I have my engine bay stripped out and am ready to paint it. Have sanded back and applied primer.

However, I am not sure of the mixture of the final coat. I am spraying an acylic metallic 113 colour. I have 2 litres of this paint, 1 litre of thinners but do I need a hardener in the paint as well.?

Also, should I apply any clear coats?

I had a book on panel beating and painting but this has gone astray in my recent house move.

Hello, if its an acrylic you dont need the hardener, its just a single pac paint. Not sure if a litre of thinners will be enough, paint needs to be thinned down well. If I were doing it, I would udnercoat and sand down with fine dry sand paper (wet rubbing acrylic undercoats has always messed me up) spray the metallic colour, then wetrub that down to 1500ish and spray a few coats of clear then polish.

Thanks Z Kid

Having some dramas - paint went on too dry and had to sand it all off. Biggest problem is cheap gun and inexperienced operator - lethal combination

Will battle on

not sure if its too late but what I was shown as a handy trick was first batch well thinned, practice on a spare car you have lying round, or the wall of your shed etc till its thin enough. This goes on and looks a bit dry, and before the next coat just add a bit more thinners and so on and so forth until the last coat is about 80 percent thinners and nice and smooth. With acrylics I have found that you can actually apply a reasonable layer before it runs once again try the shed wall. And even if it does look dry as long as its got good coverage you can wetsand it smooth then clear over it.

Chris

This might just be a good thread for me. I've always used regular rattle cans but shortly I'll be picking up a LPHV (low pressure high volume) gravity fed spray gun so I can do a better job :devious:. Thing is I've never in my life used an actual spray gun...I know how to paint extremely well with a rattle can and with pure glossy non-metallic colors I can make it look like a factory paint job, I've come to learn recently I hate metallics though my work looks like crap cause it seems to mist more and I get overspray dried particles that find my nice and glossy parts and kill them but the whole gun thing will be foreign territory for me. You guys have any pointers as far as what kind of paints require what type of thinners/hardeners etc. ?? Perhaps all of them use regular paint thinner ?? Anyway a brief rundown would be cool. :classic: :pirate:

Well I have sprayed the engine bay and it turned out pretty ordinary. :mad:

Finally got the paint right and it looked pretty good - you were right Z Kid - lots of thinners to keep it from drying out.

I then put on a clear laquer and judiciously followed the instructions. Mistake!! The clear went on too dry.

I think I will strip the whole car back and drive it to a mate who knows what he is doing later this year.

Anyway while I had the engine out I put on a new cross member to give me better cornering. That was a job and half.

The hols are now over and it is back to work. The engine has to go back in next weekend now. :sleepy:

Biker