Hi all hope you are all ok!! I’m after some advice on body paintwork. About 14 months ago I did panel and body resto work, mechanical stuff and re-built the bus back up in about 6 months. With little time left and no experience, I gave it a spray job, that didn’t turn out how I hoped. So with winter approaching, I’m going to be taking the bus off the road to give it a full new paintjob. Now after a lot of reasurch and reading, plus my gained knowledge of last time, I’m quite confidant in being able to do a good job, plus it will help having around the same 6 month time frame as last time, but for bodywork only. So advice required; 1: any advice on filler work, prep and final prep + painting is always welcome (every day’s a learning day) 2: paint amounts—one of my biggest problems of last time other than not having enough time and never painting before, was the fact I don’t think I had enough materials or mixed the right amounts so, how many litres of high build primer, primer (if required) top colour coat paint, thinners and top clear coat (lacquer) am I likely to need (cellulose) to do a full inside / outside and engine bay paint job, finished in savannah magnolia with a brilliant (vw) white roof and pop-top?? Some of you have seen our bus so you know what I’m starting out with, but the bus is in good general condition with a reasonably smooth straight finish, no rust or major dents, just a few small knocks that need sorting, so I’m guessing the rest of the paint should just need ‘keying’ up with abrasive pads? Also, is the same prep work on the body, used on the dashboard, as I’m painting this too? thanks in advance. Cheers, Karl.
Good luck with it all Karl. First off sand the body down with 240 grit all over making sure there is no rust of flaky paint get it all smooth. Etch prime with an aerosol any areas of bare metal. Any imperfections you can feel of see will need repairing, once filler is applied & sanded smooth do not let it get wet. Once prepped paint all over with high build primer, do this in a well ventilated place that is warm & free of moisture. Once dry spray lightly with mat black paint. Sand the whole van again now with 400 grade paper untill all the black is gone, if you find any low or high spots you'll need to sort these again. You may at the end need to high build prime again. Once the van is all sanded smooth go over it again with 600, clean out the garage brush the floor several times & hover it, clean the van with panel wipe & then tack rag it. You can now paint it with top coat. I normally get a unprofessional to do this, but if your doing it don't put to much paint on or it will run. Wet the floor to stop dust blowing up, make sure the room is empty & all of the vans underside is masked off.
Stay away from Cellulose M8, use 2 pak it gives a nicer finish. Or you could use base coat & lacquer.
was going to use cellulose as it seems a safer option for 'diy' use without fresh air systems etc. i was going to prime, then flat back, paint, then flat back, then laqure??? so how much (litres) of materials am i looking at needing for the full job?? cheers, karl
base and clear from factory you can spray 2k at home as long as you use a vapour mask, and mind your eyes... vapour masks are usually not too expensive either as for quantities, are you just doing the outside? one colour, or two? i've done a couple of bays, in base and clear, and as long as you don't go too mad with the colour choice, they look really good!!
inside, and out... that's a fair bit of paint 5l high build primer - you might need a bit more, but it's usually available in 2.5l tins 3l colour for the top (this'll do the inside too) 4l colour for the bottom & engine bay 5l hardner 5l thinners 5l panel wipe you won't need any clear unless you want it to have an ultimate shine, or you go with a metallic, and then you buy it in a 5l tin
I've almost completed prep for the window surrounds. As soon as it warms up I'll be spraying pastel white from the gutter down to the centre line. It's about 2 1/4 square metres. Based on the above I'm hoping 2 litres of primer and 2 litres of top coat will be plenty - this is cellulose BTW. Is there any advantage in getting white primer? I suspect it's going to be more expensive. I'm doing the bottom at the end of the year so if I can get by with a 5 litre can of grey for the lot this would suit me better.
