Can always do a car wrap, don't know the cost though.

If the ding isn't terrible, you may look into having a paintless dent repair person fix it before you paint. That would save you some material cost and time.

Otherwise, you will spot prime the repair area(s) so that it fills the scratches left in the plastic filler. I typically finish plastic to 180. Finish out the primer to 320 dry like the rest of the car, and epoxy prime. That will do several things; act as a uniform basecoat before the topcoat, tie all the coats together chemically, bite into the 320 scratches so that the paint doesn't delam like before. Nice thing is most epoxy primers stay "open" from 3-7 days so you can get the topcoat on at your leisure or as weather permits. If you wait beyond that window, you have to wet sand and re-epoxy.

It really is small.

I plasti dipped my Bronco where's but probably wouldn't do it to a car as it peels super easily. Although just spray more on?
Either way good luck with it. I know they have a niche but don't sink too much in as there is a low ceiling

My point was that there is a middle ground between a roller or rattlecan paint job and the $3000 job, also that there ARE MAACO shops in CT. I just picked one of them, not knowing where you are. But it seems you enjoy the problem. It's all yours.

Oh, and one more thing...rare Shelby parts? There is rare, and then there is rare and valuable.

Don't bother to flame, I'm gone from this thread.

R.

I don't know what a PDR guy would charge to fix it, but I would bet it would be less than a quart of plastic filler, quart of primer, hardener etc. If you get the door panel off and ready for them that might save you a couple bucks too.

1) I agree with you, there is a middle ground.

2) Yup, there is three in the whole state and the one you posted is the closest and just happens to be smack dab in the middle of the worst areas of Hamden.

High crime area would be a vast understatement and I would know this as I have friends who live not far from there. Crackheads even stole a worthless set of rims off the front of the Reliant while it was in a shop getting welding done on the cage.



Nope, I'm realistic about prospects so have to explore all options.



Rare; as in impossible or difficult to find. I never stated a value of any sort.

Why the chip on the shoulder?

If the grill gets broken (they tend to be fragile) or lost I'm S.O.O.L. as there is no replacement and its rare they come up for sale as they only made 750 CSX in 1987.

I paint alot of fleet trucks and I think your idea is very good, do a good prep job, and use the summit primer and paint. I would prime the complete car using the primer as a sealer and surfacer. You said you havent painted in a few years so if you dont have one, I would go but a cheap gravity feed gun from Lowes or H.F. I use these when I dont want to use my "good" guns and they actully work very well and the newer paints dont do so well in the older siphon guns.

Dan

You'll have to follow the tech sheets for whatever products you plan to use. For my last two paint jobs, I have used the products from www.tcpglobal.com and www.autocolorlibrary.com I have used their "restoration shop" brand primers (epoxy primer as well as 2k urethane primer) and their brand paint in both their pre-packaged color as well a factory color.

My method was:

-Sand body down with 320 to scuff it up good, burn off clear coat, etc.
-Do the body work, metal repairs, welding, filler(shape with 220, finish with 320), etc
-Epoxy primer
-2k urethane primer
-Block sand 400 - the urethane primer sands nice and easy plus super smooth.
-Paint

If you know how to use your spray gun (and it's a decent model, not a cheapie) I would say sand it and go for it...

I have a decent gun but had no idea what I was doing. My Dart looks like I painted it with a Hershey bar and then threw handfuls of dust and dirt at it

I had a local guy (one-man "custom" shop) do half my beater BMW (hood, roof and trunk) and blend the clearcoat down to the moldings on the fenders and rear quarters. I saved a lot of money by doing the sanding myself (almost ten hours with a DA and sanding block). The paint and clear coat cost me $270 and his labor for the rest was a very reasonable $400. Came out nice, although I wish I had been able to feel/see the several hail dings first! (That would have cost more, of course).


Here's the BMW, I won't show you the Dart because it's too embarrassing.

Before (no clear coat and very little paint left on the roof and trunk):




After the sanding:




And after the guy who knew what he was doing painted it:




Well worth $400 to me not to mess it up and have to start all over! Not to mention building a paint booth from plastic sheet and lumber.

I have learned that painting cars is as much art as science and I don't have enough time, money or inclination to learn how to do it "right". I'm going to sand the Dart and have him paint it too.

I would do it in SPI expoxy primer - nice satin sheen , UV inhibiters, easy to scuff and spray later, reasonably priced or dupli color paint from advanced auto - kinda like a hybrid lacquer - not real durable but fast, cheap and nothing fancy to spray

Just my opinion, but if you are not experienced with a spray gun a flat black paint job will most likely not come out well. Everyone seems to think that flat black is easy. If you dont have good overlap while spraying, it will be all kinds of streaky. I'd leave it alone until you have a chance to do it right.

Can't.

Insurance company won't insure the car without it being painted. They are afraid it is going to be used as a daily driver.

Car needs to be in PA first week of July running correct which is still up in the air.

I am considering just putting liability insurance on the car which I can get now.

Original paint guy got back to me stating "we will make something happen" when I told him it was getting done at home and will have new answer today.

Perhaps he did not take me serious about my stated timeframe.

Personally, I'd just leave it alone. There are going to be a bunch of freshly painted cars at the show. If you need time and still have to fix all of the mechanical problems, just fix what needs to be fixed to get the car running safely. If you really care how it looks, get a vinyl wrap. You can remove it later down in life and paint the car then when your shop or yourself have more free time.

I would leave it the way it is and put any money into mechanicals. I would love to see a car like that racing in its original paint. If you paint it, it will look like all the other cars on the track. Leave it alone!

Reminds me of the old mantra "if it don't go chrome it".

'cept I build FWD cars that GO.

Plenty of hardware lying about the shop to turn this into an easy 11 second ride. I'm trying not too as the kids don't need to be wrapping themselves around trees.

My point is make it start stop and steer and run correctly before worrying about how it looks.

Starting and stopping already done (has brand new brakes on all four corners plus new struts and shocks)

Paint needs to get done next for two reasons- One the insurance company won't insure it unless it is in paint. Two, I can't do a windshield till the paint is done as the trim is held in by the windshield and covers the paint and I have the last trim set available in the USA.

Turbo and rack being done at same time because it is easy to do the turbo while k-frame is down. The new turbo isn't here yet so no reason to pull the k-frame till it shows up.

Just wrap the car then.