Okay, so since I went to Hershey it kinda got a fire lit under me to get some stuff moving.

So, I went to the PPG site to buy paint. PPG website

Anyhow, Conda green, check. What kind do I want. I chose the MAE acrylic enamel with an OMH101 hardener. How much do I want.

How much DO I want? Painting with an HVLP gun, 1.5 gallons? 1 gallon?

Then I got to the primers. My car is bare metal with body putty, what kind of primer do I want?

I started looking at all this stuff, and got totally overwhelmed. Help.

I sound whiney.

Zach

If you ask the paint store, they will usually know.

First, what you want is a "wash" or self etching primer. Dupont Variprime is one, but every manufacturer makes one. That goes on first. Second, you need a high fill primer. Spray first coat, block with 120, spray second coat, wetsand with 400. For paint, the only good option is base clear.

Go to a real body shop supply store and talk to the paint counter guy. He'll set you straight on products and the such. Honestly, depending on your skill level, you may want to think about paying someone to spray it. You'll probaly end up with over $1000 in paint products to do it all.

Hope this at least gives you an idea. You can also go to Barnes and Noble and read the restoration books...

I just did mine and a gallon was enough paint, but that didn't include the trunk insides so you'll need an extra quart if you're going to do those areas. The gallon & hardener was about $500. I think I did mine the right way - down to metal, then used black epoxy sealer over everything after the major filling. On top of that went sandable primer - over a galon and a half, most of which got sanded off with the final stages of body work down to the glaze. Then final primer wet sanded then another coat of black epoxy sealer to hold the final color (orange). Then the final wet sanding and buffing began
Considering all the work it would have been a $30k paint job in a shop, I'm sure.

The best advice I got was from the auto body supply shop that sold me all my materials. Find a good supply store in your area, ask questions, buy your stuff there. They can also give you mixing tips for your area (read: humidity and temperature).

EDIT: also, since you went to metal you are probably going to want 3 primers. Self etching first, epoxy sealer second, 2K high build last. Maybe you can skip one of them, but I don't know for sure.

The guys where I buy all of my paint really get into helping first timers. I've had one of them even go in the paint booth and show me some tricks with the gun,spent over a hour showing me how to shoot a base that I was working with and having trouble.
Bob

See my thread on paint, see link below...

If you buy a gallon of paint, it will end up being enough to paint 2 cars including the trunks and door jambs.

That is, of course, you buy it before thinning...

I'll give you a tip for painting your 914...I painted my teener, in fact i've painted about five cars. 914's have a lot of fairly flat panels. If you are going to paint the entire car -inside trunks, engine compartment and jams, you know that if you paint these areas first and then paint the outside panels you have to deal with overspray issues. So, paint the outside of the car first. Then mask all the outside panels and then do the other areas. Much easier and less hassle with overspray issues.

If you are going to blow apart apart for body work and painting- removing the doors and trunks etc. and you have a car with perfectly aligned body panels and door gaps, take a 1/16" drill bit and drill pilot holes in the door hinges, hood and trunk hinges, headlight pivot hinges etc. When you go to assemble the parts, a locating pin in the holes aligns everything back to perfect alignment.

As for what you need to materials, talk to you local paint supplier. Good luck and remember that preparation is the key to a great paint job.

DH

Well, I called a few bodyshops today, and one of them let me know the local source where he gets all his stuff. I never would have found this place on my own.

I cut out of work and skipped the gym to get back to York by 4. I talked with 2 folks there, and they set me up with epoxy primer, then a build primer, and are mixing my color, as well as various other stuff. They were very helpful, and gave me a body shop discount, as I was making a fairly large order from them.

I have one more evening of welding to do, then the car needs to come off the rotisserie and go back on jackstands so I can paint the front and rear evenly.

The car will have paint by the end of the month, I think.

Zach

Overwhelming you say? Just use ventilation silly.