Well I decided to go the DIY route on everything i have done to my car so far. Hence it only seemed logical to go DIY on the car paint itself. This is the first time i am painting a car and hopefully i do a good job. Please feel free to share any painting tips /advise or pitfalls from you DIY painting experience.

I have finished all the body work (a real pita) and am in the process of creating my garage paint booth for painting my car.















I keep this thread updated i i progress through the painting process through the coming week or so.

What I know about painting, you could comfortably put in the corner of your eye.

I have heard that temperature control and steady ventilation are essential to a good job, and that how you MASK the car is more important than how you paint it.

I would double-up on masking all around that beautiful engine bay and around all glass. Also, remove your wheels/tires completely from the garage and cover each brake. Mask over every vent tube or opening. Lay some dry towels along the rear tail light area (inside), to catch any spray which might filter into the cabin.

Now you know everything I know about car painting, except to let someone else do it for you!

Happily, we have several professional car painters here in this Club, who have forgotten more about painting than most of the rest of us ever learned.

And the most-perfect, drop-dead-gorgeous paint job I've ever seen on any Z in my experience, was done by one of our members (Jim K) on another member's Z (Mike W).

Frank

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1970 240Z

Oh boy! I remember when I did that to my garage!

Yeah, overspray gets everywhere, no matter how well you think you've masked something. Key is to check multiple times before you start spraying. And use a set of wheels/tires you don't care about.

Another nice little tip is that if you have any unused brake drum shoes, put one on each outer (front and rear) corner of each tire. This will prevent your air line from the compressor to your gun from being snagged under the tires as you circle about the car painting it.

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-Chris

Very Impressive... Not alot to add
1 Make sure you shoot into the wheel well / fenders roll area
2 The lower areas they tend to be overlooked bottom of the rockers and rear quarters
3 If available have someone follow with the air hose to keep it from hanging up / hitting the car
4 If possible spray/mist the floor with water to keep dust/dirt from becoming air born

I'm still cleaning up red overspray on everything in my garage, when I get around to cleaning it up. And I only had the engine bay in a honda sprayed...

From now on if a buddy can't do it, I'll do the prep work and have Maaco spray it. They spray cars constantly, know how the paints flows, got the art down, cheap, and my garage is not a mess....

I'm slowly tossing the DIY crap out the window...and I was a hard-core DIY'er.

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Also Known As Clayton Pace

Part 2 : Paint Supplies


Ok so i got the spot lights from HF.



Next on my list were the paint supplies:

The car paint scheme is going to be Viper Red body with Gloss Black ZG flares and a carbon fiber Sparrow tail spoiler. Also I was able to borrow a friends brothers DeVilbliss GTI gun to paint the car








misc supplies:



3M compounds and buffer for the final color sand and buff:



Carbon Fiber Sparrow tail spoiler:

This is starting to sound like another EVIL Z car! The color scheme sounds identical!

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1970 240Z

you read my mind Frank.

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Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

this is interesting, can't wait to see the results. big reZpect for doing this yourself! and once you've done it you'll have people lining up at your garage door to get their cars painted too!

I have been slowly working on my zx's bodywork and intend on doing the paint myself too. I have never painted a car before and I'm following this thread very closely. I hope to get some knowledge from your posts. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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Bill James
Western Nebraska
1979 280zx coupe parts car
1980 280 zx coupe
2005 Pathfinder
1971 240 z
1982 280zx, 1977 &1974 corvettes

**Update on car paint**

Unfortunately i had to travel for work all of this week and hence progress on the car has been slow. I just finished spraying the final coat of primer tonight. Tomorrow i'll do some sanding in the morning and hopefully i'll have the color and clear done by the end of the day.

Below are a few pictures of the primer. It has a 1 or 2 flaws but i'll fix that tomorrow morning before shooting a coat of sealer.

Hey, ya know what? That doesn't look half bad! Nice work so far.

You have me a little worried about the masking leak on your left tail light. Whatever you spray in that area will surely find its way into your cabin.

I like how you totally covered your engine bay. That looks professional from here.

Keep up the good work and help us learn from any mistakes you might make.

You're making us all jealous so far!

Frank

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1970 240Z

**Update on car paint**


unfortunately i fell short of my goal of getting the color and clear on today. I had a few lil flaws that i needed to correct and then i shot an extra layer of primer before i could start shooting the color.

Below are a few pictures of the color. For my first ever car paint i think it came out rather well. I am really pleased with the results and hope i don't screw-up the clear coat. let me know what you guys think of the car so far.

Looks very nice . Kinda late on this but I hope you turned off the furnace and any other device that can cause a spark when spraying. When all that paint hangs in the air like a vapor it dosen't take much to ignite. Jim

Looks like a big, delicious candy apple!

From where you shot the pictures, I don't zee any mistakes! It all looks very well done from here. If I thought you would do that well on MY car, I'd hire you!

Will you rechrome the bumpers or buy new ones or what?

Frank

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1970 240Z