Okay so I am repainting my trunks in my LE. I had some paint put into cans when I bought the paint originally. Just so I would have it for touchup & whatever. I have gone through all 3 cans & am not finished. Painting with the rattle can has been a bit of a challenge. Now I need to get some more paint.

So should I just get a couple more in rattle cans?

Or should I buy a paint gun at Harbor Freight? If I buy a gun do you have one you would recommend for a novice? Also if I go that route do I have to do anything different with the paint? When I get it in the can do I have to mix anything?

HF guns suck BALLS. I have tried about 10 of them, no joke. They all lasted once and sprayed like crap. There are better low budget guns out there, but your looking at ~ $50 for something that will spray anything decent. Then paint is another thing, Check your local auto paint store to determine what your cheapest option is. Keep in mind Acetone for cleanup and probably another layer of primer for a good base.



How much are your rattle cans?

What brand of spray cans are you using? Might try something better. I have had some bad brands when I spray little things with cans.

Ive had pretty decent luck with the Harbor freight guns. You MUST take them all apart and debur the sharp edges and get the few machining chips out of the nozzles. They will paint nice lines if you dont. I havnt tried the expensive guns though, just the cheapo 14.99 one.

It will save you in the long run..pun intended.

I think it ran me like $18-22 a can. I may be a little low there though. The cans they put them in I wouldn't say are the highest quality. I will check to see if they can use a better spray can. I didn't think of that. I will see what they can do & then check into the paint guns they carry there.

For pure white?

Thats ridiculous. Go to lowes/homedepot/ace/osh and get a can of white. check to see if its the same color and paint the whole trunk with that.

Should be 3-4 bucks a can

Hey Jamie, It's something you need to learn. Go get a HF gun and practice. Get a water separator and air gage that mount to your gun as well as the ones on your comp. The recommended gun pressure is read at the gun, not the comp. Get some metal pieces and practice your distance, motion, volume, mixture. You might want to buy their touch up gun because it holds less paint. If you go crazy and buy pro grade get the newer models that use a disposable plastic reservoir. Easy clean up. Wish I had

If you ever want to buy something better here is a good site for that:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/

L80E is not pure white though. I found some Duplicolor white that was super close to my version of L80e on my 73. Think it was colonial white, i can look on the can when I get home.

TCP global is where I buy my stuff when I can. Great quality stuff, good coverage, sprays nice, dries nice. Cant beat the prices.

TCPGlobal - . I purchased their single stage acrylic and other paint supplies needed to paint my track car. I also purchased a compressor and the best gun that HF had. I ended up taking the paint, hardner and primer to Maaco and had them quote the exterior paint job for I think it was under $500. Oh, yea, I did much of the prep work. So the photos look better than an actual closeup of the car, but before it got scratched up during the build, it wasn't bad for an el cheapo paint job. It will get an el cheapo freshen up as well when the build is complete.

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School bus yellow.

That was for the mixed stuff in the rattle can ready to spray. Does Lowe's or Home Depot do that?

L80E is definately a creamier shade of white too

Bring the car to Auburn and let me help!

Not with spray cays I dont think.

The HF guns did OK when I did my trunks and engine compartment. Ditto on practicing!

You could get the correct color paint with hardner and then spray it through a preval sprayer. Its like a reusable spray can with a seperate paint pot. I think they have them at home depot. For larger areas a real spray gun is best so the idea above about taking the paint and lid to a shop is also a good idea.

Sorry if some of my questions are a little dumb. Obviously I have not painted & am not familiar with the process

So if I get my paint by the pint or gallon. I have to mix in hardner when I go to spray it?Does the rattle can already have the hardner in it?

Not all paints require a hardner. I think most base coat paints are just thinned with a reducer and sprayed. It is the clear coats that require the hardner and some single stage paints. If I recall the hardner is even optional in the single stage paints.

As for paint guns, I've always used the HF guns for stricktly primer guns. I had a coulpe of high dollar guns, but the paint shop was rebuilding my gun for me one day when I needed it. I ended up spending $99 on a gun at lowes (Kobalt) and it turned out to be my favorite gun. I payed less for the new Kobalt than the paint shop charged me to cean and rebuild my devilviss gun.

I did the color and clear with a HF gun. I think it was $39. I used SprayMax 2k primers out of a can.

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All of the can paint needs to be sanded off

What'd I do

Jamie,
I'm pretty sure that spray can mix will look great but does not have any hardner in it. The paint will easily scratch and will loose its luster quickly. I may be way off base, but at least that's what I recall the auto paint store guy saying.
Mark

A spray can is 20% paint and only uses thinner or the paint would harden in the can. A gun is the way to go if you are looking for a paint with a hardner and a good coverage.
Most new paint require a activator and a thinner. The best advice is READ READ READ The paint manufactures know there paint, so read there notes.

Yes if you want an exact color matched to a code then it will have to be proper paint with hardner and reducer. The paint shop can add this hardner and put it in a rattle can for you but you will have to use it within a few hours or it will go off in the can. Store bought rattle cans do not have any hardner in them and are just air drying. The best i have found is rustoleum acrylic laquer in automotive formulation but only in basic colors.

you can buy a good paint gun (and there are a number of sources-some require very little air so you don't need a large compressor) or you can buy the paint and a refillable spray can (saw one in Eastwood).
Having done both kinds of paint I prefer the acrylic enamel over the clear coat.
Gary

I picked up a gun at harbor freight. I know not highly recommended. I just bought it along with some paint to practice with. I'll see how the practice goes with the gun on as crummy trunk lid I have. I ordered some L80E with the hardner & activator. I pick it up tomorrow after work. I got 2 quarts of the L80E to do both trunks. Hopefully that will be enough. A full gallon seemed like overkill. It will be a learning experience to say the least. I've always wanted to learn to paint. Although the sanding is flipping killing me. Right in between my shoulders is flat out painful. That leaning over the trunk & reaching out to sand is brutal. At least for someone not used to it

FYI...our local Auto Paint Suppliers will mix, load and set up your Spray gun and bottle for you if you take it to them when you buy the paint. They will use the two part paint that has the clear coat mixed in the paint so it's a one step process and it's much easier then doing base coat clear coat.

My experience with spray cans is the finish won't last more then a couple years at best before fading or washing out.

Also, I've used MAACO to paint both a panel like a roof or hood and I've used them to paint complete vehical. The thing you need to do if you go that route is besure to check out the MAACO location. Some do excellent work, get it done resonably fast (couple weeks to do it right) and are inexpensive, while some of the other MAACO's are pretty terrible. Typical of any other chain store it's who the people that work for them that determines how good they are.

They painted my truck.

A quart will do both trunks @ 3 coats a piece easy. But its always good to have extra.

Prep work IS the hardest and MOST time consuming. For me its about 95% of the work.

Yeah getting in between all the ribs nice a smooth is a little tough. I cut a smaller piece of wood & am holding the sandpaper down with it. I hit it with 80 grit 1st then 150. After that I'll spray the filler primer. Sand again quick with 150. Then switch to 220 . How does that sound? All tips & steps mentioned are appreciated. Thanks

Honestly I would just skip all that and sand it a little bit with 220. Or get those foam sanding blocks for the rough stuff and some scotch bright pads (From your local paint store..) Those things are wonderful for those area's.

Are you trying to remove the previous paint? Because you dont have to. You can spray primer down and sand over what you have, All you really have to do is scuff it up a little bit with like the scotch bright pads.

BTW just so you know most of the mayco paint places will prep the area with a once over with a scotch bright pad, wipe the car down then spray paint.... Just so you know how LITTLE is necessary to apply color...

Gotcha. Yeah I am probably over sanding some. I just seem to keep missing little area's that have a bump or something I missed. Then there seem to be a ton of the little air bubbles. Then seems like it looks good in primer. Then when I paint I see more stuff I missed . I mean it is only a trunk so I can only miss so much before I have it all done. Anyway I am determined to make it look great. No matter how many times I end up redoing it. My other probelm is the paint I had originally they don't carry anymore. Not so critical as it is in the trunk. I will do the trunks completely so if there is a difference it shouldn't stick out to much.

painting is a slippery slope
by a gun ...soon need a better gun
get a run ...need a polisher
try a cheep paint... soon find better paints work better
throw out the old mixes
and you better like to sand upside down inside out
and those damn dust masks dont work worth a damn...
and all the paint parifinalia that go along with it....
Would i do it again
DAMN RIGHTS!

I plan to try out my new paint gun this weekend. I ended up getting a full gallon of L80E.
I am going to load my car into my trailer to get my temps up. I can heat the trailer with no problem. While I couldn't do a complete paint job in the trailer. Doing the trunks is doable I think. I will do my test on a front trunk lid. Once I get a feel for it & it is spraying even. I will tackle the trunks

I also got a quart of Phoenix red. I don't actually need the red but got it just in case. My front valance has one of the screw holes broken. The main piece is still there. Basically there is a slit instead of a hole. I need to add some more glass. So the Phoenix red is just in case I need to redo the front valance.

Well I finally took the plunge today & painted for the first time. I had the trunks all prepped & I just needed to spray. Tested it out my $40 harbor freight gun. I pulled it all apart & made sure it was clean & clear. Then I mixed my paint at a 8:1:1 as they suggested. The gun I bought had it's own adjustable gage for air pressure. I set it at 40lbs & loaded the paint in a throwaway canister. Just the 20oz cups that go on top of the gun. Tested it on some wood & the flow seemed good. I had no weird lines in the spray.

I put on my mask & eye protection. Then I went into my trailer to paint. I did the rear trunk first. I couldn't see any obvious runs. I need to add more light for the next coat though. One problem spraying white over white. I couldn't hardly see if I was going light or heavy at all. If anything I tried to go kind of light to keep from getting runs. I think I accomplished that .

All input appreciated as usual . Especially if you have painted & know what you are talking about

Shoot two more thin coats and call it good. Make shure you get into each corner and seam.

Looking good Jamie!

Oh yeah how long do I need to wait between coats?

just until tacky,

Looking good. Are you puting clear over it?

No it's a single stage paint

Looking good Jamie. You've already waited too long. Lightly wet sand it, clean and shoot it again. Jamie, cleaning is the key word for owning any gun. If you screw up the HF gun it's no big deal. It seems that one served your needs. HF also has a HVLP "touch up gun" that is smaller and handy as hell. Especially when you shoot the inside of those sail panels and under the roll bar. Keep lots of thinner for cleaning. I shoot a little mineral oil thru my gun before storing. You can't have enough light for white and if you don't listen to anything else remember this. Red gets everywhere!

Well crap I am not going to go out & shoot more tonight. Since I waited to long anyway is it going to make a difference if I wait until tomorrow night?

Oh & for wet sanding what grit do you use? Just dip it in water constantly as you sand?

What paint are you using? MOST of the name brands have a fairly large window for re-coating. If you get it within 24 hours it will probably bond fine.

Well I guess I will be doing it tonight then. I just ran out of paint thinner for cleaning. I'll make a run into town & shoot tonight. Thanks for the heads up Scotty

@#^$#@^#@&%@!%%^in bugs . I forgot about needing to spray the underside of the rear trunk lid. So I sprayed that first in my barn. Then went out to my trailer to spray both the front trunk & rear trunk again. I think both trunks are looking good. I doubt I will need another coat but if so will shoot it tomorrow after work. I killed a few minutes then checked on the rear trunk lid. It was tacky so I went ahead & did a second coat on it. That went well & set about cleaning up my gun. Then I am shutting off lights & find at least a dozed bugs stuck to my rear trunk lid

Bummer on the bugs. Sounds like your moving in the right direction & getting good results. It is great motivation for those of considering the same.

Hang in there.

don't touch the bugs. their little legs polish right off.

those freaking bugs!

Yeah I already blew that last night. I'll need to fix my fix from last night on it .
I will not be shooting it in my barn again though. It will get done in my trailer.

On the trunks though I think they are good. Have a few bumps but not much overall. For trunks they are great . Much better than the dip$hit who painted it to begin with . That dude is going to haunt me until I get this car sold & gone.

So I am done with it for now. The rear trunk I am happy with. Looks pretty even everywhere & looks good. It has more of an orange peel texture to it. Not what I would want outside my car but for the trunks it is fine. Not sure what causes the orange peel?

The front trunk didn't turn out so good. I was trying to basically paint the bottom & sides below the spare tire cover. I taped a little to low in front of the carpet on the gas shelf/wall. The the plastic wanted to hang down on me there. So I didn't spray it well along that line anyway. So I have to decide if I am going to redo the whole front trunk . So less than thrilled with how the front trunk turned out. I do know I could do it better. So I will most likely pull the carpet & do a better job of taping off everywhere around it.

Okay those pics kinda suck. The rear trunk looks much better than that.

Okay so I repainted the interior floors. Along with the front trunk that I didn't do that well the first time. I also needed to redo the rear trunk lid on the bottom side. It is looking good tonight. We'll see how it looks tomorrow

I have several expensive spray guns but I use the hf guns the most. I also use expensive paint. But I use ppg shopline the most. It takes doing it to learn to paint. Thinning the paint to fit the temp and adjusting the air will help reduce orange peel. The paints that use the hardner and activator for the temp are the thinnest paints I have ever used. They also paint a lot like enamels. The sharp edges are the hardest to cover. I always use a light tack coat first and then two heavier coats letting them each tack off before the next coat. If you hang the hood up the paint won't level quite as good and it's easier to get sags but the trash will not get in it as bad. Outside paint jobs require about 30% more paint to fix messups. Don't give up. If a paint dries too fast it will not flow out and will be rough. You need real good light to get the paint smooth and the wetness even without sagging or puddling. If you don't let it flash off it might solvent pop so don't rush it. I usually drink a dr pepper in between coats to force myself to wait longer for the flashoff or tack. Oh yeah there are probably as many whites as reds for colors. I also have some hf tweezers to pick out debris from time to time if I think I can do it and not screw it up worse than leaving it in and sanding and buffing it out. Dark colors hide trash in paint a lot easier than light colors but the panels must be a lot straighter.