I have been thinking of painting my 85 2M4 myself, the car is black with the top completely faded. The lower side panels do not need to be repainted. I have an HVLP paint gun kit from harbor freight that I was thinking of using to spray the duplicolor auto paint that I see at the auto parts store. Has anyone done this and if so how did it turn out. Thanks

Black is a hard color to paint. Maybe paint it one panel at a time for practice. The clear coat is what gets tricky, the rest is all in the prep work.

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[This message has been edited by Custom2M4 (edited 02-06-2014).]

I painted my car with the panels off using a Harbor Freight paint guns. I used two different guns, one for primer and one for the top and clear coat. It came out great

The one I have is the one that has the compressor built into it along with the spray gun, do you think it will work okay.

I used the Duplicolor 'Paint Shop" lacquer paints on mine. Turned out pretty good. Mine needed a lot of wet sanding though. I didn't have my gun when I sprayed it. Only thing is the nose is starting to get spider web cracks through it. It's never been hit or bumped.

Good luck.

When I did mine I spent about 80hr prepping the car. Yes painting a car is 98% prep and 2% paint ad you can save a lot if you do the prep. When I started painting trim parts and big areas like inside hoods I figured out that it was very complicated to control all the variables for the gun to shoot consistently (not a cheap gun). At that time I decided to take it to a body shop and paid a small amount for an experienced person to shoot it and buff. Well worth it.

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Red: TPI V8 + 6-Speed White: 3800SC auto
304rwHP/366rwTQ

Alot of the final appearance involves the before painting and after painting process. Cleaning, masking, sanding, degreasing, prepping, priming... buffing, curing properly. There are a few painters on the forum that will chime in

And then black, the hardest color to keep looking good. My Formula is black.

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 02-07-2014).]

Black is easy to paint. The only problems is keeping dirt out and making sure you have it covered. Make sure you have plenty of lights, even down low around the front, back and sides or you will find you skimped when you pull it out in the sun. It DOES however take lots of sanding and buffing and hard to get an even gloss. Personally, Ill never own a black car. If you keep your car clean and like keeping it polished up the duplicolor is fine...it is lacquer. It will dry very fast and can be sanded and buffed in a day or two, and you can drive it right after its unmasked. The downside is if you drive it a lot and dont have time to keep it nice, your better off with basecoat /clearcoat. With the duplicolor black, you dont need a clearcoat at all. Sanded and buffed its shinier and deeper black without the clear. It also allows you to touch up spots easily without painting a whole portion of the car again like is done with base/clear. I dont know of the gun you have, but if its got its own compressor my guess its way too small for painting a car...unless you paint one panel at a time. You need a real gun with a 15-18 cfm air capacity air compressor. The ones Ive seen with the little tank/compressor barely put out 4-5 cfm...there more for hobbyists. Normally, lacquer dont crack unless its piled on too deep or put over a panel that already has cracks (which you may or may not even see)...or you hit something. I see a lot of people paint flexible bumpers and see cracks within a short time. Most of the time, theyre already in the panel....and primer will not fill them in except for a short time. If you see any spider cracks, you need to sand ALL the paint off down to bare cover. Again, if you use the duplicolor, or even base/clear, the big trick on bumpers is NOT to overpaint it. Just put on enough color to cover then a few more coats to sand off. If you clear it, just cover and put ONLY 2-3 coats of clear...no more or it will crack/spiderweb.

Again for minimum upkeep and looking good, go with base/clear. Lacquer does take a lot of upkeep. A third choice, that falls between them, is a single stage black acrylic enamel. It dont take a clear, covers in 2-3 coats, and after its cured a month or two, can be sanded and rubbed too. All three can be made to look like glass with some work. For more info, do a search for anything related to painting and you will find dozens of threads.Like already mentioned, the paints final look all depends on your prep. It may take me weeks to prep a job, but I paint it in an hour or two.

I have painted 6 Fieros so far each panel off some single stag some base/clear. I can tell you buy good guns, and it is hard to get a showroom finish to look good. I have a big compressor and a set of three different guns. Yes the prep is the job and knowing how to prepare the Fiero panel. Paint cost alone have ran between 500 and 1000 bucks plus add the other things to complete the job. You will need water filters and a vent system to keep the dirt down, with out those you are just throwing you money away. You also have to know something about paint, mixing, flash times, and how to set your gun.It's not just fill the gun and shoot. I would first try some junk panels first before going all out it may be for you or it may not be. Good luck with your decision!

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1984 Indy Pace Car\1988 Formula Custom\1986 turbo GT
Founder of Mason Dixon Fiero Owners Group
NYFOC Member

I have painted individual panels before, but never a whole car. Definitely put the time into the prep sanding the surface. Also, be sure you have a safe, dust free environment to do it.

I was close to painting my whole Fiero in the fall, but ended up finding someone else to do it who had the equipment and facilities. I did not need a show car finish, but wanted something that did look good. I felt to really make sure it came out I would have to basically build a paint booth in my garage (amounting to putting up plastic/tarps, etc, to cocoon the car enough to keep dust from getting stirred up and into the paint).

Ultimately I found a local guy who painted it for $1700 (including tax and materials). The job included a single stage paint, doing the prep (sanding, filling in stone chips, etc) and painting, and also going over and painting all the black trim. I do know there are a few imperfections here and there, but it did turn out very good.

If you do it yourself, I think you will be fine with your single stage paint. Black will show imperfections, so get them smoothed out first. (Stone chips, any spider cracking, etc).

Your Formula looks good. I am not going to repaint the panels under the belt line as they are in decent shape. I was thinking that I could paint the top part of the car silver. What are some opinions on how that would look? Would silver be an easier color to work with? Thanks

Silver and gold are the two hardest colors to paint. One, they dont cover well so you need more coats. If your not experienced at painting and adjusting your gun, its easy to end up with mottling/ zebra striping... especially on hood, roof and trunk where the pattern of metallic is visible as bright streaks where your gun strokes are.

My experience, FWIW.

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/124618.html

quote Originally posted by Csjag: Your Formula looks good. I am not going to repaint the panels under the belt line as they are in decent shape. I was thinking that I could paint the top part of the car silver. What are some opinions on how that would look? Would silver be an easier color to work with? Thanks

My other Fiero is silver. After painted, silver is the easiest to keep looking good IMO, as imperfections, dust, and even small scratches are very hard to see.

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 02-10-2014).]

True, silver and gold are lower maintenance because theyre lighter. I will give you newer basecoat silvers and golds are shinier than they used to be, but they still dont have the gloss and shine like other colors. I painted my new silver Sebring because it just looked dull and drab.