VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood Acrylic Enamel w/ Touch-up Gun

I've been reading a lot about painting my 37 2dr sedan, that I think has DuPont Ducal Lacquer. The finish is 50% good, 40% surface rust and 10% dents and dings. The comercial paint quotes are very high so the question is can I do it myself and what process will I use. I have a garage and a small compressor(2hp w/ 8 gal tank / 3.8 CFM @ 40psi). The "How To Paint Your Car" book strongly recommends one brand urethane systems and quality HVLP spray guns. All good advice I'm sure. Remember I have only one car to paint. Is there an alternative to buying a 13CFM compressor, fresh air resperator, and garage vent system? The simplest approach I can come up with is this. Acrylic enamel applied with a Devillbiss EGA touch up gun w/8oz cup. The gun requires only 3 cmf @ 30 psi inlet, uses 1.0 mm fluid tip and specs applications as "all automotive refinish materials" (I'm not sure this includes primers & sealers for body work). Its a small 3" pattern but I plan to paint one fender/hood panel/ trunk/ body panel at a time. This way I use my small compressor and filter mask, saving about $ 1000 in one time use equipment. I've probably been thinking about this too much and I need a reality check from someone who has painting experience, because I dont.

Bumper 37

If you want to do a quality job, get a good air compressor. A three inch pattern is not wide enough.....even when painting individual panels. An 8 gallon tank is too small for the type of painting that you want to do since lacquer requires between 35 pounds and 40 pounds at the gun. Enamel requires a little more air pressure than that. With your air compressor you will run out of air very quickly and your paint job will suffer accordingly.

Bumper
JYD is right, with a 3" spray pattern your panels will resemble a zebra (all stripes). From experience a 2hp/8gal compressor will not run a spraygun worth having, if the compressor wont supply twice the flow the spraygun uses dont bother turning it on.
If you are only doing 1 car get it all ready to paint in primer then hire a compressor capable of running the gun for the day. It will take less than a day to do each coat and several days preparation between coats. Dont make my mistake and leave 6 years between primer and colour coats (you will be starting all over again).
Tony

Thank you for the replys thats the kind of knowledge based answers I need. Tony, you suggest preping the car in prime then renting for the finish coats but dont I need a "big" compressor and gun to prime, surfacer and seal?

"....but don't I need a "big" compressor and gun to prime, surfacer and seal?"

Yes, for applying primer and sealer you will need the same kind of setup as you will need for the finish coat. Remember, everything is based on CFM (cubic feet per minute), material flow, fan width, amount of pressure at the gun and etc. whether you are using primer or top coat.

For painting one car, have you considered renting a compressor and painting system? Or joining a Auto paint & body class at your local community college? (maybe they would let you use your car as a class project.)
I have been using a Craftsman 6.5 HP 60 gallon compressor and a 3/4 inch filter, dryer and regulator. It is barely adequate for maintaining enough pressure and volume to do a decent painting job, sometimes I add a 3HP unit by coupleing it into the air line before the filter regulator. I use a check valve because it only pumps up to 100 PSI and the 6.5 HP unit pumps up to 135 PSI the small unit kicks in when the tank pressure gets below around 70 PSI.

I, myself, would like to have some actual information from someone that has used one of those HVLP turbine systems you see advertised in Hemmings and other restoration publications, I only see info from those selling the systems...and I really doubt if they are 100% factual.

You might want to use nitro cellulose (if you can find it) or acrylic lacquer, as it's more forgiving for the hobbyist. Any runs or other imperfections (dirt, fish eye or water) can be fixed in a short time. Enamel is tricky for runs and drying time. Humidity is another factor. Been there and done it!!

Bumper:
I tried priming my car with 'old wheezer' and finally had to upgrade to a larger compressor to get an acceptable finish. If you get a larger compressor you will find all sorts of ways to use it and you won't regret it...should be a good long term investment.
Alternately, the HVLP units are (I'm told) a great way to paint and actually use less paint due to minimal overspray, and paint can be very expensive! You might want to consider buying one as a one-time use and then selling. I suspect there is a strong demand for good used HVLP equipment. HVLP set ups start at about $500 and I'd bet you could probably get 50% to 75% of your initial investment back if it's lightly used.

Coach

I have four air compressors that I use, but my main air compressor is a commercial two-stage unit that puts out 15.1 CFM and it has an 80 gallon tank. I not only use it for painting but for running my commercial bead blast cabinet as well. My main spray gun is a Binks Model 7 and it requires about 11 CFM of air. With this setup I can paint anything I want to paint and have plenty of volume and CFM as well.

I'm convinced I need a "big" compressor. Can I get there on my existing 120 volt supply? Also I read today not to paint over lacquer - "remove it to bare metal or suffer adhesion problems". I assume that dosn't apply to an additional lacquer finish but I want to keep all options open. Has anyone sucessfully painted acrylic enamel or urathane over lacquer?

Negative! For a big compressor you will need 220 volts. Smaller compressors for airing tires and etc. work fine at 110 volts, but the big babies (like the 5 horsepower commercial jobs) are 220. And, once you get to either 7 horsepower or 10 horsepower, then three phase electricity is required or a converter will be needed to convert back to single phase. Another requirement for a big compressor is line size and amps. For a commercial 5 horsepower compressor on single phase, about a 6 gauge line is required and a 200 amp service is ideal....especially if you have other electrical requirements in your shop.

With a sealer you can probably top coat over the old finish, however, if you really want a quality paint job, and one that is easier for you as a beginner to accomplish, I would suggest stripping the paint down to bare metal and then starting over. By painting over existing top coats (and you don't know how many there are) more problems develop and they tend to compound as well. Those are additional headaches that you don't need.

I started painting primer on my 36 Chevy using a 110v 60 gal Husky compressor and found that I did not have adequate air on long runs with an HVLP system. I ended up running the 220v line and getting a 60 gallon Ingersoll-Rand compressor. It's 5hp, but delivers 18cfm at 90psi. I have been very happy with this system. I've probably invested about $1200 in the compressor, HVLP guns, and fresh air respirator system, but I think it's money well spent. I'm getting a quality finish and I get the satisfaction of doing it myself.

Make sure you trap the water that compressed air produces.