Alan's 95 EG Civic GLI

[Alan V]

Paint!

Continuing off from the last update, my car should've been sent off for some paint. But yet again I got delayed with my painter. Time was running out as well starting my next semester of uni soon, leaving me with a final decision to attempt a respray myself using an air compressor and spray gun.
Prior to this I've only experimented with spray cans on my friends bumpers doing small touch up jobs and watching YouTube channels including 'The Gunman' and 'customspraymods' to help me learn. So with a list of supplies in mind I went to Bunnings, Supercheap Auto and VG Auto paints purchasing the following.

Bunnings:

Dry sanding sheets 80, 120, 180, 240, 360, 400, 600 grit
Disposable Coveralls
Respirator
Tack cloths
Masking paper
Sanding Block
Utility cord
Drop sheets

VG Auto Paints:

-Concept Paints-
4L Acrylic Mixed Paint in R81 (Milano Red)
4L Acrylic Primer
4L Acrylic Clear
4L Wax and grease remover
20L Acrylic Thinner

Iwata Az3 Spray Gun with 2.0mm tip
Water separator
3M Platinum Plus body filler
Masking tape
Fibreglass Matting
Rust preventative paint
Wet sanding sheets 1000, 1500, 2000 grit
Mixing cups and stirrers

Supercheap Auto:

Septone Spray Putty spray can
Septone Primer Surfacer spray can
Septone Matt Black spray can




Stripping car:

So with a majority of the equipment purchased, i backed the EG into the garage diagonally allowing maximum working space all around the car.



The next step was to remove bumpers, side skirts, fenders and interior trim so i could gain access and plug the side moulding holes from behind.



Decided to mask up windows and remaining exposed rubber trim preventing over spray from guidecoat.





Bodyworks:

The ideal method would've been to weld the holes up, but i didn't have one on hand so next option was fibreglass matting and rust preventative paint as suggested by VG auto paints.
First step was to sand the applied area back to bare metal. I used 80 grit and taped the underside to prevent the fibreglass matting from protruding past the hole and paint seeping through. I decided to experiment with a fender as that would easily be replaceable in the case that this method didn't work out.



Overlaying the fibreglass ready to cut to a suitable size



Brushed on the rust preventative paint with 2 coats as it was a fairly runny consistency



Miracle paint indeed!



I left the fender overnight and the fibreglass had hardened rock solid, even tried poking it with screwdrivers did not budge.



With one fender done it was time to do the other fender and both sides of the car. I struggled with reaching behind the doors to fill the holes closest to the dash as the window components were in the way. It was pretty hard to capture on camera as the paint was black but all the holes on this side were plugged up



So with one panel at a time i guide coated the whole car using the Matt black paint and sanded with 360 grit dry, showing me the imperfections and small dings around the car.



Whilst i removed the antenna it revealed an unfaded portion of the paint which I thought was pretty cool!



Went around the holes again with 80 grit, this time on the exterior ready for body filler. Decided to shave the front and rear badges using this method as well.

[Alan V]

Paint! continued...

Body fillers on! First time using this and decided to mix on a plastic chopping board, Weather was quite humid as well so ran into some issues at the start mixing with the right amount of hardener before applying on to the car.



However, was able to sand it all back down flush with the cars body panels. I used 80 grit and worked my way back up slowly to 240 grit



Applied a coat of primer from the can over the filler work, upon close inspection you can notice the outlines of the holes still showing



Applied my 1st coat of spray putty from the can over the primer and the outlines became less noticeable!



2nd coat of spray putty and we got no more outlines



With all the holes and dings filled, i gave the car one more sand with the 360 grit to get rid of any other scratches and shiny surfaces present on the body.
Pics showing front and rear badges shaved



Panoramas of the sides:





360 grit to scuff back the spoiler and bumpers. Also did some body fillers on the lip to touch up the scratches caused from speed humps.



Gave the car a wipe down with wax and grease remover, and set up the garage walls with utility cord to hang the drop sheets. Preventing over spray and minimise the dust.



The compressor I used was hired from Bunnings at $45 a day. In my opinion it is suitable for the job having no issues with the air flow and wasn't as noisy as expected. Just make sure you purchase a water seperator for your spray gun to prevent oils and water from getting into the paint. I also had to purchase the correct adaptor which allows me to attach the hose to the spray gun. It was a 1/4 inch nitto fitting from Bunnings about $8.



Paint:

-Primer-

The primer was my first trial of the spray gun. Initial impressions surprised me as the amount of paint you can spray and its adjusting capabilities compared to the can. Overall smooth, flat and easy to apply. No orange peel. All paint applied was mixed at 1 part paint to 1.5 thinners. Using about 60 psi on the compressor. With the weather being so hot for Australia Day (Saturday) the paint had dried pretty quickly and I got to apply 3 coats primer to the whole car, waiting about 15 minutes between coats. The troubles I struggled with primer were mainly from the plastic masking film I had used. It did not have adhesion of the paint and would flick up and flake in the air and on to the body. I did notice this not happening with masking paper and switched to re- masking the whole car with paper for future coats. Upon completing the paint for my car though, my friend who's also a painter informed me that a corona treated masking film would have prevented that from happening. Learn something everyday

[Alan V]

Painted!

Removed the masking film and paper the very next day. Light sand with 600 grit to remove any defects caused by the floating primer flakes. Also gave me some ideas if I had went grey for the main colour of the car , should have painted the side mirror areas too



-Base coat-

Anyway, the Sunday was fairly hot as well and masking with just paper was getting exhausting trimming to size, unlike the masking film being a much larger sheet to work with. It was about 3pm and needed to lay down base coat before the bugs come out at night lol. So one more wipe down of wax and grease remover and base coat was on. Managed 4 coats with 15 minutes in between again. Slight orange peel but nothing major. Right now I'm already smiling seeing fresh Milano Red on the car even though the clear coat has yet to be applied. It started to thunder and light sprinkles so called the day off and had to extend compressor hire for another day. Minor setback but allowed the paint to cure.



-Clear coat-

At this point I had run out of the painters masking tape and decided not to re mask and just paint over the existing masking. Weather was much cooler than the other days and didn't want to risk it raining again so straight to clear coat! Was aiming for 6 coats but ran out of clear midway after the 4th. Just enough to put one extra coat for the roof. This car just kept getting shinier and quite refreshing to see
I did however get a small run on the rear quarter near the fuel cap and will attempt to fix once paint cures.







The run happened 2nd coat in clear, got too excited i guess


This was night time lighting so i can get an idea of its true gloss. I did notice some clear coat over spray dust on the roof, front bumper and bonnet as they were pointed upwards towards the roof and I did not have proper ventilation but that should wet sand out in coming weeks.

[Alan V]

Finally painted

The very next day I parked my car outside to bake and test fitted front and rear bumpers with side mirrors. Couldn't have been happier with the result so far. I have to give the car a couple more weeks around 3 more to cure before i start cutting and buffing, but in the meantime its just parked in the garage and rolled out daily to bake on sunny days.











If I were to do this again it would be with 2k paint in a spray booth for its paint benefits. But being my first time I just wanted to get an idea of how spray guns work. In total, the cost ended up roughly $1500 including compressor hire. But still have to return a few products that I had doubled up on such as the body filler and Rust preventative paint to purchase compounds and polishes in the coming weeks so stay tuned

In the meantime though its just therapeutic cleaning of my interior, one panel at a time with a brush and some Autoglym Interior shampoo. So satisfying to see 50/50 shots



Sorry for the photo dump, I'm just really happy with the progress so far

[mlracing]

Awesome for a garage job looks mint

[felixR]

Impressive work Alan

[Alan V]

Awesome for a garage job looks mint

Thank you for the kind words!

Impressive work Alan

Thanks Felix!

[Devcon]

Wow great work!