Advice/Progress Thread, update on pg4, 5/26/10 Options

[captb]

Hey guys, if you have restoration experience i could really use your help.

The paint job and all the dents finally put me in the position to sell the 6g. problem was i couldnt find a car that can match the 6g's "feel" if you know what i mean. Since having a shop repair her is so expensive, i figured ill tackle restoring her on my own. After watching alot of youtube videos and reading how-to's on restoration, im confident enough to try it, but still have a few questions and would appreciate your opinions.

(1) money and quality wise would you recommend i do a maaco job or tackle painting on my own(either rent a booth or enclosed tent)?

(2) are there any considerations/advice for using bondo or other recommended products on non-metal surfaces such as the bumper and sideskirts? will the flexibility of the bumper be a problem?

(3) Im pretty much gonna sand/bondo the entire car and am considering a bodykit. If i were to get a cheap one off ebay, will getting the thing to fit be the same as sanding and bondoing the thing, or will i need to do some fiberglass work? Id love the gt-four look, have any recommendations on where to get bodykits for cheap?

(4) I am also having problems with rust below both doors. Rust cant be seen from the outside, but looking from the inside, it is definitely a problem. Would u recommend i restore it myself by cutting and welding or just replace the door entirely?

(5) When i do paint it, would you recommend i remove different parts; hood, trunk, doors? also, would it be worth my while to remove things like the lining and windshields? id figure sanding and bondoing would be nicer with the linings removed.

(6) Any videos and/or websites would you recommend i check out before i start. most of the videos i watched seemed to be from the 80's. any videos with more modern techniques? or has restoration been pretty much ageless.

This is alot of info and questions but i would appreciate any input on 1, 2, or all of my questions.

Thanks,
-Joel

This post has been edited by captb: May 28, 2010 - 10:13 PM

[Bigblock]

Agreed--what ever you can take off prior to sanding will prevent particles of all sizes/shapes from "mystreriously" coming out of all the crevaces during priming & painting.

You may want to consider some type of fresh-air intake/exaust system(fresh in bad out).

Wash/spray the area w/water.Sweep the floor to remove dirt/dust.Rinse.
I'm sure you already know--tape/mask what doesn't get primed/painted.
Your supplier should be able to tell you what you need to use/do for the flexable pieces::fbrglss,plastic,etc...

MOST IMPORTANT--you will need some type of breathing mask that is rated for the primer/paint you use.
Stay legal........
Go at it...When you're done,post-up,have a beer,be proud!

{edit}Maaco does have__ some__ places where the ppl care!!!

This post has been edited by Bigblock: Oct 22, 2009 - 8:48 PM

[CastrolCelica]

{edit}Maaco does have__ some__ places where the ppl care!!!

Yep, exactly. SOME . CaptB, please read our comments well and realize it's really a crap-shoot. If you call a place and you tell them the make and model of the car, and without seeing it... knowing what paint you want... knowing what prep to do, BLUNTLY say a quote over the phone, that's BAD NEWS. Two of the three Maacos did this for me. I have no idea what the quote was for exactly to this day, and the even numbers they named are impossible to obtain by any combination of paints and preps. Lastly, I called both of these cruddy Maacos on the next day, named the same make and model as I did before and they gave me totally different numbers than they quoted me the day before. That's a bad, bad sign.

On the other hand, the third place in Columbus I called, the guy asked me what I wanted, told me what they offered, and gave me an IDEA (not an estimate) of what it might cost. He then, instead of booking me, asked me to come in and see the shop and bring in the car for inspection so they would know what I wanted done to it so they didn't mess up anything.

3 of the painters there had cars painted there of their own.. some of them multiple cars. The one guy who was there that day had his Camaro there coming out of the booth and it was nothing short of gorgeous. I saw some of their $200 paint jobs, and they looked halfway decent I suppose. Most of the bad paint jobs were the fault of the car owners though. There was an 80's Civic there that had rust everywhere (and Walmart plastic rims! Woot ), and ... literally... asked them for a $200 paint job, single stage, in metallic (which looks bad.. metallic is always best in base and clear) and didn't want to pay for any repair. YES, THAT MEANS THEY PAINTED OVER ALL HIS RUST ON HIS QUARTER PANELS!!!! He didn't take off ANY trim or parts like mirrors or windshield wiper fluid nozzles, and it wasn't pretty. To be fair though, the paint wasn't all that bad and they did a phenomenal job taping the car with the challenges brought to them. But again, it was the car owner's laziness and cheap wallet that contributed to the poor job. They were actually embarrassed about it and assured me that what I was doing would make my car look 10 times better.. and it did.



You see, once again. $200 with no prep will give you a minimally sanded (hardly ideal), non primed car over door dings, rust, and unfortunately some trim that can't really be avoided. Am I saying mine is perfect? Hell no. I can name MANY spots were my paint has flaws. But this is also normal to single stage jobs, of any quality. Did I get orange peel though? Nope.. and that's a sign of a good shop. The most I got were little bumps in a couple places from a dirt particle or what not. If I had spent over $1200 and gotten base and clear, which happens with that too, those bumps would have been buffed out easily.

So yes, it's all about how much you want to spend. If you want show room quality, don't even bother with the first two grades.. seriously. They call them "work horse" quality for a reason. If you want good quality, the highest single stage or a base/clear will suit your bill. It's not perfect, but the way I see it, the car looked like the back side of Pumba when I got it, so it's a lot better than it was.

All in all, remember to do your prep. It's a bitch, I won't lie. It took me 2-4 weekends of hard work to get it ready. But it was worth it and saved me about $1000 in the end. It was also a great learning experience and got me acquainted with the car. I retained my knowledge so well that I was able to put the car back together after the paint job in only one single weekend. This is actually quite important as you have an old car. The best thing you can do is educate yourself about how to get to all sorts of places to repair parts in the future that will fail, and prepping your car will help you do just that. I've saved probably an estimated $3000 in service fees because I did the repairs myself. Parts are cheap, labor is not.

Best of luck. If you have ANY questions, let me know.