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PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 7:41 pm
This will likely be fairly long, just a warning. I’ve been working on my 65 Mercury Park Lane convertible for about 10 years and it’s time to move on. Unfortunately, I can’t get anyone to even come look at the car with it just in primer. The quotes I have gotten are pretty hilarious. Skip the next paragraph if you are not into funny stories.

One place, years ago, sort of a Maaco type place, quoted me $2k. I was thinking, for a cheap job, $500 for paint, $500 for prep would do it. I figured I could get it closer. 8 years later, after replaceing the trunk lid and spending hundreds of hours doing bodywork and sanding, they had changed owners. Took it to them the other day, they quoted me $4500. Another place I took it to quoted me $15k. “That’s insane.” I said. “Yeah, but the car will be worth $60k when it’s done.” I said, “Hey, easy then, you give me $30k for the car right now, you get paid $30k for the job when you sell it.” Of course he wasn’t interested. “Ok, how about $15k? You will make $45k.” I think that is when he asked me to leave. Maaco quoted me $2500 as did a local cheapo shop. I’ve got about $10k in the car. Way over budget really, but guys like me fix up old cars like this because they need to be saved, not to make money.

So, I decided to paint the car myself. There’s a break in part of the top frame that just happened recently, I know a guy who is a welder and will fix it for me for $50, but I was so upset when it broke, I put the car on craigslist for $6500, thinking it would sell right away, no reponses. The car has various primer all over it, needs a lot of sanding and finishing to some of the bodywork. I have time. I can do this stuff myself. Back problems prevents me from knocking it all out in a couple days, but I can do it.

I spent $200 at Summit and got the acrylic urethane “light metallic blue”. 1 gallon. I also bought a quart of the 2k build primer and a quart of wimbledon white, plus a bottle of reducer and a bottle of activator. If I run out of activator there is a local store where I can buy more.

So far (and this is where I need your guys help) this is my plan after finished sanding and cleaning (water, then acetone).

Remove 1/2 quart of the blue metalic. Replace with wimbledon white. Add the removed metallic and the remaining quart of white to the primer. This will leave me with 1 gallon of paint, tinted to a lighter color and one gallon of primer, tinted even lighter with some metallic in it to better color match the paint.

Let dry, sand, clean. Shoot the paint.

And that’s it. Not even messing with clear. I can color sand and buff the car later, if need be.

I have a compressor and a Harbor Freight purple gun I have used to spray primer on the car before and was happy with the results.

Question 1: There are lots of small chips in the old paint, I can’t sand them all out. Should I just apply a thin coat of Bondo and resand, or will the build primer fill them in?

Question 2: Is it ok to mix the colors as I mentioned? Metallic with non-metallic? Metallic with primer? They are all acrylic eurethane. The original color is 65 pale blue, and I am not a fan of that color but it should be close.

I’m sure I will have more questions. I also am sure a lot of you guys think this is a horrible idea, but hey for $200 and a few days of my time, I got a car I can sell.

I literally took a blowtorch to the rear drivers lower quarter at one point and burned out all the old Bondo. Now I am sanding back into bodywork I did years ago. Sand, prime, sand, prime. Neverending. Gotta bite the bullet.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 11:32 pm
well all I can tell you right now is that putting the white in the metallic blue is a disaster waiting to happen. it just won't work, you at best will end up with a lighter non metallic blue. when they mix metallic colors they use different products, clears and translucent colors so you can see the metallic. if you were to put the metallic in the solid color as you want to do it will cover it and you won't see any of the metallic.
I had to read your post again and come to the conclusion that your headed for some serious problems, just don't mix your products.
Jay D.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 11:57 pm
Yes, I understand how adding white could “muddy” the color.

Ok. That’s fine. Plan B.

Mix one quart white with one quart primer. Lay down some primer, sand, clean, lay down more primer, sand, clean until we have a nice, smooth surface. And then just hit it with the metallic straight, as perscribed. Should be able to do a good 3 coats and an orientation coat, will be darker than I want, but it’s Arizona, I can just park it in the sun for awhile and it will get lighter.



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:17 am
I’ve gone back and forth for years. Ya know, if I was to keep the car forever it would have shaved door handles and poppers, and not even be close to original color. This car, in a nice midnight blue, be gorgeous. Original interior is dark blue. Original paint color is Tiffany blue. And I could have ordered the “Coastal blue” which is like the color of Crest toothpaste, not metalic and maybe mixed that with white and gotten a more accurate color to factory, but I think that is an ugly color to start with, you really gotta nail it exactly on the head to pull off that “baby blue”. It’s just not the right color, for a big, bad **** car like this and so ... “light metalic blue” it is.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 1:22 am
That's a nice looking car so why do you want to cheap out on the paint job?

The paint can make or break a car. Take a Yugo and put a decent paint job on it and people will be drawn to it. Take '71 Cuda and put a $600 paint job on it and people will shake their heads in disgust and walk away.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:06 am
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Truly......what he just said. One of the car show guys I know has been trying to sell an old collectible hot rodded truck. Great motor/tranny, great resto modded interior, and then........the paint. Kind of what you are shooting for here......He's been trying to sell if for 8 years now. People go up to it.....look it over.....turn around and just shake their heads as they walk off. I've sold at least 6 of my show and go projects during that same time period.
If you are serious about selling it....cherry it out with primer and seal it up with epoxy and sell it under the banner of...... Great car, pick your color!
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:17 pm
what both above said.
with metallic single stage,youre not going to want to buff it.
those cars have awesome body lines. spend the $$.
look at the tamco primers/clears sold right here on this site:
https://www.autobody101.com/store/

i do believe they also do base colors,too.
youll get a high quality paint job at an economical price.

if that dont suit ya, check out tcp globals restoration shop line of basecoats
http://www.tcpglobal.com/Automotive-Pai ... tion-Shop/
ive sprayed a couple of their basecoats with the firemist blue being my favorite.



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:33 pm
:goodpost: :goodpost: the 3 posts above have given you some great insight to what your doing you should follow it
I still don't understand why you want to mix the white with the primer i'm not sure what its going to do but I can almost guaranty it wont be good. in over 40 years of paint and body I have never come across someone wanting to do this.
that could be a nice car and a desirable one, why not do it right. as above if you want to sell it, sell it in primer. that would be much better than a botched color job.
what you should have done if money is tight, this is what I would do also.
start on one panel, lets say the hood if it has chips on the nose sand them out, sand and prep the rest of the hood. you can now fix any dings or what ever with filler, you can fill before or after the epoxy. you don't have to sand the compete hood if its in good condition if you don't want to, but make sure you sand around the repair area. now you want to spray 2 wet coats of EPOXY PRIMER on just the repair area. if you didn't sand the complete hood then be sure that you don't spray any epoxy on UNSANDED areas. that's why when you do a repair area you should sand out from it at least 6-8"or more. now move on to the front fenders and so on until the complete car is straight. this is just a guide line of what should be done
Jay D.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 4:16 pm
I knew you guys would say this, because of course you are right. It’s just very hard for anyone to visualize with all the trim off the car. And once I have it all masked off and I shoot it with primer, might as well go ahead and put paint on it too. I think I can do as good a job as these guys that want to charge me $2500. Will it be a great paint job? No. But it will be passable.

As for the white, I just would like to lighten the color. I am not sure how transparent the paint is, or how dark the primer is, but it should be as light as possible. Why would it be any problem mixing the white with the primer? It at least gives me more material to work with.



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 5:57 pm
i am not a professional but i think that car is going to require more than a gallon of sprayable paint.
ya came here asking for advise,tips,and tricks,soooo...
advise:
ya have a forum of some badass auto painters here- every single one can visualize that car done the right way and done the way someone who has never done it but thinks they know how it can be done does it. toss out the mixing this-n-that idea.

tips:
ya have a forum of some badass auto painters here- every single one can visualize that car done the right way and done the way someone who has never done it but thinks they know how it can be done does it. toss out the mixing this-n-that idea.
tricks:
listening to badass painters who have done a LOT of this works nets pretty dam good results with a lot less frustration.

wanna take your chances and end up with a real mess? go for it!

need more material to work with? buy more. yup- its going to cost more but thats the nature of auto painting- even doing it for one car or as a hobby it aint cheap.
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