Painting One's Datsun DIY Style

[nifty50trickydicky]

Has anyone here done this? Painted your Datsun yourself? I've been reading a lot of DIY auto paint guides & how-to's and figured why the hell not...

 

But for those who have painted their own car, especially those with little to know experience, I've got a few questions... Would you do it again, or not worth it? Tips and tricks? And most importantly.... is it all that essential to sand down to the bare metal on a 35 year old car?? Will I need to use primer? A clearcoat?

 

I'm looking to do a paint job that will look "good" but does not have to be show quality. We've been doing a ground-up resto on my B210 and most of the work has been done by yours truly; I really enjoy doing as much work myself as I can because it's honestly a great learning experience and I'll be all the more proud when she's "done". But I'm open to hearing y'all's $0.02.

 

By the way, pics of the car: http://bit.ly/nixonb210pics

[72dat]

My dad painted his Tr6 last summer and is going to be redoing it.  It looks really nice in the dark or from a distance but when your up close you see some small runs at the bottom of the fenders and some blemishes with the clear coat. This was his first try and he's not going for show quality but just something to fun with so hes not too picky. (although after he sprayed it he now picks out the flaws and it bugs him everytime he sees it) I was going to try the DIY method but after seeing all the work/time put into it i'm just going to save my pennies and get somebody else to do it. I think if your looking for just "good" you should go for it. 

[DaBlist]

Google it.

 

Hot Rod, Car Craft etc. magazines are always doing DIY paint your car write ups. Some of them dirt cheap as in rolling on Rust-Oleum and sanding and polishing it out.

 

Summit Racing has an econo paint line

[K_trip]

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[K_trip]

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[Boom death]

well I painted my 510 in my driveway haha if u decide to paint ur own car the best tip I can give u is spend LOTS of time on ur body work the more attention u pay to making everything straight the better ur paint will look specially when working with body filler. make sure its all featheredge and smoothed out or else u will end up with waves all over ur car   I had to find this out the hard way .. as far as stripping the paint down to bare metal if its original paint I would paint over it but if it has 2 or more coats I would strip it down that way u don't have any issues in the future of paint cracking from being to thick .... also do urself a favor and buy base coat clearcoat and not single stage paint better quality paint the better ur finish and of course here are some pictures

[nifty50trickydicky]

Okay ... I looked at some more of your oics and can see what you're dealing with :blush:

 

Personally I prefer welded steel for rust repairs, but in California things are different.

 

Since you're doing the "screen and bondo" rust repair, and you're not looking for a show car finish - I say GO FOR THE DIY PAINT JOB

 

I've seen a lot of folks on this forum use the term oics - is this a legitimate acryonym or a tongue-in-cheek injoke? I haven't been able to tell :P

 

And yeah, the car needed some body work here and there so we figured the best route to take would be to paint the whole thing. She's a beaut from a distance, but up close you notice every little detail... or at least I do, haha.

 

Also, you say in California things are different... Not sure whether you mean climate-wise or culture-wise or something else. Mine's a Florida car, but the reason we went with bondo is two-fold: first off, and most importantly, I don't know the first thing about welding. Secondly, most of the body work I've needed to do hasn't been major enough to warrant welding anyway, IMHO.

 

 

well I painted my 510 in my driveway haha if u decide to paint ur own car the best tip I can give u is spend LOTS of time on ur body work the more attention u pay to making everything straight the better ur paint will look specially when working with body filler. make sure its all featheredge and smoothed out or else u will end up with waves all over ur car   I had to find this out the hard way .. as far as stripping the paint down to bare metal if its original paint I would paint over it but if it has 2 or more coats I would strip it down that way u don't have any issues in the future of paint cracking from being to thick .... also do urself a favor and buy base coat clearcoat and not single stage paint better quality paint the better ur finish and of course here are some pictures 

 

Thanks for the input, I didn't plan on buying "all-in-one" anyway because I don't trust those products to begin with haha, but it's nice to see that others feel the same.

 

I couldn't tell you how many hours I've put into prepwork... I feel pretty confident that if I end up with drips or waves the blame will be on my hand rather than my car. Your five and dime came out beautiful, by the way, definitely the motivation I needed to go forward.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the input. Hopefully we'll be painting this week and I'll have some more pics up for y'all.

[Janksun]

I have never painted my own car lol but lots of other peoples cars. For stripping use an aircraft stripper, wear gloves, and put something underneath your car so you don't get the stripper everywhere, well actually I like strippers everywhere haha, but after that do all your body work. Then prime. Some say seal some

Don't. I personally get all my body work done, prime, more body work, prime, maybe some

More body work, prime. Wet sand. Seal. Paint. I have no issues using either a base coat clear coat method or a single stage. Preferably I like to use a single stage. It dries harder. It is easier because it's just one process not two. And if you sand and polish afterwards, it pops! I painted my bosses 66(I think) ford ranchero fairlane in a graver blue single stage by ppg. 3 coats of paint and it looked tits! I'll edit this post in a bit with a pic.

 

[scooter stuff]

I've been an Auto refinish tech for close to 25 yrs. I've painted well over 1000 cars, restoration & collision. IMHO you're setting your self up for failure. your best off doing the bodywork and prep yourself then taking it to a pro for the paint.