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  #16  
Old 11-05-2010, 11:13 AM
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Get yourself an old sheet of metal. Practice on it. Start with 35 p.s.i. Play with the mix/pattern (round) until you get a consistent covering. Experiment with adjusting the mix and pattern. Go to 40 p.s.i. and then 45 p.s.i. Learn the gun. You will find the pressure the gun and you work best on.

Work on starting the spray BEFORE you reach the panel and releasing it AFTER you have made your pass. Learn to keep the gun the same distance all the way through the pass. Most novices have a tendency to "arc" the gun, i.e., you start the pass and swing your arm which leads to being closer in the middle of the swing. Concentrate on moving the gun parallel to the surface being painted. Move your arm, don't swing it. Learn to spray at the same speed.

Don't try to get complete coverage in one pass, it isn't going to happen. Work on overlaps.

You are not shooting a "sheet" of paint. You are shooting very fine droplets (think bubbles) which as they hit the solid surface splatter and flatten together.

Get comfortable with your ability. Now, bend the sheet around something. Start all over again.

Work on changing the paint/reducer mix. Re-learn the gun.

Then do like I do. Sand, prep and deliver the car to a professional painter with a spray booth.

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  #17  
Old 11-15-2010, 01:33 PM
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Sorry Mike the point of the exercise is to practice on my car - eeek!

Anyway today it was warm enough, dry enough, and not very windy so I got out and got the stone chip bit done on the lower part of the wing.

All went well - considering I was using an aerosol - until I slipped just after taking the photo and rubbed up against the panel. I've got to do it again...
Attached Thumbnails
I've taken your advice and started to paint!-front-wing-stone-chip.jpg  
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #18  
Old 11-15-2010, 08:16 PM
jmk jmk is offline
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The link did not help. I couldn't figure out what your gun was. They sell both conventional and HVLP, though from your description it sounds like you have a conventional gun.

Mike D's advice was much more practical than mine. I would do what he says. And you are right: too much pressure.

Read the instructions and see if you can adjust the pressure, fluid flow, and flow rate separately with your gun.

And you can always delive it to a professional, but that just isn't as much fun!
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'18 Mazda Miata
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  #19  
Old 11-16-2010, 03:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmk View Post
The link did not help. I couldn't figure out what your gun was. They sell both conventional and HVLP, though from your description it sounds like you have a conventional gun.

Mike D's advice was much more practical than mine. I would do what he says. And you are right: too much pressure.

Read the instructions and see if you can adjust the pressure, fluid flow, and flow rate separately with your gun.

And you can always delive it to a professional, but that just isn't as much fun!
Indeed I'm someone who likes to learn. That is the fun. Almost everyone I meet sucks in a deep breath of air when I say I'm trying to spray - being naturally stubborn / curious I need to find out why for myself.
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #20  
Old 12-02-2010, 02:37 PM
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Just in case anyone stumbles across this thread and needs more information about painting here's a good thread on the vintage forum:-

thinking of Maaco
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #21  
Old 03-09-2011, 09:14 AM
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Update

Progress is slow - I blame the weather and not my inability to get organised...

The front wings / fenders are still getting the treatment:-

POR15 to stop the rust (on both sides) and then the epoxy based POR15 tie coat primer, anti stone chip on the underside fronp bits, and then primer undercoat...

"Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony"...

Attached Thumbnails
I've taken your advice and started to paint!-w123-wings-ebony-ivory.jpg  
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #22  
Old 03-13-2011, 12:04 PM
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And the warm days just keep on coming!

Wow look a bonnet in self etching primer. It isn't even Easter yet...
Attached Thumbnails
I've taken your advice and started to paint!-w123-bonnet-self-etching-primer.jpg  
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #23  
Old 03-20-2011, 12:43 PM
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I'm watching you Army! Keep it coming.
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  #24  
Old 03-20-2011, 02:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StaggerLee View Post
I'm watching you Army! Keep it coming.
Thanks for the support - I actually got some colour coats on the front wings and the bonnet (er I mean hood) today. I'll take some pictures tomorrow. Although there isn't any hay this time of year I'm definitely doing all I can whilst the sun shines.

Do you know of any unforgiving light sources that can be used to check my finishes? Sharp white LED lights?
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #25  
Old 03-22-2011, 09:29 AM
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Problems problems

After waiting for two days you would have thought the bloody stuff would have been dry enough to sand... but no!

Here's a picture of what happens when you sand too soon:-



Can see the scratches in the surface? On the surface of the sand paper the paint balls up into bits that drag along into the surface causing the scratches.

Got to be patent - otherwise you end up making more work for yourself...

EDIT:-

I forgot to say a trick to help stop the balling of the paint on the sand paper is to use a bit of soap.

Tip courtesy of

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/primer.htm
Attached Thumbnails
I've taken your advice and started to paint!-got-patient-paint.jpg  
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Last edited by Stretch; 03-23-2011 at 03:12 PM. Reason: Added more information
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  #26  
Old 03-23-2011, 03:24 PM
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Sanding - the highs and the lows!

Here's a picture of my far too thick guide coat - waste of paint as I sanded most of it all off again... The point of the exercise was to identify where the dents and uneven surfaces on the bonnet were. The white colour is the self echting primer which is under the brown colour coat.



It has taken me quite a long time to get the feeling that perhaps I'm almost getting a vague idea of what I'm doing - so far I've probably used about four times as much paint as a professional would and I've lost count of the hours I've put into this - but I'm enjoying myself and think I stand a good chance of getting a finish that I'll be happy with for my future daily driver.

I plan to tape off the garage and spray the top clear coat in a more sterile environment than my outdoor efforts I've shown so far. Painting outside isn't ideal but I can report it is much better to paint outside in the spring and not in the autumn: there's much less junk in the air at this time of the year!
Attached Thumbnails
I've taken your advice and started to paint!-thick-guide-coat-sanding.jpg  
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #27  
Old 03-26-2011, 11:43 AM
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Show no fear!

Well I've started on the roof... the front and rear window rubbers were rotten and were leaking so the glass had to come out anyway (!?).

I was expecting to find loads of rust - but I didn't - hence this thread =>

A happy I found no (well hardly any) rust on my W123 thread!

I had to remove the side trim which is covered in this thread =>

W123 exterior trim removal

The main problem with the paint finish on the roof was a load of nasty blistering. Colour 480 (Manganese brown) seems to suffer in the sun. Here's an example of how it looked.



Keeping it clean and polished will only help for a while - at some point or other it will start to corrode... so this is how it looks at the moment:-





The brown colour is (obviously) the top coat - underneath there's a white primer - and under that there's a black rust proofing coating that I've tried to preserve.
Attached Thumbnails
I've taken your advice and started to paint!-w123-manganese-brown-blistering.jpg   I've taken your advice and started to paint!-w123-sanding-roof1.jpg   I've taken your advice and started to paint!-w123-sanding-roof2.jpg  
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #28  
Old 03-26-2011, 02:17 PM
jmk jmk is offline
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The black is the e-coat. You're right, that is where most of the rust prevention is and it is also where the lead and cadnium are. Don't sand it if you can avoid it.

Also, do not spray this outside. E-coat cannot handle any UV. I've seen e-coated car bodies left outside start to chaulk in 8 hours.

That checking would be really strange on an OEM finish. Was this car refinished before?
__________________
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2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!
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  #29  
Old 03-26-2011, 04:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmk View Post
The black is the e-coat. You're right, that is where most of the rust prevention is and it is also where the lead and cadnium are. Don't sand it if you can avoid it.

Also, do not spray this outside. E-coat cannot handle any UV. I've seen e-coated car bodies left outside start to chaulk in 8 hours.

That checking would be really strange on an OEM finish. Was this car refinished before?
Thanks for the tip - unfortunately I've got no choice but to carry on with my outside spraying for the big bits at least... If I can't get a good finish I'll take it to a spray shop (honest I'm not so proud that I'll refuse to admit defeat!).

Was the car refinished before? You bet ya! I took the car to a local spray shop to get a quote for the roof and the owner was quite rude about the standard of the refinishing work... you live and learn... I figured it was a good car to learn to spray on then...

...one thing is for sure I'll be looking more critically at the paint work on my next purchase now that I know how long refinishing takes.
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Last edited by Stretch; 03-26-2011 at 04:30 PM. Reason: Added a not...
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  #30  
Old 04-02-2011, 03:32 PM
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Progress again

It was sunny today so I got the final colour coat on one of the front wings (sorry - still painting outside until I get the garage cleaned out).



Next step - clear coat varnish.

Any tips for this stage? (It will be done inside even though it is still spring time there is now an alarming amount of crud in the air)
Attached Thumbnails
I've taken your advice and started to paint!-w123-front-wing-colour-done.jpg  

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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