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what would I need to paint my car? I can sand do body work etc, im just really intrested in painting it myself since i got fed over when I got it painted lask october..

You will need good gun, air compressor to supply enough air, id recommend D/A too(dual action sander) for gun you will need one with 1.3-1.5 tip setup for base coat and 1.6 or so for clear coat, for primers 1.8.
I wouldnt recommend painting it yourself unless you've had some practice at least on gun setup.
let me know if you have any more questions ill walk you step by step

i actaully pick stuff up VERY quick, and im a design and art major, so im good with paint. Right now im working on a custom front end, using fiberglass and the evil bondo, teaching myself everyhting along the way. NExt step is to learn to paint. A local guy here in ny posted picture of him painting his car in his garage, and ive seen hte car in person, its amazing.<p>I think if I had one metal piece to practice on id be fine, so i might go buy some junk fender somwhere to practice with. just sucks I paid over 2k, paints already chipping, engine bay and jambs werent painted, just a horrible experience. I rather spend 500$ on equipment and paint and do it myself

I painted my wifes MX-3 by myself with no experience. I think it turned out great. I am actually going to be repainting it later this year, so I will get even more experience. I now have a learning curve, so it should look better and be easier for me. Dont skimp on the prepwork.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by RanMan:
I painted my wifes MX-3 by myself with no experience. I think it turned out great. I am actually going to be repainting it later this year, so I will get even more experience. I now have a learning curve, so it should look better and be easier for me. Dont skimp on the prepwork.<hr></blockquote><p>any pics?

yeah I rememebr, the black one with the green tribal effects, it was a nice job. Saw some close up pics you posted. Anyways what equipment did you use? waste would you guesstimate a cost to be? no special paint...

Thanks for the props. It is not as perfect as I want it, but that does not really matter, because I am going to be repainting it later this year. Probably will keep basically the same design, but change it a bit...more complex....and add some silver to tie in the Kevlar dash kit. Here are some pics.<p><p><p><p>

Oh yeah....I used a Sharpe paintgun (about 20 years old) and a real crappy compressor. This time around I will be using a professional quality HVLP (either a Sharpe, DeVilbiss, or SATA) as well as my new upright compressor (Campbell Hausfeld 28 gallon tank with 5.5HP motor). The paint should be MUCH better this time. I will be once again using House of Kolor paint (the best paint available). I will also be using Lacquer this time rather than enamel. Lacquer is easier to correct mistakes with and also dries faster....you can come back and sand after about 5-10 minutes....good for mistakes like sags/runs....or fisheye. The paint, primer/sealer, and clearcoat costs me about $650. That is dirt cheap for a custom one of a kind paintjob. The green on the car is actually NEON green....hurts your eyes when in regular form....brighter than the greens that you see on some NASCAR cars! I put about 3 coats of white pearl over the neon to dull it down a bit, make it more resistant to sun fading, and to give is the color change qualities of pearls. You can see in the pics how it is much brighter (whiter) on the bodylines due to the pearl.

well **** im movin to austin in a few months, how far are you from there?

haha...several hours away. Hopefully in the next few years, I can start my auto customizing shop. I am just not confident enough in my abilities to work on other peoples car.

i could show you how to paint. its not hard at all. just painted my bike house of color neon green. after using a couple different major paint manufacturers i think house of color is the same. they dont offer anything more than their name. the neon was a little harder to spray and dulled so much more with the clear applied. still blinding bright but dulled somewhat. <p>anyways, the painting process cannot be rushed. it is a very time consuming job and the outcome of the job IS the bodywork underneath. spraying is the easy part. i dont live far and i could show you if your seriously interested in painting it.

Hi guys.. I am from Austin TX. I was reading your post cause I am very interested in repainting my car to black or gunmetal. I am alittle confused however cause I thought you had to have some kinda a paint both to help the paint dry correctly?<p>Also where did you get the paint gun and paint?<p>When you sand the car to prep it, do you sand it to the metal or just smooth out the old paint?

you can get paint supplies at summitracing and jcwhitney.. but jc's tools seem so 'cheap' in person. go with summit they ship fast, cheap, and are great products.<p>anyway, whats actually involved in having the jambs painted and the engine bay... with the doors im guessing removing the interior panel would help. and the engine bay, do you have to remove the engine and all hoses? how do they do that crap? also what about under the hood, there's some important info stickers in there that you can't spray over.

painters tape ...boosted id take you up on that offer but right now im dirt f-ing poor. Im moving to austin sometime in august, and right now my car wont make it as it is. Im tryin to swap the BP in before I leave, turbo when im down there, plus a tire just went flat, plus i have other expenses. Im waiting on tables right now and business is damn slow...damn depressed new yorkers..

Hey, i'm in the middle of this major project myself, learning as I go along. Is there a good forum for beginners that anybody knows of? I'm falling deeper into the hole and would like to know that this project *could* be successfull! :p <p>Dave