So I need a little body work and am considering options. I have holes where the reflector used to be...getting those filled. I have a small hole next to the battery tray...fixing. I have a few pin holes in the rear trunk floor...replacing panel or filling holes (haven't decided yet). I have a few places on the body where I only have surface rust. Otherwise, the paint looks good. I took the car to a shop to get a quote and they mentioned fixing the spots, blending and then clear coating over the new and existing paint on each panel (to help blend). This scares me even though I trust the heck out of the guy. I am thinking I could sand each panel to prep for a nice layer of single stage. If I just do a light sanding, will I need to primer? The body has no dents/dings or bondo and only has one coat over the original paint. I was just going to paint portions of the car, but am starting to think about the whole thing. I just can't go over budget (1k), so would need to do some/most of the work myself. Any thoughts on this from those with paint experience?

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If the car has original paint by all means have it only spotted by a competent shop. If it has had a repaint always base coat clear coat. That is the nature of the refinishing business these days. The paint will never fade that way.

It needs paint? Looks pretty damn good in that pic.

Zach

Pictures can be decieving! That is why I am on the fence. The problem is that I am a perfectionist. So you guys think I can get away with painting over the existing finish and spot fixing the problem areas?

NO!!!
Those two sentences will never coexist together.
Get a complete paint job from a good shop, be willing to step up and pay for it.

Rich

You don't need to take your car down to bare metal, unless the paint is cracking or has an adhering problem.

After any body work has be done in certain areas, you can feather the edges with sand paper, to blend in to the existing panel.

If you don't need any body work you can simply sand the paint down with the last grit being 320 and reshoot the car.

edit: If your existing paint has a clear on it you can wet sand it and polish it, it will look like new.

I'm not suggesting that you follow my path; just wanted to let you know what I am doing on my car. I have the same thing, holes in the rear where the reflector was, rust spots, removal of antenna, and pounded out rear flares. I haven't decided on a full paint job so I want to make the car look as good as possible until then.

I have about 1.5 pints of paint from the PO so I will try to sparingly use this to repair the spots mentioned above. Putting such a small amount of paint into a gun would use it all up so I will use my airbrush to apply. It is amazing how large an area can be painted with a small airbrush by taking my time and not getting in a rush.

In the pics, I repaired some rust spots and the antenna using only about 1/2 oz of paint. The paint matched well but not sure if a clear coat is on the car.

Is there a way to tell if you've got clear coat? (other than sanding it to find out)

If you have the original paint, I believe only some of the metallics (if any) had clearcoats. Possibly a paint depth gauge...

You can wet sand your paint and see if you get color or clear, I have actually done that on my 914, but you have to be careful to not pull to much paint off. After wet sanding use some polish and your paint will shine up.

It's probably a single stage paint if it's an original solid color paint job. you can tell by taking a white rag and a little bit of polish and polishing a couple of small spots. Wax won't do it, use polish.
If you're dealing with dings and small dents, consider the paintless dent repair guys.
Call a quality bodyshop and ask who's the best. We have 3-4 guys around here, one's a perfectionist and more expensive, one's pretty good, but fast and cheap, one's not really that good but really cheap. The cheapest will do the whole car for around $100.00.
If they're competent they should be able to tell you up front how good it will look.

It's probably a single stage paint if it's an original solid color paint job. you can tell by taking a white rag and a little bit of polish and polishing a couple of small spots. Wax won't do it, use polish.
Don't start sanding anything until you've worked out with a bodyshop exactly what you want to do and what you want them to do.