Project Jeep Paint Job - Part 2

Next I did a final wipedown with the prep solvent just to remove any grease I may have gotten on the body during the masking process. Now came the hard part—choosing the color. I went back and forth on everything from silver to red to black to green. I even thought about doing a cool desert camo finish. In the end I chose a color that I happened on by accident. I saw a cool looking Dodge Viper as I passed by a local car dealership. And with a few minutes of research on the Web I found the paint code and proper name: Copperhead Orange. It sounded as cool as it looked.

I headed back to the auto body supply store and had them mix up a couple quarts of paint. I also picked up a gallon of primer, a respirator, a paint suit, some filters and a bunch of stir sticks.

I also made a trip to Home Depot. I picked up a Husky Gravity Fed Paint Gun and some supplies so I could construct my own paint booth. This included a couple of rolls of plastic sheeting, a bathroom exhaust fan and a couple of dryer vent hoses.

Most information you’ll find in books and on the internet really discourages doing any paint job in your garage. But I knew since this was my first paint project I would need some time, so renting a paint booth probably wasn’t a good option. Plus I already had the framework in place. (Long story, but I built a batting cage in my garage using cables strung across the width, so I could hang the plastic sheeting from the cables that were already there.) I also hooked up the exhaust fan and dryer hose to ventilate the booth.

With the booth constructed it was time to shoot the primer. I mixed up a batch of primer, hooked the HVLP gun up to the compressor and began laying down the first coat of primer. Remember to turn on your exhaust fan AND use a respirator while shooting the primer and paint. You definitely don’t want your lungs full of this stuff. HINT: Wet down the floor of your paint booth. This will help keep dust from being stirred up while you paint and will keep your floor free from overspray.

I got the mixture just right (purely by accident I’m sure) so the primer went on very nicely. I was surprised at how evenly it went on and how fast the actual painting part of the process went. After three coats of primer, I figured I had a good base for my paint. HINT: Clean your paint gun well after you prime. Any residual primer in the gun could really gunk everything up when you shoot paint.

I let the primer dry overnight and went back to work on the Jeep the next morning. I started wet sanding the primer using a sanding block, some 600 grit paper and a bucket of water. You’ll want to wet sand the primer to a glassy finish. The better you sand the primer, the better your paint will look.

With the primer completely sanded, I blew everything down again with the compressor and wiped the body down with paint prep solvent. HINT: Make sure your paint prep solvent is safe to use on primered surfaces.

I suited up again, complete with respirator and began mixing my paint. Run the paint through a strainer to filter out any clumps or contaminates. This, along with a clean gun, will ensure you get a good spray from your gun.

When the paint was mixed I began shooting. Don’t try to coat everything with one pass. The first coat of paint should be fairly light—just enough to provide a base for subsequent coats.

Most of the paints available today need only a flash dry time meaning you don’t have to wait forever between coats. In fact, by the time you finish the first coat you should be ready to start the second coat.

When you’re satisfied with the color and finish (usually a few coats) stop for the day and clean up. Again, make sure to clean your gun well.

Wait approximately 24 hours before finish sanding the paint. For the final sand I used 1200 grit sandpaper. Take care not to sand through the paint. Instead sand just enough to create a glassy surface. As with every other sanding step, the more thorough you are here, the better your finish will look.

Once your paint is sanded completely blow down the surface and wipe it down again with paint prep solvent. At this point you’re ready to shoot the clear coat. Clear coat not only makes your paint shine, it protects it as well. Most clear coats use a flash dry time similar to paint, so you don’t have to wait between coats.

For the first coat of clear, I shot a light coat. On the second, I shot a heavier coat, which really brought out the shine in the paint. I put one final coat of clear on for good measure and called it a day.

Overall, the project came out really well. Yes, I made a few mistakes. And yes, there were a couple of times when I thought I had gotten in over my head. But in the end, I was really happy with the project. When everything was reassembled, cleaned up and polished I felt like a proud Papa.