint to flatten out.

Yes, the windshield is cracked (junk) and I did cut back the rubber so the new seal will run past the paint line.

I had to stop myself from doing too much body work. Not that kind of project.

The ticking off the nieghbors was solved by using this system. Never used it before. Mix paint like you normally would (actually, slightly more reducer, thin it out more). Not the best spray pattern, but it gets the paint down.

Man I like that car!

How do you pressurize the system?

Got a link to it?

Wow you sprayed the whole car with a preval can? Wow again!!

Yup!

Well, this part took 3.5 cans and 4 coats. I got a couple of runs by the back vents (Rear lid) area. You have to thin it out so much the first couple coats do nothing for coloring. The 3rd coat was like 90% color cover and the 4th coat I laid on as thick as possible (the runs) to just be done. I should have done a lighter 4th and then just 5th coat. Probably would have gone through another 1.5 cans.

The cans are $5 each, so far, $20 in cans used.

The roof really flattened out, the sides have a little orange peel to them. When I paint the doors and fenders, they will be laying flat.

I want to do the doors this weekend. I'll post pics then.

10,000 times better than rattle can!

Painted the......drivers door last night. Really liking these little Prevel cans.

No, not the same quality as a true HPLV gun, but it's getting the paint on. Slow reducer and hardener continue to prove a good thing to help the paint flatten out over time.

Downside is still 4-5 coats before proper color coverage. This is my first white paint job as well. I think white is harder to cover than most other colors?

I would have painted the passenger door, but I wasn't happy enough with it yet. Even with my "Just paint the dang thing" attitude. I do still have SOME standards.

PLEASE tell me that isn't nitro stain.........

A word of info folks...DO NOT USE SINGLE PRODUCT BONDO They do not harden and will almost definitely come back through the paint as a discolored spot. Only use bondo that uses a hardener, and always prime over that before applying color.

Yes spanky, it's a proper 2 part glazing putty, Evercoat brand I beleive?

Don't need a lesson in the how-to's, thanks. Just trying to share a fun Off Topic project with the group.