Ok so I seem to be making progress on the 69, The car will be painted like a 69 hurst olds, I have looked for a reasonable body shop to do the paint but it seems like the prices are astronomical or you need to go to a maaco which will still cost a couple grand. I think I will paint my self, I have painted cars before and am comfortable with the process, that was with lacquer, but I have been spraying some epoxy lately and it is not much different. My question is, the car is apart, in my shop space I could paint panels meaning, Ill paint the hood, doors and fenders off the car ( at least the cameo white, with an intercoat clear). then assemble and spray the stripes on. is it feasible? or should I just jam the car, and paint everything assembled? I am planning bc/cc and I am leaning towards ppg fleetline for the white,

any input will be great

 

I would recommend doing all body work yourself, including primer and sanding compatible with your particular paint chemistry, then take it to a production collision shop to get it painted by someone who paints cars 8 hours a day. Then do the rest of it yourself. This way just the application of paint is done at $75/hr by someone with the skills and equipment to get it done right and quickly. You will save about $8000 doing this.

 

For sure paint the hood, fenders, trunk lid off the car, it is easier but then extra care needs to be done when assembling so you don't nick the paint...

 

If you do it yourself it'll still be way better than Maaco!

Just a note most "body" shops Don't want to paint on someone else's work.

 

x2

Make sure you have a couple buddies help you install the hood, fenders and trunk.

 

I am going to follow you. I don't have good suggestions as I am new to painting/body work also. I am working on a 56 F 100 ( off topic, I know...) and I figured it is a perfect vehicle to learn on so I plan to do it all myself. If I were working on a Hemicuda or a W30 Convertible I would probably try to do the body work and have the paint done by a professional body shop. I'm guessing your car falls somewhere in between my F100 and the W30. I have been finding that the tools needed to do this are quite extensive- not to mention the shop or paint booth...Oh, and it is cold here in Michigan and it has to be at least 60 to paint even primer.... BUT, I have always wanted to do a restoration and paint or I am going to do it. As they say "it's not the destination, it's the journey". I have to have something to do as I am retired so this gives me that also. OK, I wondered off topic a ways!. Anyway about what you asked...
-- I have heard that when painting panels separately you run the risk of the paint not matching exactly from panel to panel. I plan to paint the door jambs and around the hood,etc. then come back later and paint the whole outside at one time. I hope other , more knowledgeable guys will speak up. Good luck!!

 

X2 ....Exactly how I did it on my 65, get it spray booth ready and let them shoot the color and clear you’ll get a much better job than trying to do it in the garage. Local shop charged me $750 to shoot it. I did the rest after that. Only a couple of small runs I had to sand down which is Fairly normal for most paint jobs.

 

I'm thinking to do the base color, then perhaps the stripes and final clear done by a shop, I have sprayed lacquer paints many times and the ease of fixing dirt and or fuzzies was quite easy, I do believe since this is a non metallic color that I will be able to do the same worse case scenario. I was told by a buddy of mine to go to the maaco or production shop and just bring your own paint as was suggested bigrbandit, but I do believe I would be more meticulous. The savings would even allow me to procure one of those inflatable spray booths?
???? comes in different sizes

 

If you decide to paint it, buy quality products, both base and clear buy from same company. You might get sticker shock, quality paint is expensive.

 

If you do the base and have someone stripe and clear it that will be tricky, you have to work within a recoat window or sanding/clearing is required. I wouldn't sand base, even a solid color. I would shoot it with straight white urethane and apply the stripes after, that's the way it was done originally (stripes not buried in clear). Ive used PPG shop line straight urethane on the last two complete paint jobs (no booth) with good results.

 

As always, you get what you pay for... And everyone has their own opinion so here's mine. As others have suggested, use a quality paint. If you want the stripes with no lines in the paint, suggest using b/c, sand and buff. If you don't care if stripes are above/below white suggest using single stage urethane white. If you've sprayed before and feel comfortable with it, suggest you get it completely ready to paint, trim all the parts (backside, doorjams, etc.) put it together and take it to a reputable shop to spray the outside of the whole car at once. White isn't a bad color to panel paint but you still run the risk of seeing a slight difference in the shade and of course, risk of scratching it during assembly. Suggest you find a decent shop that would agree to just tape it up and spray it with no sanding required. Find the shop that would agree to do it before you make a decision, will save you lots of money if they agree to do it. Ask them what paint they use and tell them you will buy it, they will give you a list. Not knowing your skill set but be sure to get it straight and flat. I've had many people wanting me to spray their car when they say "it's ready, just needs spraying". They bring it over and it's got more waves than the ocean and I wouldn't spray it. Smooth bodywork doesn't mean flat bodywork. As someone else mentioned you only have a few hours between spraying the base coat and clear. The base coats I use can't be cleared once they set over 4 hours without rescuffing the base and reshooting another couple coats of base before clearing. Clear coating a sanded base coat has always shown scratches for me. Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it and good luck!

 

Things to Ponder, yes I will use a good quality paint PPG is planned I used it for the interior dash and the firewall so far. what about using an intercoat?

 

To date, I have never used an intercoat but will get my chance shortly. The project I am working on now must be painted with HOK paint (per the owners request) so this will be a learning opportunity for me to use an intercoat and HOK paint (Z28 stripes). I have watched countless hours of videos of Jon Kosmoski laying down this pearl paint with his technics, suggestions, and guidelines for his paint. He states he uses an intercoat for artwork/stripes to prevent marking the base with the stencil/tape. I've ordered all the paint and it should be in today though I am still a few weeks out from the final painting. HOK paint is a bit expensive but I don't think it's really much different than other decent paints. PPG is a good paint. Whatever you use, I suggest not mixing brands, especially once you start with the sealer through the final coat of clear. The project I'm on was partially done before I got it and the previous shop smoothed the firewall and painted it with HOK pearl and a different brand clear. When I got the car, I had to redo some work on the firewall and saw the clear was coming up. I took and air hose and all the clear just blew right off, made the owner sick. He called the previous shop and that is what the guy told him, he just used a clear he uses for everything.

As a guy told me years ago, "Get it out, play with it and enjoy it, but not so rough that you break it!" I always assumed he was talking about my car... Good luck with your car and would like to see pics once you've finished.

 

Let me know how it goes too, I read that a lot of guys use the intercoat for pearls, flakes etc, but I also understood that it was a way to sort of extend the painting window, I was trying to think of a way to paint the 1/8 black pinstripe around the gold that hurst did with traditional pinstriping, ( I guess tape off the panel, spray the black, then use fine line tape off the black and spray the gold, then clear) I will use the ppg from start to finish even with lacquers or any other paint I have used it was always stick to the same brands to ensure compatibility Thanks for the encouragement as well. :-)
.