Now I'm thinking maybe I won't remove all of the body panels from the car for painting. I was considering doing that but I've heard this can produce inconsistencies. Hmmm...
I painted my 85GT piece by piece and the color is uniform, but I started with black primer, then topped it with three color coats, color sanded between coats, then clear coated (with black added in as tint)twice, and rubbed out by hand. The color is uniform, but with that much paint it should be. Still I'm not happy with it and well eventuall repaint. But painting it piece by piece saved me a lot of time, the only part painted on the car was the fastback portion. My next project is painting the choptop bright white. I plan on doing it piece by piece, but I don't think you can screw up white too bad. If I was going with a silver or red or metallic, pearl ect., I'd want to still do it piece by piece, but paint all parts at the same time. All I know is the weather (temp, humidity) really makes a difference when you're painting in your garage.
I left the trim black and had I had the windowed side scoops in place of the stock quarter windows. Now my 87 GT has become a total project again and will be repainted again since there is a bunch of spider cracks in the front bumper from bumping someone with it and also side swiping a suburban which nocked my driver's side mirror off and chipped the paint off the top of the door panel. I will probably be repainting it sometime next summer in a color yet to be revealed. If I re-figure out PIP I will post a pic of what it looks like in my garage at the moment. One thing I have found out is that if you paint your own car you will always be your own worst critic when it comes to looking at the work you have done. Hope you get to enjoy driving your freshly painted beauty.
Here she is now in a restorative process.
[This message has been edited by 87FieroGT (edited 05-02-2003).]
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03:51 PM
WeAZz2M6 Member
Posts: 290 From: North of Toronto, ON,Can Registered: Mar 2002
GT Boy don't let it get you down. Some of us had to drive around with a several different colour Fiero for a while (Black,red,bergundy). I'm due for a paint job myself. I was dissapointed when my car was finished too.Runs,fisheyes,orangepeel,dryspots,overspray.My paintjob was aprime example of how not to paint a Fiero. I always thought of it as a temp, so that I could enjoy my Fiero till I could afford a decent paint job. This will be year number two, but it will be going to the body shop this fall winter. For the cost, Maaco couldn't have done better. You painted your hole car, for about the same cost as a proffesional polishing..! There's no shame in that Ernie. James.
Let me know if your gonna go to the meet Ernie. We can meet up again and have some fun on the highway on our way down. James. Sorry it's May 18, at 1pm. I'm assuming you know which side of the parking lot.
[This message has been edited by WeAZz2M6 (edited 04-30-2003).]
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07:50 PM
AusFiero Member
Posts: 11513 From: Dapto NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2001
Just a suggestion seeing you have gone to so much trouble so far. Why not just block the car down and give it one more coat while it is assembled. It should solve the problem. Love the colour.
well for anyone who still cares...here are some pics of the car all together apart for installing some new quarter windows and the inner fenders i am done.
you can see the new tint on the windows and in the picture taken from the front of the car you can see the problem that i am having with the different shades of color. the fender is a different color from the hood, headlight covers and the nose.
i may be respraying the car complete less the mirrors and spoiler to blend in the paint. i will cross my fingers for this. until then i am a little reluctant to take it out into the world ..for i am really down on the job....i am sure i will get over this..but it might take a little time.
oh ya...i wet sanded and buffed my front turn signals and rear tail lights and they came up awsome! almost like brand new!
i also sandblasted my rear trunk lid vents and painted them with semi-flat black engine enamel and they came out great too!....i guess some things are looking up a little.
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01:19 PM
FLASHY Member
Posts: 1079 From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Registered: Feb 2001
Let me guess.... the color variation you're seeing comes from the yellow paint being somewhat transparent? I thought I saw signs of that in one of your earlier pictures of the underside of the nose. Thats always tricky. The best way to solve this in your case, now that the car has been "panel painted" is to blend the bad parts. If its your hood-area thats not working out, what you could do is mask off the whole car except for the front-end above the belt-line. Have it sanded with something smooth, like 600 grit wet-paper. Then do a few blending coats across the hood and the tops of the fenders, attempting to even out the color difference. Then go once over the blended areas with some transparent-clearcoat to "glue-down" the blend area. Put a couple coats of clear over that, and you're probably set.
You sorta have to be careful what colors you choose when you plan on panel-painting a car. Anything thats got any transparentness is a bad choice, because paint thickness matters. If you do suspect your color is going to be transparent, you should paint the car with a more opaque color thats similar, or with white. And then add the color coat, being careful that you put the same amount of paint on all parts (tricky on edges, where you tend to shoot on a bit extra to make sure it wraps around).
thanks for the tips automoda...i didn't realize that this colour was that transparent. the car was painted white first ..but some of the panels have a dark color that seems to be bleeding through or the color is completely different but seems quite solid.
i am just going to respray the whole car altogether, and i may use my old reliable siphon gun this time instead of my hvlp gun...i may not have enough experience with that gun to do a quality job. ...i guess the best way to learn is from your mistakes...or doing it a few times over like in this case....
[This message has been edited by gt boy (edited 05-13-2003).]
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09:45 PM
Aug 14th, 2003
yellowstone Member
Posts: 9299 From: Düsseldorf/Germany Registered: Jun 2003
well another sunday and i got a little more of this time vacuum done.
Nice color - looking forward to see the car put back together... Here's an alternative yellow I have on my 87GT, Yellowstone yellow from the Mercedes SLK roadster.
.Ive seen fiero around there that have been painted with a roller (literally),your car can't look that bad.
