Nick,
Buy a book on paint and body. Automotive Paint Handbook : Paint Technology for
Auto Enthusiasts and Body Shop Professionals, ISBN: 1557882916, is pretty good
and is available from Amazon.com for $14.00. Polyurethane paints are used in
California and can easily be purchased by the hobbyist. Dupont or PPG are good
brands.
The easiest paint is a base coat clear coat type. The base coat is often
metallic
and dries in 1-2 min. This means that it can be paint outside during a calm
morning. The clear coat takes 15 min. to tack and then another 2-3 hours to
cure.
The clear coats are almost always sanded and then polished for a great finish.
This means if a bug happens to land on you new, wet cleat coat, you can pick it
off with tweezers and continue painting. Any blemish will be wet sanded and
polished after it cures.
Always wear a respirator. The filter type with a new charcol filter is fine for
outside.
As a hobbyist, you are not covered by California's VOC regulations. You can even
use Lacquer if you want. It is an easier paint to apply, but not as durable as
polyurethane.
The HVLP guns are nice. There is a lot less over spray (more paint gets on the
car), and if you are painting outside less paint gets on your neighbors car. A
Binks or Devilbis HVLP gun is $300-$400. They need a 5hp compressor to keep up
with the gun.
Paint, primer, catalyst and clear will cost about $300 for a Tiger, the stuff is
expensive.
Hope you like to sand,
Craig Wright
Malaboge@aol.com wrote:
> My ole Dad use to say..."If you want it done right, do it yourself".
>
> Well, I gotta say, he was right. As some of you may remember I Purchased a
> TR4A (The Duke of Oil) early this year, with visions of racing it this
> summer. Ha! Most everything on the car needed to be rebuilt and I figured I
> could do that in a fairly timely manner. The only thing I didn't feel
> comfortable with is the bodywork/paint, especially with all the new paints
> that require a spacesuit to apply safely. I dragged the car down to San
> Francisco in April to a bodyshop with a good reputation. I have visited the
> Duke on a regular basis since and now that it is August and the car is not
> even primered yet, let alone painted, I have put it back on the trailer and
> dragged it home again.
> So, I will now be painting the car myself.
> Does anyone have any good words about paint types or tips ? Remember that
> this is California and we can't even get any of the "good" paints here in the
> state and must use only the newer type paints which I have never used.
> Can I still use a regular paint gun, or must I get a new HVLP style gun? What
> primers? Etc etc.
>
> Hoping I don't kill myself with this stuff...
> Nick of Nor Cal
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