DeTomaso Mailing List: May 99, Message #148

Tom,

You're welcome. Seems like the past 9 months that painting is my life! :).
Doesn't sound like you INTEND to get real serious, but be careful - it's
easy to get sucked in! 

My advice on painting the Pantera (if I had it to do over again...): if or
where you have original paint, think REALLY hard before stripping to bare
metal. About 90% of my car was in really great shape BEFORE I decided to
stip it. I won't make THAT mistake again.

The early cars (mine is #1549) at least, had little if any really straight
sheet metal, which means you'll have to re-straighten everything if you
strip it. This is NOT an easy task, especially for the amateur. If you're
paying to have it done, it means lots of extra $$$$. The original paint, on
the other hand, is almost indestructible - they don't make it like that any
more (full of lead for one thing - be sure to use a good mask when sanding
it. I didn't and will probably die about the time the car is finished). No
solvent will touch it. The only stripper that will work is methyl chloride,
and that works very slowly. This is great paint. Mine had three layers. The
base primer (a buff color) clearly had been used to take out all the waves
etc. It was REALLY thick in places. The next was a light yellow (tintable
primer? - my car is yellow) was also fairly thick and had probably been
blocked too.

If I were to do it again, I would go to metal only where necessary
(evidence of rust, lead cracks, or previous repair). If you have other
paint on top of the original, you could probably use a non-methyl chloride
stripper to remove it without harming the original, or just block sand it
off. Don't leave any non original paint. Then I would carefully block sand
the top coat down to the next layer with something like 150 grit (probably
dipping into the first layer occasionally) using a guide coat as
appropriate to check that I was keeping/getting things flat. This will take
some time as the paint is really hard, but save lots in the end. I'd use
polyester putty and/or a high build primer (polyester or epoxy unless you
have proper fresh air breathing system [or are working outdoors] to handle
a 2K urethane primer) to fill any dents or low spots. Where you have access
to a low spot, try tapping it out first. Likewise, any high spots should be
tapped out first. A random orbit sander might be used (carefully) to get
through some of the top coat if the panel is shown to be flat with an
initial blocking. I think this approach would literally have saved me 100
(or more) hours, and would give a better result. After everything is really
flat, a final couple of coats of primer, a final blocking, and it's ready
for painting.

Anyone else have comments?

Richard (the mad painter) Barkley 

Thomas Curb wrote:
> 
> Absolutly the best advise yet! Just what I needed. Thanks much. Tom
> --- Richard Barkley <Richard.Barkley@trw.com> wrote:
> Thomas,
>   I recommend HVLP. I have both kinds; an
> inexpensive ($200) turbine
> system, and a DeVilbiss Finishline gravity HVLP gun.
> The turbine is great
> around the house (especially indoors: you can spray
> doorjambs with almost
> no masking/drop cloths etc.) but marginal for auto
> use (they say not to use
> it, but I did anyway). The compressor/gun combo is
> much more versatile. The
> touchup gun is a good suggestion (hvlp or regular)
> you can get in small
> places or spray whole panels and they're only $20 -
> $50 for a decent one.
> The virtues of HVLP are many: almost double the
> coverage (~85% of the paint
> on the car vs <50% - saves lots of money), lower
> over spray (important in
> your garage and less masking required, better for
> the environment and your
> health. Only downside is slightly less smooth
> finish. If you are color
> sanding, this is not a problem, you just sand a
> little more.
> 
> Get a 5 hp compressor min - the cost isn't that much
> more and you can use
> it with real air tools. Also a good water/oil trap.
> If you plan (or start
> doing) any serious work, any small compressor will
> start spitting water if
> run semi continuously - the tank air just gets too
> hot and then carries
> lots of water which condenses in the paint! The
> solution is some kind of
> cooling: 20 to 40 ft of copper pipe, a coil in a can
> of water, or my
> favorite - a Pantera A/C condenser with a fan (it
> works great!). Best place
> to do this cooling is between the compressor and the
> tank, but that's not
> always possible. Put a water trap after it. My setup
> went from blowing
> water everywhere (at 60 to 80% rel humidity) to
> making air with 1/2 the
> relative humidity (and NO water out).
> 
> Finally, there is a great website for learning
> painters
> www.autobodystore.com. Len Stuart runs it. He sells
> some stuff, has a good
> video (painting 101). The best part is the bulletin
> board (go to the
> classroom, then discussion, then the new spray
> painting 101.bbs).
> Everything is discussed there and no question (it
> seems) is too dumb.