Painting the T
- Thread starter Johnny
- Start date
Do it yourself, It's all in the prep work.
der Spieler
Member
Any good body shop can do the work. I would shop around to find the best shop. The more work you can do yourself the less expensive it will be. There will be imperfections in the fiberglass/gelcoat that will need to be filled, sanded, primed and sanded again using a guide coat. I would buy one of the many books on building fiberglass street rods and study up on the section on finishing the body. If you can take the body to a shop that will let you do the block sanding after they have primed it or have them prime it and take the body back home to do the block sanding then take it back for the final finish you will save a ton on labor. They may want to do a final prime coat and blocking before they put on the final finish to make sure you got all of the imperfections out but it will be worth it in the long run. Any bad spot in the body will stand out like a sore thumb when the car is finished and all of your work will be for naught.
I did mine myself. Took the longest to do the prep work. Lots of sanding, filling, sanding, sealer, sanding, primer and more sanding. I painted mine in the garage ... no paint booth, just drop sheets over everything. The painting took less than a day, but the prep work took months. That is where the cost is if you have someone do it for you. The paint itself was fairly cheap ... about $35 a quart and I used a quart and a third. Four coats of high build primer, sanded, three coats of single stage acrylic urethane ... waited one week then scuffed that up, put on ghost flames and then five coats of clear.
I have never painted anything other than patio chairs before and it not that hard. It is ALL in the prep work. The biggest issue I had was getting the settings on the spray gun correct ... after that, piece of cake.
There are some very good paint shops in the DFW area, but you are looking at $3000 to $5000 for them to do it for you. I personally visited five of them to get ideas of cost and time and that is when I decided to try it myself. A T-Bucket isn't that big so if you screw it up, you can sand it down and start over.
bobby6319
Member
i painted mine with low gloss blk from tractor supply 9.95 a quart only tookone quart. the prep took me several weekends but i learned as i went. sannd fill rub and just keep on till you like it. you can buy a cheap cup gun for 30 bucks set your gun un some scrap and then spray. i rattel canned my frame goood thing to had to do some tweeking and added shocks. don't be scared just do it.
Johnny
Member
Well, I'm thinking Yellow. Can anyone suggest a book or videos I could pick up to learn more about this. I do have the street rodder, but I haven't got to the paint article yet. That 3K to 5K price may have convinced me to try to do the prep myself.
Thanks, all for the enlightenment.
Thanks, all for the enlightenment.
I spent months "researching" and about drove myself nuts! Everyone on the Internet has an opinion and most of them suck. What works for one will not always work for another and everyone has their special way of doing this or that. When it comes to the subject of what paint to use, make sure you have plenty of beer handy when you try to figure that one out. I got to be very good friends with the guys at English Color and even their factory rep. The factory rep helped me every step of the way.
I would go to the library and look for books\videos paying close attention to "fiberglass bodies\panels". Most of the books you come across are aimed at metal and some don't even mention fiberglass. Try Barnes and Noble or even Half Priced Books. There are some good ones at Amazon, but there are some bad ones ... and there are not cheap. I bought a $49 video and it wound up being a commerical for some guy and his custom paint shop.
I can outline and tell you what\how I did mine, but it might not be just right for you. Take your time and research it out. If you can get to be friends with someone at a body shop you can learn a lot. Don't be shy about asking questions.
I second everything he said! Whatever you do,don't use Auto Air Colors to paint your body-you'll be spraying and using a heat gun for days!
Johnny
Member
Well, in my research today, I kept hearing that fiberglass body sure better be cured, before ya do anything. So, do any of you think I should set it out in the hot sun for a couple of days?
This body looks pretty smooth already. I'll start looking for info while I'm doing all the other 100 things ya got to do to build one of these hot rods.
Fun fun fun!
This body looks pretty smooth already. I'll start looking for info while I'm doing all the other 100 things ya got to do to build one of these hot rods.
Fun fun fun!
I let mine sit for a year before I even put primer on it ... just ran around in the gelcoat. Drive it for a year that way to work all the bugs out and you don't have to worry about messing up a paint job while you attend to mechanical issues.
Gerry
Well-Known Member
