Raf99 : 1993 Accord EX

[Raf99]

Yaaaa......... she's ready for paint. I'm done with all this prep work. I still spend way too much time on this piece. It seems the touch-ups never end for it...





This week I'm going to go buy some primer, base (paint), and clear. The only thing I have to figure out is how to use the gun. And I think my #1 question is how do I clean the gun and container the paint goes in. Obviously in between primer/paint/clear you need to clean out everything. The gun, the gun reservoir, etc. But how and what do I buy? I can't help but think others just have multiple reservoirs so they don't have to clean them? dunno.... hoping some youtube videos will show me what I need to know/buy.

Oh and other good news is a major contract I had for work got renewed for another year. Without it this work would have come to a halt! But now we can start buying some much needed parts. I'm also starting to feel like I'm behind schedule...

[GTRON]

This is amazing! Great job tackling this by yourself. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

[Raf99]

Thanks.

Oh my, quite the awkward feeling to go into a paint store and ask to buy base and clear when you've never done it before.

" what kind of paint do you want " -------- umm paint? lol
" do you want a quart or a gallon " ----- ahh ummm...
" do you want hardener for the clear " ------- hmmmm

But here we are....... wish me luck. I have no idea what I'm doing
(shit, forgot to buy paint thinner to clean parts)

[NH-503P-3]

Man, you are brave my friend. Diy paint & body. I can turn a wrench any day but what you’re doing would scare me off easy. “Got your shittin pants on?” ~ Negan

From the looks of the engine bay so far I’m sure you’ll do well.

[SOHC-FTW]

Just a friendly tip on that finish one over reduce the first and second coat with a medium or slow reducer by atleast one part or so. You can reduce your final coat as well it gives a better result lays better and less likely hood of runs and puddles seems to also give less dry back when you do so if you lay it right. It's a cheaper clear but I've had decent results with it in the past.
Lay the first coat light an tacky and the following medium tacky, If that's a fast Hardner you may get away with it on a bay or jams but I prefer medium harder depends on the temperature really but I stick with slow or medium for hardner and reducers.
Best of luck to ya take your time and watch how you hold your gun remember to overlap evenly, never flick the wrist and to let your finger adjust the trigger at the end of panel and arches.

[Raf99]

Man, you are brave my friend. Diy paint & body. I can turn a wrench any day but what you’re doing would scare me off easy. “Got your shittin pants on?” ~ Negan

From the looks of the engine bay so far I’m sure you’ll do well.

Thanks man. If I can do it, you can do it. Before this winter I didn't know any of this!

Just a friendly tip on that finish one over reduce the first and second coat with a medium or slow reducer by atleast one part or so. You can reduce your final coat as well it gives a better result lays better and less likely hood of runs and puddles seems to also give less dry back when you do so if you lay it right. It's a cheaper clear but I've had decent results with it in the past.
Lay the first coat light an tacky and the following medium tacky, If that's a fast Hardner you may get away with it on a bay or jams but I prefer medium harder depends on the temperature really but I stick with slow or medium for hardner and reducers.
Best of luck to ya take your time and watch how you hold your gun remember to overlap evenly, never flick the wrist and to let your finger adjust the trigger at the end of panel and arches.

Ok. I'm taking notes from this video and going to try to follow it the best i can.

[Raf99]

WOW.......... I ahhhhhhh wow.

I didn't think it would turn out this good.......... (and this is before buffing)

[GhostAccord]

Results lie in the attention to detail.... and you definitely nailed the details on this one. Looking to do another...lol

[NH-503P-3]

That is damn gorgeous. Nice job!

[aleks77]

Looking good, reminds me of years back when i was doing my shave and respray!

Cant wait to see the finished product.

[Raf99]

Thanks all. Pictures don't really do it justice on here.




Now to tackle this thing........


The only thing i found wrong was this small leak...



Besides cleaning the engine and maybe painting it the next job will be to address the power steering. I want to move the reservoir and that involves re-doing all the lines that go to it, etc. It's either going back along the firewall or by the rad. I just want to free up space on the drivers side / have nothing there.

[Rilas]

Raf, Sally is looking very nice!

Glad you got the time to get this done. Although I think your going to need to wrap it up soon, as it's starting to get nice outside. I'm sure she wants to see some asphalt again soon.

I'm hoping that next winter I can accomplish a large project on Lola. I'm thinking either shaving the engine bay or putting in a 4th gen Prelude 4ws system. I've been trying to track down a cheap Prelude with the setup intact. I can only imagine how much better a FWD car would rotate with the rear end helping it out.

[Raf99]

Raf, Sally is looking very nice!

Glad you got the time to get this done. Although I think your going to need to wrap it up soon, as it's starting to get nice outside. I'm sure she wants to see some asphalt again soon.

I'm hoping that next winter I can accomplish a large project on Lola. I'm thinking either shaving the engine bay or putting in a 4th gen Prelude 4ws system. I've been trying to track down a cheap Prelude with the setup intact. I can only imagine how much better a FWD car would rotate with the rear end helping it out.

Thanks. Ya, not worried about timing. Only thing left now is to clean up the engine, put a clutch in it and build a transmission. I'm hoping to have all of this done by mid May. I often thought about the 4WS, but then I also thought if something breaks you'll never be able to find replacement parts. That and the system you find may already have worn parts in it.

[Raf99]

Well of course I'm still working on the car but the 'cloud 9' days of things going well didn't last... haha

I tried to buff the bay and on the top of the shock tower I buffed through the clear / base, and could see primer. Well no problem I though, i have a can of arcadian green from crappy tire here. I'll just touch it up.

- found out pretty quick that the can vs the man made mix do not match. The can was a lighter more noticeable green. Even after multiple coats, letting it dry, etc. I had a bright green patch on the top of the shock tower.... dam. It looked horrible.

- Created a new paint booth again, made it larger
- Sanded down, started over on that side
- Painted again
- Got drips of paint from gun container connection, re-taped
- Sanded.... started over.
- Painted again...
- First clear coat , np
- Let clear coat sit too long in gun between coats and it gels up in the gun. OMG. Didn't realize this until I tried the 2nd clear coat and it just splattered crap everywhere.

..........

- sanded down again
- meticulously cleaned gun. ditched inner gun filter
- had to buy more paint

And.......... whew. Here we are.

[Raf99]

Well......... I did finish painting the bay again. Did the results turn out as good as the first time, no. But it looks good. I'm being too perfect on it, so we'll leave it for now. But some lessons learned on painting...

- clean your gun in between coats if needed, rather than chance paint drying in the gun which causes splatter down the road
- clear coat will dry/gel in between coats if left in the gun. It's almost impossible to get rid of a gelled up gun afterwards
- a more expensive gun would be better
- a 5gallon air tank sucks and you have to wait a lot for the tank to fill, even with the gun set to 25psi max

So we cleaned up, and covered her up. On to other items:

1. Clean turbo manifold and apply cast iron paste to keep it from rusting
2. Tape off and clean engine, skunk2 intake manifold. Paint both sides of engine

Love this manifold. robust!


Before


After



I also have some new toys to put on. Can't say I've ever changed came gears before, but it looks fairly easy. May break the nuts loose first, but just have to find out where the cam gear locks are and how that works. But glad to have these, saved up for more than a year for these too. Oh, also got an AEM fuel filter, but not quite what I was expecting..