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Saturday, June 2, 2018

Triumph Spitfire Paint #2 - Epoxy Primer

Do you believe it?! I've finally sprayed my first round of paint on Dorothy. And, shudder to think, but I think I did a pretty damn good job, too. To the video:


There's not really a whole lot to document here in still images that I didn't better document on the video, so please watch that.  I've got a lot of words for you, though, so bear with me.

I was able to get the "paint booth" set up with a filtered air intake and exhaust (though a bit cheesy, I must say) and mixed the paint with no problems.

I'm using Southern Polyurethanes  (SPI)grey epoxy primer with a Devilbiss FLG-4 Finishline spray gun.  For both of these choices, I did some research and asked some questions on my favorite forum. I never got conclusive answers, but I got enough to make what I thought was an informed decision.

The SPI guys ended up being a no-brainer. Their customer service is great (the owner gives out his personal cell phone for tech support...and he actually gets back to you).  Their forum is also very strong and I've had my few questions answered quickly and completely. They  seem to be a small business that caters to the DIY guy and people that want quality in small batches. While they unfortunately don't  mix custom paint (i.e., I cannot get Signal Red from them), they do provide all of the stages of paint (epoxy primer, 2K primer, etc.) through their "house" color topcoats (black, red, etc). I'm so impressed that I'm seriously considering going with their house red if it's pretty close to Signal Red. Not sure how I'll figure that out, but I'm going to look into it.

As for the gun, the Finishline is not Devilbiss' lowest tier gun, but it's also not anywhere near their highest. I'd call it their entry-level "I like to think I'm serious about this, but not so sure yet" gun. I did previous videos and posts on it. Do you own research, but it worked great for the epoxy and it comes with three spray tips (they run about $50 separately) so that made it economical and, hopefully, a single-purchase solution.

I took notes during this whole thing on quantities, temperatures, pressures, etc. I kick myself for not taking notes during other (or any, really) phases of this rebuild but here, it matters for future reference to minimize wastage. I was really surprised by how much paint is. Two quarts of epoxy primer and activator (so, a gallon of material total, mixed 1:1) ran me $180. Based on what I used underneath, I'm not so sure that's going to be enough for two coats on the whole car. And, as for price,  that's not too bad, come to find out. A gallon of SPI single-stage red is  about $325. The activator is another $30. I had no idea, so be prepared to spend well over $500 on just paint. Combine that with the insane amount of time it's taken me to prep for paint (granted, I'm a rookie and not efficient) and I fully and completely understand why paint jobs cost so damn much!

Enough of me waxing philosophic...do your research and make your decisions. I'm in it for the long haul and now, more than ever, want to paint every bit of Dorothy myself. The results that I got on the epoxy primer (while I'm sure are not directly relatable to doing top coat) have only convinced me that it's worth going for it.

So, while I did get a run or two, I was very happy with how it turned out and am eager to get the interior cleaned up so I can shoot that too!!






And, no, I still haven't decided on what I'm going to do, ultimately, underneath (top coat, bedliner, etc.), if anything. Cheers!

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