Hi everyone, this is my first post and I will be undertaking my first paint project soon. I'm not new to the automotive world, but I've never had the time or money to get into bodywork and paintwork. I've done nothing but read and search and try and find all the info I need for this but it's still all brand new to me and confusing at first.
Here's my project, a 1988 Ford Ranger that I plan on painting in total at some point using factory color-matched paint. I recently ordered fiberglass bedsides and front fenders, and they will be my first paint project. From my understanding I should clean and dewax the panels, then scuff the gelcoat, then shoot an epoxy primer ( no sanding after the epoxy primer ), then shoot a 2K primer over the epoxy and block sand it. After that the base and clear goes on. Does that sound right? Any other tips for the fiberglass parts I should know about?
Now for my paint I had planned on using Napa's Crossfire epoxy primer and their color-matched paint and clear ( Martin Senour brand paint ). Is there a better or more trusted option for paint and primer, especially for a factory color match? I don't mind having it shipped, Napa is easy because they're just down the road.
And for my air setup for shooting the paint, I have my air line with the filter 25 feet away from the compressor, and I plan on using at least another inline filter just before the gun.
I'm looking for any schooling I can get to start off, I don't expect to have professional looking paint, but I do want to learn how to do it well! Thanks!

Welcome aboard! Your basic schedule and understanding of what you are doing is pretty sound....I'm just going to add a few more tips that will head off any potential problems. To me nowadays the problem is not mostly "you" it's mostly the quality of the fiberglass parts we are getting. When you first get them, if they smell strongly of resin then I would hit them with some Dawn detergent and wash them well. Hit them next with your wax and grease remover and then let them set out in about a weeks worth of sunny days. This will finish "shrinking" them and getting any gas off them. You can then hit them with wax and grease remover again, then hit them with a water based wax and grease remover ( you can buy that or make it with 50/50 water/denatured alcohol mix.) If they don't smell, then they are probably "seasoned" parts that have been setting on a shelf for awhile. Then just simply go right into the washing, degreasing stages and you are ready to go. Oh, and if these are big parts watch out for "flash seams." Flash seams are where they have used smaller sections of the panels and flashed them together in the larger mold to make one big part. If you have flash seams those have to be ground open with a Dremel tool or small die grinder to show the bubble/voids in the seams. Those then get filled and leveled back with something like a fiber resin like Duraglas. Your parts should be small enough that this was not done, but hey, better to warn you now than have paint blisters coming up on a hot summer day.....
And, nothing wrong with using a local jobber but don't expect a lot of tech. support from a Napa store. Paint is just another product for those guys so you may not get to talk to a guy with any real experience in auto painting. You might talk to Chris, our forum moderator about the Tamco line he carries right here on the forum's store. He can get factory coded base coats as well as everything that you need for the entire job. Could potentially save you quite a few bucks as well as give you advice on troubleshooting along the way. I've used their universal clear and it is extremely user friendly.
As far as your set-up....need more input.... Compressor size/cfm rating???? Gun model/and or spec.s????

Most of the "glass" body parts from name brand off road manufacturers like Fiberwerx or McNeil are easy to prep for paint. Scuff the gloss off the part, prime it then shoot the color as you would with a metal part. Teams paint their bodies the same way. This may sound obvious but don't prep and paint them until you fit them. Either of those should fit a Ranger without much or even any mods though I'm only familiar with late 90s and 2000s.

I'm in the middle of a project right now using Tamco materials. It's a retired road race car that is being converted to a vintage class race car. The 2k high build primer is great, can be used as a sealer also by thinning it at 4:1:1. I'm using a metallic base and the 2100 clear. It's a dead nuts match to the paint code and considerably less expensive than the local PPG jobber quoted and about the cost of the TCP material I've been using. It's my first two stage job. I've been shooting single stage on the race cars I've built over the years. The 2100 clear went on easy and laid flat.

After I finish this my next project is a late 90s Ranger mild prerunner build. I'll use Tamco on that as well.

Yeah, Tamco is coming on strong with comparable products. My next kit project is probably going to be all Tamco. I like my local PPG jobber but man the costs have just been spiraling out of control lately. I can easily spend $1000++++ on stuff from them....

Vegasloki, Fiberwerx is actually the company I ordered from. I'm relieved that someone actually understands what I'm working with because where I am you tell someone you're building or painting a prerunner type truck and they have no clue what you mean.
I have a couple other questions. Do I need to seal the fiberglass? And can someone explain the purpose behind sealing? And what part of the process does sealing fit into? ( Before priming, between primer coats, before basecoat? )
Should I primer the backside of the fenders and bedsides? I plan on using undercoating or bedliner underneath to add some protection to the fiberglass.

DarrelK, I'll definitely look into the Tamco line. My compressor setup is a harbor freight oilless 21 gallon 2 hp with 75 feet of 3/8in rubber line..... JUST KIDDING! I have a Kobalt twin cylinder oiled compressor, 155 PSI, 29 gallon tank 5.7cfm@90 PSI/7 cfm@40 PSI ( I know, not ideal by any means ), with 3/4 inch pex-al-pex running to three outlets. The outlet I'll be using for painting is about 25 feet away from the compressor with a filter/regulator connected to 3/8 inch hose on a 50 foot reel. The gun I have is just a cheap Harbor Freight HVLP one for now with an inline regulator that supposedly consumes 6cfm@40 PSI.

As far as sealing goes epoxy primer is probably the most used material to seal off the sandable gel coats. When I build kit cars it goes like this... parts are prepped as we discussed, any defects corrected now, sanded, ready to go.... epoxy primer, 2k build primer, guide coat the 2k, epoxy mixed down as a sealer over that, then on to base/clear. Keep in mind, this is "my way" of dealing with fiberglass as I work with both old (restoring old bodies) and new kits. Epoxy is my "barrier" from things that can bleed up especially on old fiberglass which may have been contaminated in weathering, exposure. It is also that same barrier for problems that can bleed up in some newer poor quality fiberglass (sounds like the stuff you are getting is pretty decent though.)
As to the primer of back sides, I think it is a good idea, and I'd make that epoxy primer. This will give you another layer of protection along with a good catalyzed bedliner from dreaded rock chips. Nothing worse than to have your new paint job start showing "stars" in the paint from rock hits from UNDERNEATH. Trust me it happens. I'm not a big fan of rubberized undercoat, although some guys still use it.
Okay, the compressor situation.....Well, I can almost guarantee you that we have two liars here...ha, ha. That compressor is doing good to put out that cfm rating (and it will put out less as it heats up) and that Harbor Freight gun uses more than the cfm they state. If you are doing this as an overall shoot you are going to make lots and lots of water as the compressor won't be able to keep up with the gun. The air will have little to no time to cool down and drop it's water....well, it will try and blow it out the gun tip! Some guys with marginal setups will make a coil of copper tube, route their air through that and put it in a cooler full of ice with a drain/collector right after that. I just think you are going to have to deal with the water issue.....

Yeah, I don't trust the cfm numbers either. For the moment it won't be an overall shoot, I plan on shooting the pair of fenders at on time, and then the pair of bedsides later, and at some point in the future removing the fenders and bedsides and finishing the cab of the truck. My first plan on trying to deal with the water is to add another full size filter/water trap closer to the compressor as well as at least one inline filter closer to the gun. I know the setup is far from ideal, but hopefully for what I end up doing it will be sufficient.
So as far as sealer the first coat of the epoxy seals in the gelcoat, then after the epoxy and 2k primer is applied a reduced epoxy primer/sealer "seals" the primer from the basecoat? Thanks for all the info so far!

Yeah, you'll be fine if you are panel shooting. I get into situations where I have to use less than ideal compressors (usually somebody that has me come in and shoot for them...) and panels greatly reduce your run time. Less run time= less water.
Well, yeah, that's the way I like to do it. Now I should mention that something that goes along with doing it that way is giving each step a little extra time to "gas off" so you have less chance of trapped solvents. Actually when I build kit cars I build the cars, seal them up with epoxy and drive them for 6 to 8 months to shake out noise/vibration/harshness. I only drive them on clear dry days and keep them clean. When I've got all that figured out then I do a thorough clean/degrease/sanding. Then I move on to 2k, let it set for a day or so, guide coat, build more 2k if needed, let it set for a couple of days, and do one last guide coat, and sand. If I'm satisfied with that, then I epoxy prime, observe the minimum dry time for the epoxy mixed as sealer and move into base/clear.
The real test for getting things gassed off/sealed up is the first really hot day out in a beating sun on your completed paint job. I've never had (fingers crossed) a gas bubble on one of my paint jobs but I've seen a bunch on other cars. I was at a show one time and a freshly painted black 1st gen Camaro pulled in next to me. I mean, fresh, you could smell it. It got up into the 90s and you could watch a blister the size of a quarter start to grow on his one piece tilt fiberglass nose. Thing was the size of silver dollar by the end of the show.....not good....

Many, perhaps most of the home shop built pre runners I've seen that make it off road aren't using a high build 2k primer on the glass (or even anywhere on the truck). They are doing smooth, non sanding primer and paint. Most aren't using top shelf paint except the more moneyed or bigger teams or show type trucks.

The Fiberwerx panels are more or less like factory panels that you can fit and paint without having to shape if you like. With a good primer and paint they'll look good. If your truck is going to see even a moderate amount of off road racing speeds (40 mph + in the desert or sand with a mid or long travel suspension) your paint will get hammered. Sooner rather than later. On a race truck you're lucky to get a race or two out of a set of glass.

If you are just going with a body lift on more or less a stock suspension you won't be able to go fast enough to hammer your paint too badly. You'll break your truck before you chip the paint though a suspension failure will likely take out a fender or bed glass. It's up to what kind of build you want. If you want more show, take the time to do all the steps. If you want more go you can still get a good paint job using the basic steps.

Vegasloki makes good points about "how" you are going to use this truck. Off road is usually a no/no for the 2k as stated. The kids down on my old street are shooting epoxy to seal up their trucks, then going into bedliner on the whole thing (yes, they off road them every weekend)! (Remind me to get lost when they think they want to go back to regular paint.....) It's your ride, do some more reading on here.....