Painting the 96GP

[TGP37]

This thread is probably going to be more useful to the guy who hasn't ever painted a car. Using rattle cans instead of a spray gun set up. I also kept a lot of body parts on the car.

Used painters blue tape to mask with plastic. Don't try to tack up the pastic right away. Lay the guiding edge of the tape first all around. Then tape the plastic to that. Helps keep things neat and clean line.

First, rough sand with 120 to get rid of the junk. Sanded past any gloss into paint base. I didn't sand to metal, so yeah.

I used Duplicolor Brand paint. Started with 1 heavy coat of black primer. Rough sand with 320, many imperfections remained.

Took about 10 cans of sandable primer.

Patched with epoxy (no mesh). Might I add, always pull it tight or else you're going to be sanding your ass off. This I already knew and yet still had 2 large patches that took over an hour to flatten out........never again. it happened because I mixed a larger portion of epoxy with the hardener and tried to stretch it time wise. Always mix your epoxy patch in smaller amounts and be sure to get a good ratio of hardener, not too much/too little.

I then primed again. Another 8 cans. Coated as instructed, 2 light coats then a medium wet one. Though I had sprayed homes for years so a spray gun/can is nothing new to me. All I can say is keep your hand aligned with the car body. If the top of the spray is closer then the bottom you will get ropes in the paint (high spots). A little deviation is okay, a little.

Wet sanded the 2nd layer of primer with 600g. Tack clothed.

Sprayed with Primer Sealer (grey). Roughly 6 cans per coat across the whole car. Wet sanded with 1000g.

At this point there were very few imperfections still showing. Wet sanding primer sealer changed the grey tint slightly. Making the flaws stand out, which is good.

I patched them, pulled the patch TIGHT! Kept it minimal.

Spot primed and wet sanded with 1000g to keep ra consistency.

Another 6 can coat of primer sealer.

wet sand 1000g

medium wet coat of sealer, 8 cans worth.


This is where I am at right now. She is primer sealed well. You could rub a babies bum across it with no harm, it is that smooth. When wet, the reflection doesn't appear to have any major deviations, the patches worked well. I did use a 1 foot wide blade for the first two rounds. That helped keep uniformity of the curves.


3x cases of Sandable Primer (18 cans)
3x cases of Primer Sealer (18 cans)
2x Epoxy patch
2x pack of 1000g paper
2x 600g
2x 320g
2x 220 and 120 for epoxy patch sanding heavy spots.



One thing I learned is wet sanding kicks the crap out of dry sanding. As a home painter we shunned wet sanding as it was a royal PITA for inside homes on walls. Mostly for patches, dry wall work. But with auto body it is the key.

I found keeping a running hose in one hand also made the smoothness even better. With out ample amount of water, it started to catch and bind slightly.

And always using a tack cloth. Even after dusting down with a dry towel, the tack cloth still pulled up particles that would have otherwise become rough spots in the next coat.


I also found sitting the cans in the sunlight helped the paint spread/spray better. Not too hot, just enough to get warm. Then shake the crap out of em. Gets a great mix up. Really reduces the occasional sputter known to spray cans.


After 1rd coat of Primer Sealer and wet sand


After 2nd coat of Primer Sealer



I decided to remove the masking to make sure no paint was getting past the blue tape. All was good. I also like to remove tape if there are several coats on them. Too much build up can peel paint, though I can;t say for sure with Acrylic Enamel, I've seen it on other paints.


I got a 3rd coat of sealer and it looks sharp. I'll get the pics up after I take them. Once I was done spraying I went inside, showered the grim and heat off.....sticky nasty heat this week. Can't spray in sunlight, too hot. Dusk is perfect.


I don't know when I'll get the final coat of color/clear and wondering if I should pay a shop to spray the final. I know I can do it but I also know those spray guns can spray a larger fan width and essentially lay down a smoother coat. And that they can use the lethal 2 part paint that is hard as anything I ever came across as paint.

But not until I get surface perfection......until then......she is a grey car, lol.

[pocket-rocket]

We did mine with the bumpers/ground effects on as well. We didn't go to bare metal in all spots, but we did go through most of the base into most of the original primer. Any bare metal got etching primer so the paint had a solid surface to bite into. We also used adhesion promoter on any plastic and on the front of the car (guards against rock chips). Parts not on when it got shot were the lights, front grill, spoiler and hood louvers. Those, with the exception of the lights, were hanging behind the car and being painted as part of the process. I didn't want paint/clear bridges in between the louvers and hood.

Like Robert said. Body/paint work is a time sink like no other. But as we know, how well you did your prep shows in the final product, and your prep looks good so far

[TGP37]

Thanks PR, prep is very important. I found 2 defects so far after 3rd coat of sealer. But they are so small it is hard to find. But I know once gloss goes on it will stand out.


I know as a home painter gloss brings it ALL out. There is no hiding with gloss.

I didn't hit bare metal, I didn't want to purchase etching primer but would have if I did. I pretty much sanded until all gloss was gone and I had a soft surface for primer to bind. I did eliminate ALL white and black as they were lacquer paints, well cured over 2 years ago. Since I decided to use enamel instead, I had to sand the lacquer off. Thank God it is a thin paint and was resting over oem paint.


I think having to lay on epoxy patch is the place where most would fail. That stuff isn't easy to work with. I circled the areas needing patch ahead of time to cut down on the "curing on the blade". Lay it down tight and move on, playing with it only messes it up.


I got to wet sand with 1500g yesterday evening. I had the hose on wide spray and propped it up to soak the car and me with it. That's how hot is has been recently. I was wet sanding in the water with the car to keep cool.


If you remember I had racing stripes. They were a PITA to sand out. But at least the traces of them are gone. The hood was the worst offender. Dings and dents all over. Also have a coat of heat/sound silencing rubber like spray under the hood to replace the mat that was once there. I really didn't want to paint w/o heat protection from the engine.

[pocket-rocket]

What color will it be when it's done?

I removed that mat on mine as well, I'm going with some hood insulation myself. Either Second Skin or Fatmat, not sure which one right now.

I know what you mean about the heat. As you may remember I work in a factory. Yesterday around 8 am I heard sirens. A while later we were being told we were running 7 units vs our normal 8 and we were being kicked out at 10:30, so most likely the sirens were from an ambulance for some poor sap that passed out. On average this week it's probably been around 85 degrees in the shop when we get there at 4:30am. Monday my wife said I looked like I was going to pass out mowing the lawn. You take care of yourself, this heat us nothing to mess around with.

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[TGP37]

You bet, I try to work outside in the evening. The benefit of wet sanding is a cold water hose....

I never worked in a factory but I have worked in kitchens when I was in my early 20's. I'll never forget Mothersday dinner, I was a line chef for Tambellini's (4 star), and we were full throttle for a while (didn't even have a second to towel off).....every oven, stove, burner, stage, you name it, it was on. Peaked at 110-115F area on the line where I was at. There wasn't a dry spot on me I was sweating that heavily. A lot of dishes I had to burn off alcohol in the saute, it was terrible.

We powered on but man, I felt sick afterwards.

We had to wear full uniform and there were showers/lockers in the basement. At least we could wash off. After work one of the Tambellini's treated us chefs to a bottle of Tequilla, expensive stuff. All I remember was the price per shot, $24 a shot. Jeese oh man it was good stuff. It didn't take us long to kill it, the 4 of us.

What a way to end that day.



Ramble.....lol


I am going with good ole black. Unless I can find a dark grey that suites well. Like a strong storm in the midwest grey. I have time to roll it over.

If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. I prefer a dark color so as to have a nice reflective gloss. That and i'm sick of light color cars. Too many white cars in my past.


On a side note, the car runs great. Everything holds up well and she boosts strong. No misfires in the high end, nice steady low idle. She spools fantastically. Better then I expected. in fact, a few times I landed in boost releasing the clutch from a stand still on a hill. School bus pulled right up to my tail, no room. I knew I would drift a little, so I had to land it fast. I reved a bit high and when it caught I was spinning out in boost....lol...loud squeal from fresh pavement and the classic bov sound at the end. I use a synchronic bov now, it's awesome and stopped any and all surge (which I believe is best for a china-charger). Kids were cheering out the window as the bus drove by when I parked.

That and I spent some time compiling dozens of HPT logs into one massive excel document. I wrote a VERY time consuming set of formulas to find the peak torque and what spark degree that was on average across the spark map. It is a lot harder then it seems. But I am glad to say it worked out well, kinda like a collective street dyno tune.

I even found a long steady hill where I have my friend gradually increase/decrease spark by 0.1 degrees as I keep a constant RPM uphill. Over a change of 3 degrees (+/- 1.5) I could see a curve in torque and airmass. Pin point the optimal spot and used that as a base reference for that region in the map.

I think I take it too far sometimes, but as long as it helps, why not.

I even found the spool zone in the spark map and pulled several degrees just there which appears to increase the rpm and airmass rate of change over time in that spot.

[pocket-rocket]

I love the black look of mine, but even in the garage it's hard to keep clean, lol. It's only been out in the sun a total of around a couple hours since it has been painted, even still with the time it's had to cure it's hard to wipe without making swirl marks in the clear. Best I've found so far is a microfiber cloth to wipe it down after blowing it off with an air hose. I'm kind of regretting how hard it's going to be to keep it nice and not scratch it up. I'm hoping wax makes it an easier job, but for me, hands down the look of black on a sleek car wins despite being a magnifying glass for imperfections.

One color I've liked on the GPs with the B4U is that Cayenne red (it was a rare color for them, too). To me it looks classy, not so flashy and a perfect match to the body lines and stance of the car. Silver looks good on a GP as well. As you know black is the hardest to keep clean/unscratched/care for. If it's a daily you are worried about parking in crowded lots black would not be the way to go. I'm kind of nervous when it comes to actually taking my car places where I have to park around other cars. It's going to be the car you see way out in the back 40 when I go anywhere. Oh well, I need exercise anyways

[TGP37]

Your finish did look very nice! I know what you mean with swirls. Did you have the 2 part epoxy or just a (normal?) epoxy, lacquer?

A really deep grey with metallic shimmer might be nice. I am aiming for max gloss. I do want the car to shine very well. The prep work should be good enough to have zero waiver from the spray as I can see on most high gloss black cars. I'm aiming for perfection so maybe black is appropriate in this case.

Reason why I switched from Acrylic Lacquer to Acrylic Enamel is how soft the lacquer was from the sun. I remembered that....enamel is definitely harder. With the lacquer, tree pollen seemed to stick. It was a PITA sanding that off. No way I was letting lacquer sit under enamel. Also why I gave it a strong 2 coat prime followed by several coats of sealer.

One thing I noticed with the sealer. Even if it covers the previous layers color, the sealer finish may still be (i want to say porous). Only after a good coating does it get a solid sheen and wet sands better. And I know, if I can see a variance in sheen, it will appear in high gloss black.

I know you seen some vids, check out how fast she spools up. It is just right of the WB gauge. Horizontal is atmosphere, it peaks at 8-10 psi range and stays there very well. No creep, over boost or any of that stuff.

[TGP37]

Maybe wet sand 3000g and up? I'd imagine that would stop the stickiness of the paint. Though I can't be sure of that.

Fast forward to the end to see how glossy it is after wet sanded.

[pocket-rocket]

If you get close to mine and look, it's not perfectly smooth, but it also doesn't have orange peel like new cars at work. I was shocked after inspecting the paint on new cars to see that.

The highest we used was 2k grit. Like Dale said, if we were going for the show car look we would have wet sanded between each layer, but we weren't so we didn't. I believe mine is straight up standard automotive enamel. It's the same stuff they use for painting motorhomes at Numar. I believe it is made by BASF.

[TGP37]

I too was surprised to see some very expensive cars with that orange peel effect.

Well, I liked your finish. I remember looking at the pics and thought it was very nice looking. The enamel, I read somewhere there is a 2-part enamel that dries very hard but is deadly w/o respiratory protection. ...and will kill a spray gun quick if left to sit too long. I bet that paint would withstand swirling.......but who knows how much that would cost.



I know what you mean about sanding between coats. I had to as being outside, small specks always find there way. Wet or dry sanding between coats can be time consuming, especially since I insist on ......

hosing down to remove sanding particles
rinsing with distilled water to avoid mineral marks
towel dry
air blasting the seams to remove water (paint pulls it out and is nasty looking)
tack cloth several times
wait for the blue tape to dry (paint will pull water from tape as well)
inspect for tape seal after being wet

then apply another coat of sealer.

I can say years of spraying paint professionally really paid off here. Absolutely no sags, runs, orange peel, heavy spots, over spray drift onto wet paint (makes rough paint) or weak edges.

Having the fan spray found recently on good quality spray paint is awesome. The old fashioned conical spray pattern is TERRIBLE for professional work.


I am anxious to see just how well all this prep will pay off. Many many hours of my free time put into this car.

My boys love it, Dad's fast race car. It's good for them as I teach them how things work and why as I build it over time.

[TGP37]

The wet sanding went so well I decided to put on 2 more light coats of sealer across the entire body.

Reasons being; just prior to wet sanding the last coat had a mild 600g sand. Even though all the marks from the 600g were gone completely, there were a few corners that sanded to black primer layer. So I got to take care of that and some......the finish looks awesome so far.

Having a really smooth surface of sealer made the next coats glow nicely, even though it is a soft glow (until I get to wet sand) I can see the perfection.

Will have pics soon, raining atm.

But wow, that extra coating really made the difference.

[pocket-rocket]

I was out in the garage and remembered I had a gallon of paint left from my car and this is what's on it. R-M BC201 deep black.

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[TGP37]

I was out in the garage and remembered I had a gallon of paint left from my car and this is what's on it. R-M BC201 deep black.

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That is some expensive paint!

[pocket-rocket]

I don't remember what the paint itself cost. I'm sure I have the receipt around here somewhere. I want to say $80 a gallon but I could be wrong. With the 36" roll of paper, the gallon of paint, a gallon of clear, a gallon of hardener for the clear I think it was around $350. I might have missed something, and I'm not sure if that price included the gallon of Bulldog adhesion promoter that was used (not the full gallon, lol) on the bumpers, front end, hood and spoiler.

Edit: Dale said I paid around $140 for it, unreduced, so I got 2 gallons of sprayable out of it. So yeah, I got a really good deal on it. Everywhere I look online its $350-400 a gallon. Nice thing is Numar builds expensive motorhomes and uses it, and they also use it at Lanzini's in Cali, where Chip Foose has some Overhaulin' cars painted.

[19Cutlass94]

Thats cheap. When I got my car painted, I went with DuPont paint, it was like $600/gal.