gums

I'm thinking that I'll never do this again, so I don't want to buy a huge expensive compressor. Worth it anyway? What'd you pay for that behemoth, Gary?

And you guys wouldn't likely know it, but we've come a long way, Pontiflex. Hope you're comfy now.

MUSSBERGER

Just wait till you start shooting some primer to find those lows and highs.

gums

If it gets ridiculous I'm just going to trailer it to Maaco.

Gary R.

Wait till you go to buy the paints! Epoxy primer, high build primer, sealer, and all the reducers and hardeners... And do you have a good HVLP gun?

Got it from Northern Tool, $1200 w/free shipping, it's a commercial version. Add to that a piping/filter/regulator kit, a good 50' hose and reel, and you have a system! Was close to $2.5K by the time I was done, including a 1/2" IR impact gun and a small cutoff tool.

67King

You might consider renting some cylinders of compressed air, and a regulator. I did that when I was in grad school (1999-2000) to get my GTO started. Worked like a charm. I now have an 80 gallon, 2-stage compressor for my various needs.

Gary R.

I consider buying and owning tools as I go along to be part of this hobby as I like to tinker around. Having the right tool for the right job makes it a LOT less tedious to accomplish.. but I do tend to overkill a bit.

gums

I'm not doing the painting, just the prep. When I get it close, it's going out.

Gary R.

FYI - A lot of paint shops will want to redo everything if they didn't do the prep as what is underneath is more important than the paint itself and they have to stand behind the results. Just be sure to talk to your intended painter (bet you already did) to avoid doing a lot of work for nada..

bobt993

Frank,

What Gary says. I prepped a bumper and before doing it spoke to the shop. They planned to go over it anyways, but it did reduce the cost a bit. We have a local Maaco dealer that is into street rods and if requested does upper level work with a two stage process. Def do two stage for durability. The work was actually very good and they took the time to get the primer on and filled any defects in the fiber glass fender parts. Not worth doing yourself when you add up the material and tools. You really need a filtered paint booth with heat. ( I have an nice HVLP sprayer ).

Gary R.

Bob - I prefer single stage for a track car as it's much easier to do spot repairs (and cheaper). Not that I need to ever repair anything!

pontifex4

It's a considerable improvement, as far as my chewing is concerned! I was a little overdue.

Regarding the big compressor, I think of mine as a lifetime investment (every part is user-serviceable except the motor) and all that air makes removing wheels, inflating tires, running a grinder or cutoff wheel or undoing old bolts a lot more enjoyable: you never seem to run out of power at the tool. I got mine secondhand locally for $600, and I use it for something pretty well every time I'm in the shop.

MUSSBERGER

Lighter too

bobt993

I hear you Gary, but if you don't use some sort of clear bra protection on the front it degrades the nose pretty fast with stone chips.

Gary R.

That's Patina...

One thing I do know, I tried using cheap (Kirker) paint on a section of my front bumper and I could not believe how fast it degraded compared to the "brand name", older paint right next to it!

gums

You guys may well be saving my sanity! Made big progress this morning, but if it's for naught I'm ready to trailer up.
Durability is the reason I'm changing my plans on the color scheme. I was really interested to do an Al Holbert retro theme, but now I'm seeing pictures of a few cars at season's end and it looks like the darker cars show the wear more. I'm currently thinking that a nice silver will age better instead.