Paint Prep...

[Mark B]

Hey everyone,
I will be taking my 91 RS Convertable to get painted soon. To reduce costs, I am going to do as much prep work as possible myself. Basiscly, I will be disassembling the car and sanding till I bleed. And then I will sand more. The car has atleast one paint job over its orginal paint. I would like to get a DA sander, but I dont want to have to use a compressor. Are there any decent electric DA's available? Also, do you guys have any tips or tricks you would like to share? How about the cold weather. If I am going to be sanding, I am sure that I will hit the metal in some places. I will need to shoot primer over that metal or it will rust. Are there any paints that I can use that will bond in 40* temps?

Thanks,
Mark B

[MN6WS6]

It's kinda funny, but I'm going through the same thing with my resto-mod 71 Firebird. It's one of those "too much work for the local shops, too little to justify shipping out to a restorer" deals. Well, that and I'm too cheap and am pretty handy with the tools so I can do it all myself (plus I'm proving a point to some local folks who don't think I have the talent to do it).

I know a lot of people are going to get a kick out of this, but I bought an electric, 5" "hook and sand" type orbital sander from (of all places) Big Lots! It was $20, so I figured, what the heck, give it a shot. That thing can run circles around my previous air-powered one that gave up the ghost. It's variable speed, with a locking trigger, and it had a dial on the trigger so you can set the speed where you want it then lock it for continuous, large area sanding. It also has a dust bag on it, so it does it all for $20! Besides that, if you burn it up (which I'm in my 3rd or 4th week of doing body work at the rate of only about an hour a night because I work so much) you can always go right back to Big Lots and buy another for $20. Beats the heck out of buying a high dollar one.

[FroSSty]

Definately get some sort of electric sander. Obviously a Dual Action sander is best but anything is better than doin it by hand. Most paint/primer will not cure in anything lower than about 60-65 Degrees. I would try to heat the area before spraying the primer. If you do sand through the finish into bare metal you should spray it with a self etching primer, at least. Then a good Urethane high build primer will need to be applied. The body shop may be willing to spray the high build primer as they will have the good stuff. Any questions as you go just ask.

[Dawizman]

You should be able to find a makita or similar electric disc sander at any home depot or hardware store for about $120 US. Is it worth it? Thats up to how long you are willing to spend to do it by hand.

[TraceZ]

I've been painting in my garage. It's about 60 degrees in there, and I have two halogen worklights aiming at my panel that keep it a bit warmer than the air. We haven't had any issues with the primer drying.

My garage is not directly heated, but it is fully insulated and shares all but two walls with our house, including the ceiling. It never gets really cold in there, and If I leave the door to the house open a few minutes it warms right up to 60.

As far as sanding your car down and worrying about exposed metal, you should definitely get some POR15 rust nutralizer. It also etches. It actually foams up when sprayed on bare metal. After soaking the metal in POR15, hit it with some self etching epoxy primer.

Do you have a spray gun and compressor? Harbor Freight sells some low priced guns that give decent results. I'm using a gravity feed gun that shoots between 15 - 50 PSI. My primers recommend 30 - 40 PSI.

Depending how ambitious you are, you could paint it yourself. I've found it pretty strait forward so far. You dont need to worry about dust too much, just lay on a ton of clearcoat and wetsand it smooth.

[Mark B]

I went to big lots and bought the sander MN6WS6 mentioned. Like he said for $20, it is worth a shot. If it doesnt work well I can go buy one of the $100 sanders. I am worried about the weight. Its pretty heavy. I may get tired of holding it after a while. We will see.

[MN6WS6]

It seems sorta heavy, but once you get it on the car, you'll find that the orbital action kinda holds the weight up for you. I've sanded for over an hour straight, and the only side effect was the tingling from the vibrations coming through your arm for so long.

BTW if you have some dents and don't want to use a standard dent puller (that requires drilling holes), Harbor Freight has their dent stud welder on sale for like $89, and it comes with studs, replacement tips, and a slide hammer made to fit the studs. I popped out a dent on my door that was easily 12 inches long by 8 inches high by only using about maybe 8 studs, and that dent was in a body line as well.

[fastTa]

Home Depot has about 5-6 electric DA sanders for under $70. I have two of the variable speed Ryobi's and they have worked great for a couple years now. The Milwaukee and the Porter Cable are pretty good as well.

The stud welder is the only way to pull dents. Like MN6WS6 mentioned, you can also get those for pretty cheap at Nothern Tool or Harbor Freight.