NC928S4

More great advice! I may actually succeed despite myself.

I'm going to go ahead and get an Electric DA sander based on the advice here and elsewhere especially because I have lots of material to remove to get down to the primer. My new compressor is undersized but is rated at 5.1 CFM @ 90psi and works reasonably well.

Shown below is a pic of the many layers of what the Sills have on them. It's like determining the age of a tree by counting the rings. All interpretations are welcome.

OKB

Heres the advice , Power tools are for pros that know how to use them. If youre not an experienced paint and body man, dont buy any power sanders or buffers.
Everything you do should be by hand .
buy wet and dry sandpaper and different size blocks. Go to town.
Youll find out why paint jobs cost so much.

Dean_Fuller

I took my sons car down to bare metal everywhere. I used a $60 DA sander with 80 grit to remove paint. Keep it moving so as to not add low spots in the surface. After its stripped I used 2 coats of epoxy primer ( works on aluminum and galvanized steel ) . Then I used high build primer on the epoxy for sanding and getting flat. I sanded and reprimed the car with high build at least 4 times but it was flat and the sanding goes fast with a flat block and wet 600 grit.

If I can do it...anybody can. Just don't get in a rush. The hardest part was knowing when to stop and paint. The actual painting is the easiest part of it all.

With all due respect...I would still be sanding if I had not used a DA to remove the old paint. Can't imagine doing that by hand...but that's me.

Also any body filler applied for minor dings should be over bare metal as per the instructions. Filler should not be added on top of old paint.

The Fixer

I see a rabbit.

Great advice Dean,

I would take it All off to bare metal as Dean says with a DA if you like your arms.

Read the below, there is no replacement for experience and by experience i mean screwing up over the years.

Re compressors, (highly important)
you can get away with around 30 gal if the HP and cfm are there. I would say a minimum of 3HP and 10 cfm at 40. But 4 HP and over 13 cfm would be better. Buy a $100 SHARPE air filtration system/water sep or better (what i use costs 80 bucks and works great) use a decent HVLP $150 spray gun and go for it. You don't need to spend $650 on a SATA gun if you have skill.

! You can also join 2 or 3 smaller compressors to achieve high HP and cfm goal. Be sure to first upgrade to a 30 A breaker for that circuit or you'll be interrupted with power loss though.

Practice, practice, practice on a panel/s and one with a complex shape.
I found painting the 928 headlight recess on the fenders and the flag mirors challenging. You'd be surprised how easy you'll get a bad run.

You need to understand the speed at which to move your gun and the distance and angle to hold it at. You need to get the gun set right. Too much paint and you'll get runs.. Take your good ol time as Docmirror said.

! YOU NEED LIGHT ! Light is probably your biggest asset when painting.

! Be sure the compressor crank breathers aren't clogged !, i open mine up to double the size so that no excess oil is being consumed and spit into your air lines. The air filtration will get this but only to a point and if too much your filter will be over whelmed and you paint work will get oil craters everywhere.

I also by a $30 desiccant hose (A MUST) right after my air filtration device, these are great and were not available a few years back. Buy one.

I set up my compressor/s in another room in my garage, hat way it's a quiet less stressful environment.

I ran about 40' of 1" galv pipe (50' of 1.25" would be best) to my spray location which allows the air to get nice and cool. Many drip legs added and gave it pitch to these. Worked great and added some tank volume.

Be sure to get a cheap fluid pump and run Xylene back and forth through this air pipe system prior to painting if you set one up ! There are very small metallic particulates in these pipes !

Use the Ultra fine paint filters (paper funnels) see the desiccant hose in pics..

Be prepared for misery, i'm annoyed just thinking about how much more i could warn you about. There's just so much to learn.

Good luck !