I'm inching closer, ever closer at a glacial pace, to break down and learn how to paint. I'm probably going to buy a turbine HLVP setup soon. I think I've finally decided to take my car back to its original L60E, Irish Green.

Question: why can't I find a place that will mix this? I initially tried places in Maryland until I learned that one really can't buy anything other than water-based paint in Maryland. Ok, so I'm willing to drive to Delaware or Virginia. But I've called like 6 places, and while they can find L60E in their book, they don't seem to be able to mix it.

I do have a place about and hour and a half away from me in VA that says he "probably" can mix it up. I'd like a little more confidence than "probably" before I take a 3 hour round trip.

Totally new to this process, so I'm looking for ideas.

There is a PPG dealer nearby who can mix paint with codes. What kind of paint are you looking for?

Have to ask-why a turbine HVLP? I've found a good regulator on the 80 gal compressor works well with an HVLP gun.

True L60E probably has some items in it that you can't buy now. PPG does seem to offer a high quality easy to work with product and I'd be surprised if they couldn't do a modern version of it that's true to the original color.

I don't know if this will help but:
"1970 914-6 are stamped 15 in the door post tag, which is the VW code for Irish Green"

When I painted my car, I went to one of the best paint supply shops in town and they didn't have the formula for the original 70's Porsche color I wanted (Gulf Blue IIRC). I ended up picking a 70's Mercedes color out of their PPG books. You might have luck looking at VW codes. Some of them cross over to 914's.

The PPG dealer in Suffolk, VA mixed my paint. I gave them both 914 and 911 codes for Bahia Red, and they knew the difference. The woman running the store knew her stuff. I went with the 911 Bahia Red.

Also, the Black Widow HVLP gun from Harbor Freight worked pretty well.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did call the national PPG number trying to find a retailer, and they gave me two in Delaware and one in VA to call. I thought "surely one of those can do it." The ones Delaware could not. The one in VA said they could...but I'm hesitant based on how confident they sounded. Maybe I just need to keep looking at other providers? I do see the VW and Porsche codes for Irish Green, and I just tell the person I speak with that it's "L60E, Irish Green, and may come up as either Porsche and/or VW."

I was considering buying a compressor and the whole setup, but I'm intrigued by these self-contained turbines. I don't currently own any air tools, and I like the fact that the turbine systems are:

1. portable
2. self-contained (no dryer setup required)
3. Apparently very forgiving to newbies (very little overspray, low-risk on the moisture, and they atomize well depending on the setup).

I called a couple of other shops in MD and VA today. One guy in VA told me the PPG formula for L60E used something called J23 Medium Chrome Yellow, which was discontinued a few years back. I'm not sure if they came up with a substitute or not, but they had nothing.

Got a shop in VA that says they can do it. I guess I'll make a trip over there sometime in the next week or two.

I was always under the impression the PPG would reformulate the pigments for these old colors. The original Signal Orange also had pigments (likely the same Medium Chrome Yellow) that can't be used any more. The paint store contacted PPG to reformulate.

When I was in the PPG store in Suffolk, they showed me that the Bahia Red crossed over to an old Chevrolet color. Irish Green might also.

Thanks, @914e and @roblav1 . Yeah, I was thinking that there HAS to be some way to substitute the pigment for the one that was discontinued or otherwise cross to something that is essentially the same. It would probably help if I was standing there in the store rather than just talking to them on the phone and I could press them on it to do some more research.

When I google J23 Medium Chrome Yellow I can see PPG discontinuing it, although the page is a little unclear what the substitute is, if any.

My only experience with a Turbine HVLP was about 25 years ago so what I'm about to say may have been corrected. They seemed to work well for woodworkers spraying varnish and such but the turbine blows hot air and when spraying auto paint it would end up looking chalky unless you held the gun very close to the surface. Then the pattern was greatly reduced and runs were a problem. If you buy an 80 gal compressor and an HVLP gun you will always have that large compressor to use with many other tools afterwards. There are some Chinese made De Vilbess knock offs that work really well and are less than $100. Look for a gun that will accept different size tips and spend ~$25 on a Paint viscosity tester so you get the correct consistency when spraying.

That's good info. I've read quite a few things that say the turbine technology has come a long way in the last few years, especially in terms of 3, 4, and 5 stage turbines that don't heat the air (much) and atomize the paint really well with almost no overspray. But I could be wrong, and I welcome others experiences / input.

This video shows up a lot when doing the research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uWEQpEhQFE

I just painted a 911 using a turbine and was quite impressed with how well it turned out. Much less overspray and no need to worry about moisture and oil from the compressor. do need to use the slowest high temp reducer but had no problem with ppg's good paint.

Rob - Call me if I can help with any DE shops. We used to use kayfield in Newark DE until the shop purchased a Glasurit mixing booth.

Best paint I ever got was Glasurit...15 years ago though....Here's a link to the BASF paint dealers--might get some luck asking them for Glasurit......
https://refinish.basf.us/where-to-buy/

Thanks, Mark / John. Mark, I called two of the Kayfield locations in DE after calling PPG national. I think they go by "Single Source" or something now? Neither one could help, although I probably could (or should start) pressing these shops to figure out a solution.

John, I'll check out the BASF link and see what I can find.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

When you think you found the right paint, buy a small amount of it and practice with your spray gun. Just like house paint, the color will often look different than it's supposed to but at least you will get practice and dial in your settings and technique.

I think Michael/Cairo's crew had to play around a bit to find the right green for his car.

I'm no expert on paint but I do know from buying it for the shop that there is a lot of variation. You need to look at actual spray out samples and not just what the book says it should look like. Different paint brands and even different quality lines within the brands will all look different.

@wndsrfr from the BASF website you posted I found a place called Motor Car Colors in New Castle, DE (right near @mepstein ). The guy there says he can do it no problem with a Glasurit formula. He was very helpful, and it's about an hour away. I'll probably make a run up there soon and pick up enough to initially just respray the rollbar. I had taken the vinyl off (as part of the rollbar group buy) and found I had to so some metal replacement. I'd like to get that all green again before putting the new vinyl back on.

My how the "while I'm in there" story unfolds with these cars....

Thanks again for everyone's help!

Yes, good advice and that's my understanding as well. I will sample it on some scrap metal, but that's at least partially why I first want to do parts of the car that won't be seen (or seen much) like the rollbar.

The targa bar would be a good way to sample the paint color. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Thanks, Mark, I appreciate the offer. I'll let you know but all I can think of right now is moral support . I need to bite the bullet and start acquiring the materials and tools.

I can't offer anything new here but will share my limited recent experience with L96D silver metallic. There are few (really just one) paint shops here, but luckily they sell PPG. To find the formula for my paint, they had to go over to an old yellowed computer sitting in the corner (not the one they normally use) to try to find old codes. They found them. I suspect that if I had just called them, they would have only tried to look it up on the main computer and told me they didn't have a formula. Standing in from of them looking sad might have been the ticket to success there.

There were different formulas depending on if they looked up the code as VW or Porsche. According to them, the Porsche formula used higher quality pigments and flake than the VW formula. They sent me home with free samples of each to try out. Sure enough, they looked different. The VW formula was probably closer to stock but the Porsche formula looked deeper and richer so I went with that.

I found Ravenna Green at this site:

https://www.automotivetouchup.com/

It was listed as a VW color instead of a Porsche color. I did not find the L60E color code, but they do have a Porsche "Irish Green" listed for 1964...

They do have the L96D:
https://www.automotivetouchup.com/touch-up-...970/all-models/

Good luck!

I've been getting the paint for the dapo-special from paintscratch.com. I've been getting the paint in aerosol cans, but they also sell it by the pint, quart and gallon. Their normal formulation is base coat/clear coat, but they can also make the older colors in a single-stage formulation (there's a check-box to get it SS). They can also match paint if you send them a sample.

Here's the link to search by paint code: https://www.paintscratch.com/support/search-paintscratch.php

No association with them except as a satisfied customer. They aren't cheap, but the paint has been a reasonable match to what little original, undamaged paint I could find.

I can confirm that Porsche paints were different than VW paint. Used to work at BASF and got full formulas from an AG scientist for L64K Zambezi green. Different for different paint systems, too. The VW matches best, being a 1.8L produced by VW. All posted on Jeff Bowlsby’s site.

Our 356SC is factory Irish Green and has been spot touched up over the years, with little success. It's a great color, but try to get it right. Keep us posted with your experience with spray equipment.

I have had good luck with PPG paint. Expensive stuff. I had the paint person look up the formula for Bahia Red. He sold me the paint and gave me the formula he used. Of course I lost the formula and when I asked him to do it again the formulation was different from the computer and there is a subtle mismatch. Not his fault; he told me to hold onto the formula. Curious about the turbine.

Just pulled the trigger on one of these. It's not cheap, but I'm looking forward to seeing how well it masks a newbie's lack of skill and knowledge. Some people suggest you can do a great job with the model below this, but I think Fuji recommends this one (or higher) for full car painting. I'll share my experiences.

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Also. You have to breathe. I use a supplied air respirator. Another hose to drag around, but it doesn’t fog up. I await with bated breath.

Did you happen to save the formulas that they provided for silver? I am not painting anytime soon as mine looks good from 5 feet but for the future.

My dad has that same sprayer-though he uses it for cabinet/furniture painting. He's been very happy with it so far (he only sprays Vermont Coating/C2 Polywhey stuff these days...for those into woodworking it's an awesome product which uses whey from cheesemaking to crosslink). We've been wondering how it would work with an automotive enamel but haven't tried since I have an 80 gal compressor and guns.

One thing that's really important: make sure you have the turbine as far from the paint as possible. If you're painting in the garage that means out a window and under something. Overspray will kill it really fast.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Unfortunately, no. I remember some comment about PPG not allowing them to provide the formula. Here's another interesting thing about that color. The formula for Porsche L96D in PPG DBC (Deltron line) paint calls for a tiny amount of violet. The guy who mixed the paint said the amount is so small that it only comes in with mixing a gallon or more. Yet another variable that can affect the final color.

It can never be easy can it? lol

Is anyone making the original synthol enamel single stage paint, complete with orange peel. I have looked around and have not found it.

Orange peel is free all day long if you want it.

Try paintscratch.com. They matched my marathon blue metallic perfectly.

@BeatNavy I've been considering turbines for when I paint my car. From my research Fuji say you want a 4 stage or 5 stage for automotive paint, so it looks like you're on the right track.

I follow this painter on youtube and he seemed pretty impressed with the Fuji model above that one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWcDgILe13k

I was about to pull the trigger on a Q5 so I'm really interested to see how this works out for you.

Try TPC global / auto color library. mfg. code 6406 formula 43477 nice sprayer by the way

Hey @john77 and all.

Sorry, I should have posted an update, but I'm really bad about that. I'm also really bad about taking the time to take good pictures to document process and progress.

So I ended up buying that Fuji mini mite 4 platinum as shown in the pic. It was super easy to setup, and, when the time came, to clean.

I also did pickup some L60E from the place in New Castle, DE. Guy was very friendly and helpful, and I'll go back up there when I need paint to do the whole car. This time I was just respraying/practicing on the roll bar and sail panels, which were going to be covered with new vinyl anyway. My overall thoughts and impressions:

I'm very happy with the turbine setup. Again, it's so easy to setup, it's portable, uses 110v, is relatively quiet, there's very little overspray, and I think it can do an excellent job. Cleaning was also very straightforward. I managed to laydown some pretty nice sections of paint, but my lack of experience (both overall and with this system) definitely led to some "opportunities for improvement" as my boss might say.

First thing I noticed was that I didn't get the paint thick enough initially. The guy at the store told me to mix it 4 to 1 (paint and reducer), which I did. I also told him I need a slow-drying reducer, which is what is recommended for turbine sprayers. The paint ended up too thin and I ended up with runs on the sail panel. The next time I actually used the Ford #4 cup that comes with the sprayer to test viscosity, and that's when I realized I needed significantly less reducer. Mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was initially trying to correct the runs by reducing airflow, which I now understand is the last adjustment that should be used. You want airflow for complete atomization of paint. I should have been a) using correct viscosity/mixture as noted above, and b) using paint flow adjustment before air flow adjustment. You can see some orange peel in the pics below, particularly on sail panel.

Mistake #3 (and 4, and 5, and 6, etc., etc.) was simply technique. I practiced on some sheet metal I had. Naturally some of the best paint I laid down is now on that scrap sheet metal I found painting the rollbar a challenge as it's hard to reach over and get a consistent angle of attack and motion on something that goes across the whole car. The sail panels were easier, naturally, but then I was dealing with the fact that I bollocksed them up the first time with too thin of paint and had to clean off the runs with solvent. That left a surface that was less than ideal for the second attempt.

After a bunch of sanding and attempts at paint correction I was pretty happy with the overall results in the sense that I learned quite a bit, it looks much better than it did, and the new sail panel vinyl looks great and covers up my mistakes anyway

Bottom line: I like this setup a LOT and I'm looking forward to trying again. It just won't happen until I'm ready to tackle the whole enchilada.

Here are some random pics of the pain on the car, just for viewing pleasure. Again, not even sure what order these are in from raw paint to post-paint correction attempt.

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@BeatNavy Looks great... i mean, you can always sand the orange peel out of the clear anyway, right?

What size air cap did you use? It seems like they come with a 1.3mm, which is fine for primer, but the 1mm or 0.8 is better for base/clear?

Wahoo!

Yeah, I mean some of it came out really nice actually. I think I could have laid more paint down on some of it to give myself more chance for polishing / paint correction, but I am pretty happy with this setup's potential (once the operator gains at least a little experience).

Another benefit I didn't mention previously: it could be the paint I used, or more likely it's the minimal overspray, but the garage just smelled better. With my old paint / preval sprayers (which are absolutely horrible, don't get me wrong), the whole garage would smell toxic for an hour or more. With this thing I almost felt like I didn't need the respirator - no mistake, I definitely wore it, but there was nowhere near the overpowering smell of chemicals I was used to before. Oh the wasted brain cells....


It comes with the 1.3 needle / air cap, but you can definitely buy the others. According to the chart they provide (below), that's right in there for auto base color paint application. For primers, especially epoxy stuff, you need to go larger. As mentioned, one of my mistakes initially was reducing 1 to 4 (as instructed by retailer). I should have gone by the Ford #4 runout cup (supplied) time as in the chart below.

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Is anyone using single stage? as opposed to base/clear?

Try Marty's auto paint in Baltimore/Rosedale.
7600 Pulaski Hwy, Baltimore, MD 21237

or FinishMaster at 180 Penrod Ct suite c, Glen Burnie, MD 21061