Garage paint job results

[R6MGS]

As some of you know I dared to try and repaint the two front fenders on my MGB LE in my two car garage with a spray gun and compressor from the 1950's(*just to keep in the vintage spirit), and some acrylic enamel paint courtesy of sherwin Williams.

Even I doubted it would work out but I had nothing to lose and if I screwed it up I could always bring it in to a prfessional shop and get it fixed up....BUT that is not the case! after playing with mixure for an hour the paint still went on orangepeel, ran in a few spots and just looked awful....went canadian tire for some various grades of fine automotive sand paper....waited a few painful days for the paint to dry and just now went out to try wet sanding a small test area....picked a 6' square patch, sanded it perfectly smooth with 800grit, then 100grit, then 2000 grit(lucky I put lots of paint on) then buffed up the shine again with different grades of compounds and waxes.......it now looks like GLASS i mean a perfect show car finish, the finish on this is better than on my Jag!
I now have a whole weekend of sanding and polishing ahead of me but at least it'll be worth it

Anyone who has the resources to paint you own car I highly recommend it....even just for the feeling of knowing you did it yourself and it's better than most professional jobs also acrylic enamel is a very easy paint to work with and thats probably the only reason this turned out so well for me.

Sorry for such a long post but I am just so proud of myself, I had to tell somebody.

Zack
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thirsty.gif

 

[jaybird]

Watch your mail, I'm sending you 2 bumpers.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

 

[TNMGB]

Well, since we're on the topic of painting in the ol' garage, thought I'd send along a photo of my homemade spray booth where I've been working on priming my rostyle wheels. So far, it's worked pretty well. As soon as this rain here in Nashville goes away, I'll get ready to spray paint on those wheels and get them ready for the body shop to put on!

 

[DFOX]

Hi,
Can you tell me how you paint the rostyle wheels? Do you paint them silver first, then do you have a template that allows you to spray the black over the silver? My MG shop has a plastic template, but it sure doesn't look like something I would have any success with. Any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

[R6MGS]

I've always masked off the silver and sprayed the black...then painted the silver with a brush.....or sometimes I paint both black and silver with a brush...I noticed moss now has a mask available so maybe next time I'll use that....the key is the prep work, and you don't have to blast to get good results(unless your rims are really bad) I just take my time and use lots of sand paper and steel wool....never had any problems with rust returing at all.

Zack

P.S: Jaybird, what color would you like em` /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[74WannaB]

Hearing about your garage painting experience gives me a renewed confidence that I can do this myself. I want to repaint my B from the ground up. I figure I'll have lots of practice since most of the interior bits won't be seen once the car is finished, and I have enough spare parts lying around for two cars. I just need to break down and buy a fairly good gun. Anybody have any suggestions? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[R6MGS]

After this I really don't think the gun matters......the gun I used was purchased in the late 50's early 60's along with the compressor....and believe me niether of them were performing like new after all this time....like I said above prep is key...I spent 2 weeks getting just the two fenders ready for paint...after that as long as you get a good thick coat of paint on,even if it's orange peel and has dust particles in it once you wet-sand and polish all that will disappear....just watch out for runs becasue they are the hardest to remove.

I've still got about 2 days left to wet-sand and polish out the rest of the fenders so make sure you set plently of time to do it right.

 

[TNMGB]

Yeah, I'm going to paint the argent silver first, then mask off with tape and an exacto knife and brush the satin black on the inset part of the wheel. My neighbor is a contractor and is loaning me his $1200 sprayer to do this with so I hope to have no probs...let's hope all turns out well with that!

 

[Stewart]

With the rostyle wheels I went ahead and ordered the moss silver paint then went to osh and picked up some black spray paint. First pair of wheels I bought off of ebay that were blasted and primed second set I had blasted and I primed with krylon. I sprayed the silver first and let it dry then masked off the wheel and used a rasor blade to cut out the black portion then shot the black. It's about a 20 minute job to mask off a wheel.

 

[jaybird]

Black please.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

 

[Banjo]

Last fall I painted my dads 69 MGB in my garage. We put plastic over everything and I replaced a couple of the windows with cheap furnace filters (also had a floor fan in one of them with a filter taped to the front)
It came out the same. some peel in areas and a few runs in other spots. I was very relieved to not get much dust and no fisheyes.
I used a nib file to shave off the runs, and wet sanded and buffed the whole thing. It came out great.
I used a cheap gravity fed HVLP gun I borrowed from a friend that came in a set from a hardware store .
The key is prep work and cleanliness. Make sure no contaminants are nearby, that the car is properly cleaned and so is the spray equipment.
I did use it as an excuse to get a new compressor, as I was concerned about what was in the bottom of the tank on my 30 year old one.
As for the rostyles, I have done them by spraying the silver first then the black. Either by hand or mask off the silver and spray. If you have a steady hand and a good pinstriping brush I think it's quicker and cleaner to hand paint it.
Don't wast any money on the masks for those wheels.They don't fit very good and the paint blows right under them. Even if your real careful. They stink.

 

[TNMGB]

I had gathered from other posts that the masks were a waste of time and money...thanks fo reaffirming my decision not to use them.

 

[nortcomm]

Great to hear! I've been painting (motorcycles) at home for years, and get results that are directly related to the amount of prep time involved. I use a second-hand Sears compressor, and a couple of guns from Home Depot. When I make the effort to prep well, I get results that are superior to the work from the average body shop. There's a good book by Tom Brownell available at most book stores that explains more than you'll ever need to know about painting at home. DIY rules!

 

[77MidgetMkIV]

any pics?

 

[nortcomm]

Sure!

https://nort_comm.tripod.com/hobbies/kat1.jpg
https://nort_comm.tripod.com/hobbies/bikes.html

 

[R6MGS]

I'll try to post pics once I finish wet-sanding and polishing both fenders(only got 1/2 of one done) I'll be done by Saturday night

 

[John Moore]

I just repainted my engine bay and trunk in my garage today.

 

[John Moore]

Here is the boot.