The "$80 Paint Job"

[zraffz]

I know this isn't an f-body but for anybody who hasn't heard about this, back in 2005ish Hot Rod Magazine published an article about painting a 1962 Ford with Rustoleum and a foam roller.
The article can be found here:
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/b...b/viewall.html


I have a spray gun but have never sprayed a car before and was a bit skeptical on how it would turn out (not to mention my lack of motivation to tape off the windows). I wanted to attempt this "$50 paint job" for a few years now and finally grew a set and gave it a go on my 1993 S10 while I wait for my parts to come from Arizona to finish up the motor.


After two days of tinkering with the mixture of mineral spirts to rustoleum (and sanding, priming, painting... just to re-sand and start all over again) I found a happy median at a 50/50 mix. Anything thicker took to long to dry and didn't flatten out while anything thinner was just too diluted and didn't want to stick without leaving drip marks everywhere.

I will say I didn't go crazy on the prep work; I didn't sand out the high and low spots/paint chips/etc. I will also state that laying the paint on primer sucked - after three coats the primer is still absorbing a large chunk of the paint. The doors and back on the truck were primed with flat black and it appears to lay on much nicer.

My first coat I just wet sanded the primer/flat black with 320 grit and than laid on the first coat of paint. Afterwards I wet sanded it with 600 grit paper (this took out most of the high spots and all the dead bugs). I just got done laying the 2nd coat on today and have yet to wet sand it again (this time I plan on going with 1,000 or 1,500 grit). Afterwards I will lay on one final coat and sand it with 2,500 grit. I'll give it a few days to cure and polish it.

These pictures make it look grainy... it really isn't grainy or orange peeled:

[1320B4U]

So you used the foam roller on this? Surprising looks real good w/the sheen..

[zraffz]

Foam roller for larger surfaces and small foam brush for smaller areas. Trick is to keep very little on the brush/roller. Just got done sanding for the 2nd time, think I only need one final coat.
The places I used primer are still not taking paint as good as the areas I used flat black (3 coats on primed spots isn't nearly as nice as 2 coats on the flat black).


Doesn't look like I'll be getting another coat in this week cause of the rain though.

[B4C]

I had about 12 coats on my old car, I primed the whole thing. The whole process does leave you with Alittle bit of orange peal but a final cut and buff should take care of that.

[zraffz]

Originally Posted by B4C

I had about 12 coats on my old car, I primed the whole thing. The whole process does leave you with Alittle bit of orange peal but a final cut and buff should take care of that.

The primer is a pain to paint on. It just keeps sucking paint up.