Duplicolor spray paint on 92 Miata

[gwoods]

Many of you know I purchased a Miata with a broken motor (rod through block as it turned out) for $400. I found a damaged replacement for $50 and repaired it.

While most of the east coast guys are putting their convertable sports cars in storage here in Phoenix we are driving ours! My car needed some paint work and since I am cheap I am doing it myself. Today would have been a great Miata day it is supposed to be 79 degrees and 15% humidity wind will be 5 mph or less all day. This is also ideal painting weather.

Duplicolor makes automotive spray paints that in my opinion are a better option than many of the cheap paint shops in terms of looks and cost. You can spend about $80 on rattle cans and end up with a better looking paint job then spending $400-$800 at other places.

Things that are a must.

Eye protection goggles that completely surround your eyes have a strap on the back so they don't fall off onto what you are painting.

A respirator designed for painting.... the cheap ones are $40 I have seen them for several hundred. I have a $60 I bought at Lowes that has dual replaceable filters.

1st step remove surface rust and old light mfg primer from aftermarket fenders. One is in bare metal one is in 1st tack coat of primer. I used 220 on a orbital sander to take it down.



2nd step more primer. I let it dry for about 20 min in between coats and set a timer on my phone when I finish. I wanted to have enough primer that I could really sand it down for a very smooth surface for the base(color) coat. I ended up going through 5 cans of primer and returned one can unused. The best paint jobs are made at this level. The smoother and more even the surface you are applying the base coat to the wetter and deeper the finished product will look. I let it dry overnight before moving to color.





3rd step and the most important is preparing the primer for base. I start out using 320 then 400 then 800 dry finally 800 wet. I want the primer to feel smooth under my hand. It should feel like polished metal. When it feels like that its ready for paint.



4th step is applying the base coat. The best advise here is to go slow. Don't try to get coverage on your first coat. Paint from multiple directions to make sure your getting coverage from all angles. I used 6 cans of GM Bright Red #398 which turns out is an exact match for Miata Red!




I will let the paint dry for several days before applying clear coat. Some people sand the base coat.... I don't like to do this because the odds of making a scratch that you will see forever are so high. I will apply clear coat over 2 days sanding between days with wet 800 first and wet 2000 in the end.

Here is what the car looked like before.... after pictures to follow!

[gwoods]

I painted the spot under the brake booster using this same spraypaint primer, clearcoat

You can see it painted with the motor installed



This is what it looked like before and likely the reason for the newish master cylinder

[gwoods]

I used Duplicolor's system to paint the door handles, mirrors, bed cover and roll pan on my Hemi Ram

[float_6969]

Nice! I can't wait to see the finished product. I love a rattle can paint job, especially when it's done right and turns out well!

[gwoods]

Thank you! Hopefully by Sunday or Monday I will have some "after" pictures of the car with paint on all the body panels.

Here are a couple more shots from today after my final base coat.

[AZhitman]

NICE.

This might be article-worthy, eager to see the outcome!

[gwoods]

I'll take more pictures then.

The paint was dry last night it should be dry enought for clearcoat tonight and my garage is heated. I will use tack cloth to clean up the parts surface tonight and put on the first layer of clear coat. Probably 3-5 coats of paint with 10 min between light applications. Then on Sunday I will wet sand it with 800 grit. After its sanded tack cloth clean the clear coat and apply the final layer of clear coat in another 3-5 applications 10 min apart. Once it drys for 48 hours it will get wet sanded with 2000 grit, buffed and waxed. Then the parts can be reinstalled. Hopefully I'm driving the car by then so I can do a nice photo spread.

[gwoods]

This is tack cloth, it is cheap about $1 each and supposedly washable/reuseable I always throw it away?

There is always some dust or paint that didn't stick or bugs or fibers lots of stuff that comes to rest on fresh paint and you don't want to clear coat over any of it! Use the lightest pressure possible to wipe down the surface you are about to clear coat. Some folks wet sand the base coat. It can lead to a very deep paint job, for me the risk of a scratch is way to high. At this point any imperfection in your base coat will be very visable and the clear coat will amplify it. A fine scratch is a crater after you clear coat it.

I saw a few spots where my spray nozzel left a dot on the fenders but nothing I can't live with. To make any repair at this point you have to pretty much start over so really think about what you want to do. Anything you do to fix a dot, bug, run or scratch is just going to look worse than it does now.



Bumper after tack cloth wipe down



Fender before wipe down with tack cloth



Fender after tack cloth wipe down



What the used tack cloth looks like

[gwoods]

With clear coat light light coats to start out you want to wait 10 min between them and spray from multiple angles







After 3 light coats of clear coat I really lay it on making the parts wet be careful not to make any runs if you run the paint you either live with the run or take it back down to bare metal and start over.

[gwoods]

I have set aside 3 cans of clear coat. After I finish I will let the parts dry at about 75 degrees in my garage for 48 hours. Then I will wet sand the parts with 800 grit. After wet sanding once the parts are dry I will use a new tack cloth to clean up any left over sanding residue and then use another 2 cans of clear coat. This 2nd application of clear will dry for another 48 hours then I will buff it and install the parts. After a week I will wax them.

[gwoods]

Once my first application of clear coat had dried I matched it to the car and it was yellowed a bit so I did not put a second coat on. I had to remove a lot of the first coat to get back to the right tint on the base coat. I used wet 800 first the stepped down to wet 2000.

I use big motions trying to cover the entire length of the part in a single motion at the same stroke. I clean the sand paper in water between strokes and wipe the part down with a wet wool sock. After about thirty min of sanding I polished the bumper with a cleaner wax using a foam bonnet.

The bumper came out just about perfect but it's not shiny. I didn't have enough clear coat to be comfortable doing anymore sanding to get that glossy finish. I am going to probably add clear coat in the future and work to a glossy finish.












Fender on the car not sanded so you can see how off it looks with all that clear coat

[AZhitman]

Looks pretty damn good.

By the way, for wet-sanding, rather than a bucket, a lot of shops will use a sprayer rig... An aquarium pump and some perforated tubing, attached to the panel with suction cups, which maintains a constant "sheet" of water on the part being sanded. A kiddie pool would be great underneath, and would even allow you to recirculate the water.

[gwoods]

Thank you! Still have not hooked up the motor but I think you'll be seeing it in person by mid January.

Good advise!

I'm going to leave the bumper as is the more I look at it the better I feel about it.

The fenders though they need to be a closer match. I will probably try what your mentioning but use my 110 gallon dog bath/pool and a aquarium powerhead. I think the fenders are going to get wet sanded a bit more with 2000 grit and then perhaps another coat of clear. I'm frusterated with the way the clear coat changed the tint of the red. When it was in base coat it was a 98% match. From 5 feet you could not see a difference. Once I added about 15 very light coats of clear and 2 heavy coats of clear it changed. The bumper came back pretty easy but I took down a lot of the clear with 800/2000 and still didn't get the shine I was looking for. I'd like the bumper and fenders to look as wet as your 510 does but not willing to pay for it :-)

On the other hand, the car has its fair share of scratches and there are about a dozen dents in the passenger rear fender near the antena. I suspect the previous owner was a little bit aggressive changing the antenna. So once I got the fenders and bumper perfect I would be bothered by everything else.

I still have not ruled out a flat black wrap, I bought myself a heat gun for christmas and have been looking at video's on youtube. I may try a carbon fiber wrap on the hood and see what I think,

[AZhitman]

Unfortunately, most rattlecan clear is far from "clear."

The antenna area on the Miata is a commonly-damaged area... it's usually from the power antenna getting whacked, which bends the entire fender (and makes more dents when straightened). It was a bad design.

[gwoods]

I'm hoping to spend some time on it this Sunday.. will post some pictures of where I end up with the fenders. They may end up not matching as well but will still be better than bare metal.

[AZhitman]

Also, you're missing a step - Skip the 2000 grit, stop at a 1000 or 1200 grit, then go straight over to a cutting compound, and finish with a fine-cut polishing compound (rather than wax).

Wax should be done 2-3 months down the line, and ditch the "cleaner wax" - it has a lot of solvents in it, which is attacking your soft paint...

That paint needs to offgas for a LONG time (and even the cut/buff should wait for a month after painting).

[Kompresshun]

You should just plasti-dip the whole thing thing flat black. It's cheap and easy, but not permanent.

My antenna has no damage, but the mast has been removed from it. So the base is the only thing left.

[gwoods]

I know about the 2 step compound but couldn't find them this am there is a broken miata motor on an engine stand with a cherry picker in my way so I figured the cleaner wax would work about as well. Duplicolor says that you can use wax after a week. I'm past a week in a heated garage. Now that paint job on your 510 yeah that is still "drying/off gassing" that is real paint :-) I'll pick up some cutting compound and polishing compound today... mine is going to be from 2005-ish and I may have tossed it when I cleaned the garage back in October.

Because of the tint change I am not going to go as deep on the clear as I had planned so I don't have as much to work with and I think perhaps 1000 or 1200 is going to remove too much too quick and also not make it as smooth as 2000 will + time. 30 min of wet 2000 should be smoother than 15 min of 1200 and I will have removed nearly the same amount of clear.

Anyway thanks for that advise. I will use half of it :-)

Komp~ not a big fan of plastidip. I think a pho carbon hood might be cool though. Did you see the Hella light thread on Miatanet? Have you thought about it or do you already have it? The Hella conversion and FM (racing beat) end links will likely be my first mods.

[Kompresshun]

I've considering doing a black/pearl mix plasti-dip on my Miata for the time being, just because it's quick and easy. We get a huge discount through NAPA though at work, so it seems that I will come out cheaper to just paint it instead.

No I haven't seen the Hella light thread yet. I honestly haven't even thought much about upgrading them yet, but I will at some point. For now I just replaced the fog lights with some better ones and called it good.

I've been replacing/repairing a lot of stuff lately, so I haven't really thought about many mods yet. I think i'm going to order a R package front lip for it this weekend but i've got a long list of things that have to be right before I start buying mods for it. So far my list is:

1. Replace timing belt, tensioners, water pump, and gaskets.
2. Replace soft top.
3. Find new trunk lid(Current one is damaged).
4. Install new center console(on the way).
5. Replace HVAC control panel(Current is is cracking/worn).
6. Get a set of stock seats and seat belts.
7. Get a new steering wheel. Previous owner wants current one back.
8. Repaint whole car. Color undecided.

After those things are done i'll probably work on some suspension mods and boosting it. It's already on coilovers so it just needs stiffening.

[AZhitman]

C, keep an eye out for someone replacing their MSM bracing. I gave mine to a local, but a lot of MSM guys go with the FM BB, negating their need for the stock pieces.

[AZhitman]

30 min of wet 2000 should be smoother than 15 min of 1200 and I will have removed nearly the same amount of clear.

Probably so - However, without the next step, it'll still be dull/hazy. Get on that two-step, brotha.

[gwoods]

30 min of wet 2000 should be smoother than 15 min of 1200 and I will have removed nearly the same amount of clear.

Probably so - However, without the next step, it'll still be dull/hazy. Get on that two-step, brotha.

I've already hit the fenders with wet 800 to get them smooth. the two step we are talking about involve the foam pad and my turtle wax buffer right?

[audtatious]

I had similar experiences doing my mom's Ford which had begun shedding it's skin. Looks OK but is flat and I'm scared to buff it for fear of going through the paint. So, fuk it. It's not rusting so she is quite happy with it.

[gwoods]

I did some rattle work on my truck long ago and got a nice shine to it I need to get the compounds and foam wheel it.

[AZhitman]

I've already hit the fenders with wet 800 to get them smooth. the two step we are talking about involve the foam pad and my turtle wax buffer right?

Nope - Compound and polish.

There shouldn't be ANYTHING wax-related getting near that paint anytime soon, IDC what "Duplicolor says."

[Jesda]

Not bad! I did something similar (but cruder) on the faded bumper of a Cadillac Seville. Surprisingly looked decent for many years.

Also, my paint guy suggests avoiding wax on a recent paint job for 6-10 months.