Thought I would start a thread here on my son's restore project I'm doing. I should state right off that I knew nothing about painting before this. I spent a lot of time reading...and reading. I do not profess to be en expert...or even someone who knows what they are doing but this is my story. I welcome all input and corrections from those that are pros or experienced hobbyists. Right or wrong it will get done.

His car was in very good shape mechanically when he bought it off of Craigslist in early 2008. No body damage and rust only around the rear hatch glass and quarter windows. The front and rear bumpers were the first body color rubber bumpers on a production car. The front fender, hood and doors and aluminum. The roof, body tub and rear hatch are galvanized steel.

This is how the car looked the day it came home. The factory color was Black Metallic with black leather interior.

I decided to re upholster the interior and repaint the body to give my mind and body something to do while unemployed. Like I said I have never painted or upholstered anything in my life but with help from people like YOU and advice I got elsewhere I said "why not?" It needed doing and at worst..If I did badly then we were only out the materials. Any way it may take me awhile to load and document all I have done up till now but I thought it may help others that are doing the same...or those that are on the fence about tackling a job like this. I hope you enjoy the story to follow.

I started by disassembling the car. At first I thought this would be a repaint of the stock color but my son wanted something more daring that Black Metallic. Having to change color on my first paint job was daunting but I wanted to make his car plans pan out the way he wanted. I started by using my DA with 80 grit to remove the old paint. I got a little carried away. I removed the rear windows so the rust issue could be addressed as well as front bumper and outside mirrors. The "white" is the original primer. I am doing this about as "old school" as one could. All the prep worked started out side and in full sun. This was April of this year.

It was at this point that my son wanted to change color but had not chosen one yet. The dis assembly had to go further to do this right. The doors, hood, fenders and rear needed to come off to "jamb" what needed painting. Using the same color would of saved a lot of this work as the jambs were in good shape. In the third pic you can see the blue bucket that holds the longer weatherstrips and window trims.

It is amazing how many little parts need to be removed. I used zip lock bags to bag and label most of the small parts and where they came from but there was a ton of long, large trims that just ended up in a couple large boxes. All of the rubber weatherstrips were removed and bagged as well. In the process I found a few other ares in the door seal that showed signs of rust that need work as well as around the rear hatch glass. I cleaned the ares with a metal brush and then applied "Rustmort", a phosphoric acid that neutralizes rust. We also decided to eliminate the body side molding as I thing they detract from the body lines. however they are bolted on and those holes will need to be welded. I am not a welder so the aluminum parts were taken to a shop and a friend welded the remaining 4 holes in the quarter panels. I first pushed the "hole" edges in about an 1/8" so that when the holes were welded and I ground the welds there would be a better weld remaining. The total welding of these 12 holes, 8 of which were in aluminum cost me $90.

Next came getting ready to fix any and all body damage. I used Bondo to float the ground welds as well as 3 or 4 very small dents.

I did end up using a chemical stripper on the doors as these areas were just to hard to try and sand well. Its a mess but works well although it did need 3 applications. I used stripper in other hard to access ares as well.

I used an X pattern in sanding the areas that received bondo. I started using paint paddles as a straight board but did end up buying a "durablock". The block was easier to work. This, I was told, is the only way one and get these areas FLAT.

Now I was ready for primer. I remounted the fenders temporarily to make sanding easier. I used EPOXY primer first on all metal but really needed it on the aluminum. I then applied a 2K primer over that. I was told 2K goes on thick and allows one to X BLOCK sand to fill low areas. I may be the only person who likes Epoxy over the 2K. I thought the 2K was just too soft to sand well. In areas I ended up sanding through to metal I kept reapplying Epoxy primer until I was satisfied the body was as straight as I could make it....This took me weeks and several applications of primer. The reason I like the epoxy primer was it went on like paint and , although not meant to be sanded , can be. The natural shine of the epoxy primer made finding wavy areas much easier.

Now came my first MAJOR mistake. Just as I had finished shooting what I thought was my last coat of epoxy primer...it came a storm. I was painting under a metal cover at this point but the high winds and rain blew on to the fresh primer. As you can see it was ruined.

Obviously I had to resand...again...and re primer as my efforts were for not after the storm mishap. Eventually it was in primer again. Here are a few pics of the primer process. I should note here that with the epoxy primer the need for a lot of blocking was not need as the flaws were, again, much easier to see that with 2K primer. I still blocked the entire car using a guide coat but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

After letting the primer cure for a week I wet sanded in the "X Blocking" pattern the entire car with 600 grit. This took a lot on time. I can't tell you for certain how many times I sanded this car but I am sure it was at least 10 times. DON'T BE IN A HURRY! Its make or break right now. I'm not sure you could sand too much but I know you can sand too little. This pic shows the final wet sanding with 600 grit of the primer prior to color. It is wet so I can see any flaw.

Now I was ready to build my paint booth and pick a paint color.

PAINT BOOTH time.

I enclosed a 20 foot square area under the metal enclosure. I used my LARGE shop fan and cut intake holes to tape filters for in coming air. Even though the pic shows 4 filters I ended up with 8 of the largest AC filters I could find. When the fan was running the booth had negative air pressure as the plastic sides would draw inward.