Im kinda like you Ive painted several cars over the last thirty years and found out the gun does help make the paint job!! I have a Sharpe platium I bought seven or so years ago thats worked perfect for me. (about $250.00) Im doing a challenger now and wanted a cheap Hvlp gun to spray the urethane primer with to keep it out of my good gun. The first thing I noticed with the cheap gun ($90.00 for two) is that it took a lot more paint and there was tons of paint dust everywhere so Im back to shooting it in my Sharpe gun. Go to your local body shop and see what they use and start from there. Hope this helps, Bill