DIY friendlier painting options

For the non cosmetic surfaces and most of the non interior metal bolt on piece parts for the car I am working on. I am looking for options and first account feed back on what works and does not work for refinishing options. No more rattle can 1k bs.

I am not going to concours level over done detail here. More of an 'OE fresh' appearance that will provide a high level of protection for something that I intend to drive eventually as a part time daily commuter.

Given the constraints I have to work with. Mostly very limited space and time that will be erratic for when I can do things I would like a product/system that is realistic in its user friendliness.

A product that requires perfect 72 degree temp control, 48% humidity, no chance of rain for the next 5 days, in a sterile room setting and a full moon on a clear night the day prior to spraying or it wont work.. is not something I want to use.

Absolute long term durability in the real world "drive it daily, its going to get wet and dirty" is the number 1 priority.

I am more than ready to spend the money on a good system to a degree. Going back to the constraint on space and time most of the work will be done in batches. I understand there will always be some wasted product, but something that costs $1k/gallon and its not all going to be mixed and applied all at the same time... not so much.

suggestions!

Non cosmetic but needs to last...

A big variable is preparation. If you can sand, wire wheel or blast to clean metal, I would suggest epoxy primer and acrylic enamel. The primer will usually harden enough to re-coat in an hour or so and the acrylic enamel will be dust free in a half hour. See below examples.

If prep is less complete, you can use a rust stop primer like red Rustoleum or Eastwood rust encapsulator followed by either acrylic enamel mentioned below or Rustoleum spray bomb.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/KUS-KEP505-GL_2.html?sc=115&category=11322441#.WqCKtWrwbIU

https://www.eastwood.com/paints/automotive-finishes/primers/epoxy.html

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Automotive-Paint/Restoration-Shop-1903/

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-black-ice-gold-pearl-3-1-single-stage-paint.html

I painted my car with Kirker single stage. It's online, and cheap. For some areas, like jambs, I just thinned it and sprayed it without activator. It still dried rock hard and is holding up fine. Just didn't want to have to deal with the hardener and the poison vapors. I didn't try it, but since there's no hardener, I think I could have mixed some thinned mix up and kept it around and used as needed for a while so I didn't have to have everything ready to go with an activated mix.

Hmmm, I tried that with Omni and a month later it was still tacky !!

I use PPG Omni single stage for all the parts you describe - engine, trans, suspension, etc.. I prime with epoxy primer. I do all this stuff with either of the two cheapo Harbor Freight guns. Cleanup is the worst part.

Parts that are not prone to seeing any damage are done with rattle cans, seat brackets, pedal mechanisms, etc.

I'm looking at powder coating smaller parts. An electric powder coating spray gun can be had on ebay for 50 bucks. The powder is cheap and the great part is no primer is needed. You need to bake the parts at around 400 or 450 for 20 minutes so either small stuff that will fit in a cheap used oven or build a larger oven which can be done very cheaply.

Anything that won't fit, blast, epoxy prime and single stage. yes it's a pain but like you know the rattle can stuff if junk.

you don't HAVE to use catalyst in ACRYLIC enamel. it will dry but it won't be as durable or hold a high gloss shine without catalyst.
you HAVE to use a catalyst in URETHANE enamel.
these are both single stage paints from PPG omni.
omni type MAE acrylic enamel you can get away without catalyst.
onmi MTK acrylic urethane enamel you HAVE to use catalyst.

Small parts that are subject to wear and tear can be powder coated.

I have also bought good car paint and painted small parts with a Preval sprayer from the hardware store. You wouldn't want to paint large sheetmetal parts with it, but for brackets and such it can look just as good as anything else if you get the reducer amount dialed in.

The Pro Grade Rustoleum paints in the tall silver cans are the best rattle can paint I have used. Very thick and glossy vs the others.

I think its Omni MTX now. Anyway, it definitely wasn't MAE.

I personally don't care for powder coat at all. It serves no purpose on parts that see no wear and tear and on parts that do it can't be touched up or easily redone when the parts do get chipped, scratched or scuffed. And while color selection is broad, it isn't as broad as paint and many powder coaters carry a limited range - you want something they don't have and you buy the whole box of powder. And I can paint a ton of parts for a fraction of powder coat costs.

i have to check the tech sheets but i think MTX is low VOC single stage acrylic urethane enamel.

You must be getting a wicked deal on paint then! 20 bucks of powder does brackets and small parts for ages. I can't even buy spray paint for what powder costs, don't even think about epoxy prime and single stage. Right now I'm in the process of building an oven large enough so I can do a motorcycle frame and other medium sized parts because a toaster oven isn't cutting it. For a lot of smaller stuff, spray paint is junk, it chips, scratches and rusts too easy and stays soft too long. Epoxy prime and single stage is great but way too much work for small parts. You're right, color selection is more limited. I don't really care but if you were trying to do a correct resto I could see it being an issue. For my driver quality stuff, plain black for suspension parts and hidden brackets and hinges is just fine.

I'm comparing the cost for me to paint versus sending powder coat out to be done. I don't think many guys out there are willing to take the leap to do their own powder coating. The size of the oven you just mentioned is one very good reason.

I agree,
even an old electric oven takes up space and cost some money to set up.
How often will you use it?

For restoration to original,
a lot of these components were simply dipped.
Isn't there a specific paint for this simple process?
It seems to me,
this would be cheaper and easier than spraying or powder coating.

I don't think there is a specific paint. It was generally a satin black - easily duplicated with rattle can stuff. And the factory really didn't care about durability, as long as it was somewhat pretty on the original purchase date that's all that mattered.

Omni MAE and MTK are still available everywhere. MTX has not replaced any of it. Just bought both recently. MTK really lays nice. Used a Binks 18
siphon feed gun, spraying Omni MTK on my latest project.

MTX has replaced both of those everywhere that's anywhere ... like here !!

Down here in Florida you can still get Omni MAE and MTK.