I am almost at the stage of painting my tub. I am hoping to have this back together for a trip to Moab in the fall. My question:

Do I by a respirator and a HVLP set up and paint this thing myself or pay a body shop to do it? I didn't know how to weld before I started this project and I am pretty decent now. I feel painting may be aliitle less forgiving. However I could fix my own trial damage. What do you all think?

Greg

:flipoff2:
Won't save you any money by doing it yourself and buying all the stuff, but then again, sounds like you're not trying to save. Therefore, f it, just do it yourself. That way you can fix all your buddies' too :D
:flipoff2:

Well.. talking from experience, i'd say paint it. i just painted my FJ last week, it may not be a resto but it came out pretty damn good for using rustoleum, a $30 high pressure low volume suction feed gun, and a compressor that couldnt keep up with the gun ;)

Go for it man, you might wanna go through a buddie's hot rod mags as they have alot of good articles on painting...

Matt:)

Paint it yourself. If you screw it up really bad, just hit it with the sander and do it again.

I dig the rustoleum paint job myself (also). Comes out pretty good and it's easy as hell to touch up.

Report back when you're done.

~dso

Paint it yourself!

I painted my 67' FJ-40 my self in collage, in the parking lot behind my apparent! I just strung line to hang the small parts (fender bonnets, windshield frame etc.) put the hood and fenders on blocks, looked over my shoulder for the manager and shot the sucker! (No top or doors, so I did the interior as well) The compressor was in the laundry room (for noise and free power) and I just hosed down the parking area with water keep any dust down. (Also shot only in the early AM and evening for no wind) I used a $275 compressor from Costco (Sold it a week later for the same price), a $21 regular spray gun and 200 feet of hose and a few gallons of Industrial Rust-o-lum (safety red!). This paint was great, single stage (no other coats like clear etc.), cheep $30 a gal and durable off road. This was the first vehicle I ever painted and it came out great! (One more cruiser, a F-100 and of course your not a true back yard painter entail you have also done a VW bug! Yup shot them all the same color. )

But as anyone with some auto paint experience will tell you, the quality of the paint job is much like welding, it's all in the prep work. Just buy a book on "how to paint cars" or dust off the library card but get a basic book. Learn to use as little bondo as possible and the steps leading up to the actual paint shooting time. Once you have done it, it just boils down to time (time also = $ as well all know) and space to do the job. Be safe and spend the same amount or more as you paint gun for a quality respirator (paper jobs won't cut it). If you barrow a friends go buy new charcoal canisters for it just be safe. You also need outstanding ventilation if you are inside. The F-100 was the last rig I painted, and I f-ed up my eyes by not having enough ventilation in the barrowed space I shot in. (You don't want VMP Naphtha, a cleaner/thinner/drying agent misting anywhere near your face!)

Haha, too cool, i was gonna do the FJ in Rustoleum Safety Red, but then i went back to black. i've always had a thing for black on black on black [black cruiser, black bumpers, black racks, black rims] with just the very top painted white. Just got that badass no-nonsence look to it, and thats what im all about.

i was thinking about putting some sort of sealer on it with hardener in it to get a harder topcoat, who knows if i will though :rolleyes:


Matt :evil2:

Do it yourself... I helped a friend paint her show truck and it was so much fun! The two of us sanded it in a weekend and shot it in about half an hour in their driveway. Like they said, prep work is everything!

Just think of all the jun stuff you'll be learning. :)

:flipoff2:
Just rattle can it whatever color rocks are in your area and be done with it :D

:flipoff2:

Do it DIY. I painted my 40 with Military OD green paint (not the KARK stuff) with a HVLP gun in my driveway. It was pretty easy and it looked OK. Held up really well against rust.

I have had a few trucks painted a MAACO as well. A few of them turned out really well and the last one not so well :(. Most El Cheapo paint places don't use really good paint and it's kind of a crapshoot. Heck, it can even be that way with a really good body shop.

One of my best buddies owns a body shop. He helped me paint a truck for once. For how much work it was, I'll never go do that again. No point in doing that much prep and spending $500 on paint just to take it out and fark up as a work and trail truck.

My "good old boy" dad uses that Industrial Rustoleum stuff on lots of crap. Heck, he even painted the airplane he built with it and like the others said, it looks really good. I thought that he was a total jackass for doing it but then we went to the place that restores airplanes for the Air and Space Museum and his paint job looked as good if not better that what they were doing.

One more thing, if you do use an automotive paint with an Isocyanide (sp?) hardener/activator be careful and get a REALLY good respirator and make sure it's NEW. I used to work with a guy who painted his car out in his driveway and had a reaction to the stuff. The dude almost died. Doctor said that some people can deal with better than others. It's not just breathing it either, you can get sick if it gets on your skin. Also used to work at the Dewalt tool company with a guy who was fucked up for life by that shit and had some kind of chronic fatigue syndrome. Not to sound paranoid but I hate chemicals. Use the Rustoleum, it's cheap and safer and your going to fark it up anyway.

-Stumbaugh

Best success with my outdoor efforts in the past was with Zinc Chromate Epoxy Primer and my trusty Wagner Power Painter.

That stuff is awesome and it does not scuff or scratch.

I used CAT Yellow paint on an Opel Manta while I was in college and that ZCEP withstood about 4-5 gross of bottle rockets launched off of the rear B Pillar vent.

The blast off soot wiped right off.

:p

nice comment climbermike....