Advice on paint jobs for '84 Camaro Z28 HO?
Mark Spencer
are only a couple small rust spots, but the paint is a mess. (Faded
and chipping off.) When new, it was metallic blue. I was thinking at
the time I would spring for a $1700 paint job, but now am unsure if I
want to spend that much on the car. (174,000 miles!)
I'm thinking I might try and find a deal on a Maaco job or attempt to
paint it with a friend that has a tent and sprayer.
Anyone have advice? ;) I always hear how bad the Maaco jobs are, but
if a Maaco job is cheap, lasts two years and looks pretty good, I'm
happy. I'm in the Boston area if that makes a difference.
Thanks for any help!
Peter J Serio
range anywhere from looks real good @20 MPH from 25 feet away to "I got one
more year out of the old bomb before the quarters fell off of it, all for
$599."
Peter
Mark Spencer wrote in message <370a9a0b...@news.ne.mediaone.net>...
Gear Head
<370a9a0b...@news.ne.mediaone.net>...
> I've got an '84 Camaro Z28 HO that I picked up cheap last year. There
> are only a couple small rust spots, but the paint is a mess. (Faded
> and chipping off.) When new, it was metallic blue. I was thinking at
> the time I would spring for a $1700 paint job, but now am unsure if I
> want to spend that much on the car. (174,000 miles!)
>
> I'm thinking I might try and find a deal on a Maaco job or attempt to
> paint it with a friend that has a tent and sprayer.
>
> Anyone have advice? ;) I always hear how bad the Maaco jobs are, but
> if a Maaco job is cheap, lasts two years and looks pretty good, I'm
> happy. I'm in the Boston area if that makes a difference.
You get what you pay for with body work and paint. It's all in what you
want to do with the car. If you're going to sell it, just get a cheap job.
It'll last a while. It won't look great, they tend to paint over letters
and stuff. If they do a really shitty prep job, the paint might even fall
off. Seriously. I've heard of an Earl Sheib place that didn't even WASH
the car before spraying.
The salt and shitty conditions in Boston only raise hell with paint jobs,
making a shitty job last less.
Justin
--
Pink, it's my new obsession.
Pink, it's not even a question.
Pink, on the lips of your lover.
'Cause Pink is the love you discover... -Aerosmith
Dave Trenkner
prime, paint, seal.
--
Dave
86 IROC-Z
Stay low, Stay safe, Drive fast
Mark Spencer <dread...@mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:370a9a0b...@news.ne.mediaone.net...
>I've got an '84 Camaro Z28 HO that I picked up cheap last year. There
>are only a couple small rust spots, but the paint is a mess. (Faded
>and chipping off.) When new, it was metallic blue. I was thinking at
>the time I would spring for a $1700 paint job, but now am unsure if I
>want to spend that much on the car. (174,000 miles!)
>
>I'm thinking I might try and find a deal on a Maaco job or attempt to
>paint it with a friend that has a tent and sprayer.
>
>Anyone have advice? ;) I always hear how bad the Maaco jobs are, but
>if a Maaco job is cheap, lasts two years and looks pretty good, I'm
>happy. I'm in the Boston area if that makes a difference.
>
Wavy Gravy
>prime, paint, seal.
>
Are you kidding? Painting a car takes a load of skill and practice. I'm
sure 'Wuff will have something to say about this...
Michael Semon
'Wulff
<davetr...@NOSPAMfwi.com> wrote:
>Do the paint job yourself, it's really not that difficult. Wash, sand,
>prime, paint, seal.
Gee....I wish somebody would 've told me that before I wasted four
years on the apprenticeship program.
<G>
..............................................................................................
If we could just get everyone to close his or her eyes and visualize world peace for an hour,
imagine how serene and quiet it would be,
until the looting started.
'Wulff
<someg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Do the paint job yourself, it's really not that difficult. Wash, sand,
>>prime, paint, seal.
>>
>
>Are you kidding? Painting a car takes a load of skill and practice. I'm
>sure 'Wuff will have something to say about this...
>
>
>Michael Semon
>
>
LOL.....I just finished replying when noticed your post.
I just hope he was really joking.
For every "Natural" that does a good job on his car there is at least
a few hundred who'll totally make an expensive mess.
I have a sign above my desk that reads ;
LABOR RATES PER HOUR:
Standard $ 60.00
If you watch $ 70.00
If you help $ 80.00
If you worked on it first $ 190.00
The last line says it all......
( I'm in no way against people trying to do it themselves,There's
nothing better than being able to say "I did it all",
just as long as they know ahead of time that it can possibly be even
MORE expensive than getting it done professionally)
Grier, Brian
>
> Do the paint job yourself, it's really not that difficult. Wash, sand,
> prime, paint, seal.
>
You are right, it is not that difficult. But then neither
is firing a gun at a target. Doing either well takes practice
patience, and confidence.
How many people go to work at a body shop and paint a customers
car the same day? At the body shop I used to own, I had the
"Pinto from hell" whenever I hired a new person they would have
to show me their work on that car before I would let them any
where near a customer car. After two years that car must have
had 20 coats of paint on it from the painters that did not work
out.
Have him use Imron paint at 60psi and a gravity feed gun.
Nothing but a room full of mist and almost nothing on th car.
Of course he also has the 3M respirator and fresh cartridges,
and a painting suit.
Also use a primer/sealer, or at least make sure to apply
the sealer before the color coat.
The bigest headache is the prep work. Learning to keep the gun
moving at an even speed is relatively easy (notice I said
RELATIVELY). But if he takes a short cut with the body work,
he'll be looking at it for years regardless of his skill at
applying paint.
Before you start any body prep work wash the area you will be
working on, and then wipe it down with a degreaser, before you
start that days body work. If you do not, you run the risk of
working road oil into your paint, which will cause the new paint
to fail years early.
wrt Painting:
Unless he knows what he is doing, and can build a properly
ventilated, and filterred paint room, he'll spend forever
rocking out runs, using 2000 grit paper to get rid of dust
nibs and possibly overspray, and finally compounding the car
back to a shine.
Unless he really wants to learn the art of painting he should
farm out the job. If this is his first job, he should consider
using Dupont's NASON pre-mixed paints. The most expensive paint
they have are about $110 per gallon. Including primer, primer
thinner, sealer, reducer, catalyst, and fish eye remover, you are
looking at about $300 in supplies. If the car has urethane bumper
covers then another $40 for adhesion promoter. This does not
include rental of the compressor, and paint gun, paint suit, and
respirator. Putting together a fairly good paint room can run
another $50.
I do not want to scare anyone from trying to paint their own
car. But you need to be aware of the costs. If you mess up the
job, you'll be stripping the car and buying more painting supplies.
I have stripped and painted at least a dozen cars for people
that thought they were going to save themselves money and used
cheap equipment.
If you want to improve the quality of the paint job from a Maaco
or any other discount paint shop remove as much trim as can easily
be removed as possible. I do not remember much trim on the '80s
Camaros/Firebirds. Do not remove any body side moldings that are
held on with adhesive. If you do not have a heat gun and the
correct cleaners/solvents you will probably do more damage than
it is worth.
Also wash the entire car, including door jambs, and under the
hood, and hatch/decklid. Then degrease the entire car before
you drop it off to be painted.
I repainted my '82 last year, after not painting a car in 16 years.
With only minor door dings, some rust on the drivers quarter panel.
It took me 6 weeks of evenings to get the car ready for paint.
The painting went well with only two runs that rocked out.
Of course my kids openned the garage door just after I put on the
clear coat, letting in a ton of dust... The results 1 day to wetsand
and 3 days to hand compound the car. But it looks better than most
of the Maaco jobs, for about the same cost.
Brian
'82GL/302/T-Tops