Painting a couple parts on my mach

[panteramatt]

So my wing, hood, and tail panel on my 69 mach1 needs to be repainted. The rest of the car isnt bad at all except for a large chip in the front drivers side fenders where the paint just chipped off from the bondo. Anyway, I cant afford to get the body painted for a few years and if I can paint those items it would look so much better. Can I just scuff it up, primer and paint it with spray paint? Ive seen it done on horsepower tv and looked nice. If so, what type of primer and paint should I get that I can get form advanced auto or napa?

 

[RyanG85]

The stuff you see on horsepower tv is not the results you'll see in real life. I'm sure you can make them look better but a spraybomb finish looks like a spraybomb finish... It'll probably look better than my primered cars though.

 

[panteramatt]

So there is a big difference between using spraycan and paint sprayers?

 

[Midlife]

So there is a big difference between using spraycan and paint sprayers?

It's a huge difference, particularly in about a year's time of exposure to the elements.

You'll not be able to polish or wax the hood with any abrasive materials, as the spray bomb stuff simply won't hold up.

 

[stangg]

Yes there is a difference... most paint from a spray gun is catalyzed and is typically more durable than what comes out of a spray can.

But what color are you planning to spray? if you're doing semigloss black or something like that you can get reasonable finish. It might not last a a long time, but with enough attention to the prep and spray patterns you can make it look decent. I would stay away from spray cans to match body color, but something like bumper black / trim black should be fine. For large areas like a hood you just need to be careful that you lay down even coats so you don't end up with tiger stripes. I've never had good luck with the spray can sandable primers until I tried a can of the SEM brands sandable primer.

SEM brand paint is also pretty good for trim black type paints, but you won't find it at Advanced or Autozone, maybe at NAPA. You typically can only pick that up locally at an autobody supply store. If your surfaces are already in decent shape, then a good cleaning along a bit of spot priming and wet sanding sanding is probably all you really need if your current base is simply faded. If you've got small divits, scratches etc, then you can use the SEM high build filler primer to fill in scratches and small chips... it sands really nice. If you are doing body color, some bodyshop supply stores can mix your actual paint color in a spray bom, but it's like $25 for a can and only about enough paint to do a small fender so I'm told. I'm not totally sure, but I think these custom made cans are catylized mixes... check with the paint supplier to be sure.

If there is a local autobody supply store near you, go there to see what materials they carry... might cost a little bit more but better suited for more professional repairs. I'm not saying you can't make duplicolor paint look good, but that mustang they did on muscle car or whatever show it was came out terrible as far as I'm concerned...

BTW, most spray can based paints can be washed off fairly easily with lacquer thinner and is another reason why folks don't like using spray boms for permanant repairs.

 

[panteramatt]

Can you guys recomend some primer and base? Anything in duplicolor or Shermin Williams?

 

[stangg]

Since your probably not going to be able to get the correct colors in duplicolor paint, you're probably better off going with sherwin williams... I've never used Sherwin Williams but didn't have good luck using duplicolor's 2 part sealer with Nason Fullthane silver sprayed on top. you are not supposed mix paint systems, so your best bet is to stick with the sherwin williams for the primers and color coat. I've never used it so can't reccomend more than that... If there is an autobody supply store near you, then i think you should stop in to see what lines of paint they offer.

 

[Fantastic]

All right then, I'll make the comment that may raise some ire and eyebrows.
Paint is designed to protect the metal from corrosion. Sure it looks nice, but it's main purpose is to keep that 'Stang from melting into a brown power lump in your driveway. If you can not afford to do the whole car, then you should at least ensure that the parts that need protecting are protected. You can use a clearcoat finish to protect the same as paint and you will not have to worry about matching things up and looking odd. I would avoid rattle cans and cheapo paint jobs because of the chemical reaction between the crap paint that you end up putting on the car and the good finish underneath, and also the quality finish you try to put on later. I've seen instances where cars had to be stripped right down because any paint would bubble and react to the chemicals in an earlier paint job. Do not leave a car sitting in primer, because the primer absorbs moisture and draws it in to the metal underneath. This will cause premature corrosion and the finish will suffer. If you can't afford to do it right, then seal it up until you can afford it.
Paint is just the final covering that shows off good prep work. Don't cut corners.

 

[panteramatt]

I dont think you understand. Its only the black parts on a mach that I need redone. If I can redo them it would look so much better.

 

[Horseplay]

I dont think you understand. Its only the black parts on a mach that I need redone. If I can redo them it would look so much better.

If the parts you want to paint are a gloss finish you can cheat and use a good quality rattle can paint and with color sanding and buffing end up with a decent looking result. It may lack years long durability but will look fine. A real catalyst paint and a spray gun are still a much better option.

If the part(s) are matte/flat no such luck with cans. You can't really color sand as well to get a nice even finish while maintaining an even matte (at least I haven't had the results I wanted). On the bright side, you can spray a matte finish with a $30 HF gun and get pretty good results.

 

[Sluggo]

Throw a couple pics at us of what needs paintin'.

There are a couple of blacks I would suggest but their use will require you to strip them completely away when you decide to paint the whole car.

The problem with spray bombs is being able to spray the large areas like the hood and not wind up with wind rows and dry overlaps.

Sems Trim Black

Dupont Satin Black trim and bumper paint. This is a 1k based paint and will hold up better than other spray paints. You would have to buy it online or from a Dupont jobber.

 

[panteramatt]

I need to paint the wing, hood blackout, and tail panel. Whatever the po used for black is terrible. The hood had a block over a goot long that didnt adhere right. The wing you can basically scratch off the paint with your finder, and the tail panel paint is coming off under the gas cap where gas ran on it.

 

[AzPete]

To be honest, that sounds just like the problems that develop with rattle can paint jobs.....even some of the good ones I have seen.

 

[panteramatt]

I already have a gun, strainers, sanding blocks and paper. Now I just gotta get the primers and black. Any suggestions and how should I do the hood?

 

[cmayna]

Agree with Sluggo. Let's see some pics of what you are considering painting. Will it be a satin black? If you use a gun, do you have the means to control the air pressure to run at 20-30psi? Were you considering shooting a clear coat afterwards? If a desireable satin finish, a flattener for the clearcoat is needed.

Just food for thought.

 

[Sluggo]

If you have the gun here's what I would do.

I would sand ALL the old crap off and properly prep the substrate. If it is body color under the black like it should be and is in serviceable condition there is no need for primer.

I would then use a black base coat and follow that with a flattened clear. For the clear I'd use Dupont 7776S Snap clear. It is meant for use in panel painting, IE, one panel at a time. It flashes very quickly, which is exactly what you want for non gloss black to reduce trash in the paint. Use 2360s matting agent to kill the gloss. Follow the mixing instructions on the attached 2360s tech sheet for eggshell 20-30% gloss. The more clear you apply the duller it will get. When you first spray it, it will look too shiney but it will deaden in a few days.

This is how all the black on my car is painted and I can spill gas on it, clean tape residue off with lacquer thinner, use acrysol on it, wax it, pretty much anything you could not do with a flat black single stage and definitely never do with any spray bomb job.

You should have very good gun technique and the luxury to practice a bit. If you stop the gun before the end of the panel you'll wind up with a milky looking spot. I did the hood and the cowl off the car and instead of starting in the middle like you would normally, I started on the right side leaning from the left and painted towards myself on the first two coats. The 3rd was basically a dust coat done from back to front to introduce a bit of texture.

Here is what it looks like on the car.

Here is the texture of it.

 

[panteramatt]

Man that looks sweet. Only problem would be with the clearcoat. Wouldnt the whole hood have to be cleared? It wouldnt look right when the red edges of my car have a different clear than the rest.

 

[Sluggo]

Man that looks sweet. Only problem would be with the clearcoat. Wouldnt the whole hood have to be cleared? It wouldnt look right when the red edges of my car have a different clear than the rest.

You would not clear the red areas. If you're doing a correct blackout on your hood you're going to have a paint edge no matter what.