It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

[Phil D.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Phil, don't you own a supra also?

Yes. I've owned a few Supras. In fact, in 2004 I bought a Supra at a charity auction that was riddled with hail damage, a little rust, and did all the body work myself, then primered it myself, but left the paint to a professional. Or at least I did 75 percent of the body work. My painter spotted about a dozen tiny dings that I still couldn't see after he pointed them out to me and I paid to have him fix them. There was also a tiny dent that I could see, but couldn't seem to fill and my painter explained that I was putting too much pressure on the sanding block. The guy that bought it from me took it to a local Sonic drive in cruise night and got a trophy so I guess it turned out OK, tho I was a bit disappointed with it myself. After it was painted, I spotted some sanding marks that I'd left and a couple dings that even my painter had missed. I still have my first Supra that I bought after college and autocrossed in for several years and I've got a stockpile of NOS trim and interior parts to restore it someday. That's one I'd like to repaint myself.

[Rick A.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Wayne,

CONGRATS on doing it yourself - question does that $1100 price tag include your labor cost? you need to figure that in also - your time is NOT free - use whatever the going labor rate is for your area and then you will see what the true cost was

[Joel F.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Wayne,

CONGRATS on doing it yourself - question does that $1100 price tag include your labor cost? you need to figure that in also - your time is NOT free - use whatever the going labor rate is for your area and then you will see what the true cost was

Well Rick, I beg to differ on that statement. This is a hobby after all, and something we do for fun, so counting the value of your time is not really fair. It is not that different from playing golf. If you spend 5 hours playing 18 holes, and the wife or girlfriend asks how much you spent, do you count your time? Hell no!

[Greg L.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Wayne, I'd be quite interested in getting some advice from you on how you did this. I tried spraying this very same PPG Cortez SIlver on my 69 last summer with mixed results. All the advice, hints and tips that I got for spraying silver lacquer were with very good but none involved the Devilbiss plus which is what I have so I think that even though I had the right tools, my set-up was wrong.

If you're up to giving me some pointers I'd REALLY appreciate it because I'm still a little uneasy about attemping it again with this gun of mine. I'd prefer to call you to talk about it if that's okay.

Thanks, Greg
linton@telusplanet.net

[Wayne B.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Greg, give me a call - 404-281-8159

Here's a couple pics of the setup. I just light wet sanded the original primer, rolled it in and taped it. I didn't take any while painting though, figured I'd get paint on my camera. Tore the booth down in about an hour today.

[Timothy B.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Wayne, The booth looks great and I bet the car looks beautiful, I can't wait to see pictures of the paint. That is what this hobby is all about it's nice to do it yourself and learn.

[Tom P.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

the EPA can come after you,depends what state you live in this is not your fathers days when you could paint in your driveway

Good grief!

[Tom P.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Clem is correct, there are very strict rules on lacquer and its' use in the environment. Mostly the EPA laws/rules apply to businesses. Check with your state. One of our members successfully built a booth in his garage and applied many coats of black lacquer on his 65 vert. It was a great job.

More good grief!

[Jack H.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Yes, lacquer qualifies as Haz Mat. That does NOT mean it can't be shipped though! It just means it can't go via air freight AND the source declaration paperwork has to be made out properly.

That's a 'hassle' factor many sellers simply don't want to deal with. So, they 'simplify' things by saying, they can NOT ship the paint... The same is true of the thinner you need for the lacquer paint.

On the sale of the paint constituting an automatic 'license' to use it, that's a stretch. I don't believe there's a place within the US where you are completely prohibited from spraying lacquer paint IF you have legally recognized/approved air and waste water containment/recovery facilities.

But, we're talking about things here that can constitute a SUBSTANTIAL capital investment! So, it's easier to simply say this/that neck of the woods 'prohibits' the use of lacquer...

Isn't it funny that our ally friends in Europe signed the same anti-ozone depletion treaty that we did and they routinely allow the continued use of lacquer paint for automotive applications when those shooting the paint constitute a 'minority' or 'nuissance' infraction and/or are doing so in the interest of 'art'?

Few outside the US understand the impact of our Constitution and its 14th Amendment (equal protection of the law). They'll agree to many environmental regulations and then go 'selectively' enforce that law while we're stuck with the burden of a uniform and unilateral enforcement task!

On trips abroad, various conversations I've had pertaining to the US position on the Kyoto Treaty, reveal our foreign friends had NO IDEA that we'd take such a treaty so seriously!!! They view such things as 'doing good' and moving in the 'right' direction vs. a HUGE disruption to the economic status quo, and therefore don't understand our reluctance to adopt such legislation...

[Clem Z.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Good grief!

people voted for change and we are about to get it in "SPADES"

[Wayne B.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

I can walk into a Home Depot in Atlanta and buy a can of lacquer spray paint, even a gallon of lacquer thinner, acetone, and even tolulene. I certainly don't think it's a "stretch" to say if you can buy it for your personal use you can use it. I'd see warnings and government forms on every shelf if I couldn't just because of the liability the store would have. I can walk into a cabinet supply house right now and by a gallon(s) of spray lacquer and thinner and they don't even ask your name. Not every State buys into Junk Science. Things like that do vary from State to State. I can go next door to South Carolina and ride a motorcycle with no helmet, pull into a gas station (selling flamable liquid) and purchase alchohol and fireworks. Try that somewhere like California. The EPA regulates industry, they get that power the sneaky way Congress does by claiming it involves Interstate Trade, thus circumventing the Constitution. Personal use is a State issue, it does not involve Interstate Trade or commercial use.

I'll quit using lacquer when the EPA pry's my cold dead fingers from my spray gun.

[Terry M.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

people voted for change and we are about to get it in "SPADES"

[Thomas N.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

What I could never understand is why the EPA is clamping down on lacquer. I know it is because there is more solvent being put into the airstream (thinned 100-150%). But if anyone has sprayed lacquer, acrylic enamel, catalyzed acrylic enamel, Imron, or any of the other epoxy or polyurethanes, from a point of view of nastiness/things that can really mess you up (or the environment), I'd spray lacquer any day of the week. I'd rather spray lacquer without a respirator than any of the other paint techonogies with a full blown isolated air system. Well maybe that is a little exaggeration. Lacquer is definately more work and not as durable, but from a novice point of view, if you don't like your finish, sand out the issues, and add more coats of paint. Because the film build is so slow, your success of metallic consistency is greater also. Plus things like fish eyes seem to be less of an issue with the application of lacquer. Now if we could only get a European connection for shipping lacquer (theirs seems to be of better quality I think they still have some lead in it).

[Jim D.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Exactly. I don't understand why some people blame a president who's been in office for only a few months for all the problems created in the last 8 years by the previous pres.

[Tim E.]

Re: It cost how much?! I'll just do it myself...

Painting has always been one of the most enjoyable phases of the restoration process for me and I always encourage people to give it a shot themselves. I spray in an open garage with no booth, a dry floor, and PPG lacquer. In Houston, I just have to wait for the right day....70 degrees, no humidity (not often in Houston!), and still morning air. If you get good results with Krylon, you can get good results on a larger scale! Tim