Neglected 95 Eclipse GSX nostalgia build

[DreamChaser7]

Oh I know what you mean. I spend two days prepping before I paint. That means no dogs, minimal foot traffic, multiple rounds of vacuuming and blowing out every crevice I can get at, repeat, repeat. Then plastic, tape, fans, filters, etc.
I would also suggest getting rid of the pusher fan, that’s just kicking up crap in the air. I just turn on the pullers with filters, and duct tape screen over my man door on the other side of the garage for intake air. Works pretty damn good and doesn’t take long to clear out the mist/smells, considering what I’m working with. I can walk out there without a respirator within 15 mins normally after spraying and feel safe.

 

[jesse12345]

That's exactly what I did, but I'm guessing I drug hair in from my shoes and my jacket. I'm assuming like you said the furnace dusted alot of stuff up to. I had my dads buddy in there and he said it was to cold so thats why I did that. It was probably a solid 20 degrees colder on the other side of the plastic opposed to the 75 I had it on the furnace side. It really sucks trying to keep it at a certain temp along with trying to keep junk out on top of me being a noob. There's so many things going against me. Honestly I'm happy I gave it a crack but my garage is just not meant to be painted in. I even re wrapped everything including the car after I was done sanding to keep everything as clean as I could.

 

[DreamChaser7]

Yah I don’t have that problem here, too hot to breathe in mine 8 months out of the year.

 

[jesse12345]

I'm guessing you have ac going instead? Is it worse to be to hot or to cold when painting? I sanded alot of the car down lightly again to get rid of orange peel and some junk that was stuck in the paint. I may try to hit it again but this time without the furnace blowing in the area.

 

[DreamChaser7]

I normally use a slow reducer due to my climate. I would think cold would be worse. But either way I wouldn’t work with it outside of the allowable climate parameters on the specific product. Hot and humid sucks but boy does it dry fast!

 

[jesse12345]

I'm going to give it one last try and see what happens. I'm just ready to be done at this point. Should I try my reducer with it? It's already super thin when I put it on, I got medium reducer just in case.

 

[DreamChaser7]

I would do as the cut sheets say and follow those ratios exactly.

 

[jesse12345]

Some absolutely great news! I finished sanding and sprayed primer last night and it turned out great, not a spec of anything in it. I took the advice I was given and blocked my furnace and everything turned out flawless. I'm going to attempt to spray base today and im hoping it turns out just as good. I just really need my garage back so if it's not perfect I can give it another shot later on. I don't mind spending hours and hours on the things I love so it's no big deal.

 

[99dsmer4g63]

If this is a 2 stage paint I usually spray the base and clear all in one day. The longer you leave that base sit the more likely to have issues with the clear. Just the way I do it.

I’m no where close to a professional so take that as you will. Also if it is a 2 stage my dad and I usually splash a slight amount of reducer in the clear. Always feel like it lays nicer.

The quality of the gun also has a lot to do with how good it turns out too and the psi you have feeding the gun is critical for the clear to lay flat.

Good luck

-Daniel

 

[jesse12345]

If this is a 2 stage paint I usually spray the base and clear all in one day. The longer you leave that base sit the more likely to have issues with the clear. Just the way I do it.

I’m no where close to a professional so take that as you will. Also if it is a 2 stage my dad and I usually splash a slight amount of reducer in the clear. Always feel like it lays nicer.

The quality of the gun also has a lot to do with how good it turns out too and the psi you have feeding the gun is critical for the clear to lay flat.

Good luck

-Daniel

It was a single stage and I am super happy with it. I'll post some pictures when I am home tonight, but I'm so happy I gave it another shot. It may look dull looking since it's not a 2 stage but anything right now is better than nothing. There were a few runs here and there that hopefully I can buff out otherwise I'll just have to redo small sections. Either way it's not the end of the world, my garage is not a place I should be painting in there's just to much crap in the air.

 

[jesse12345]

It's not perfect by any means but it does look very nice given the circumstances. Next up will be my bumpers and the door jambs. It actually doesn't look as flat as I thought it would for a single stage. I sprayed it 3 hours ago so I'm pretty pleased.

 

[KiloFilo88]

Looks phenomenal

 

[jesse12345]

Looks phenomenal

Thank you! I think I might be getting the hang of it, but we will see.

 

[99dsmer4g63]

Looks good man. DIY paint jobs are never easy. The makeshift paint booths can’t compare to a controlled environment either. Bugs, dog hair, dust just hard to make it perfect without a perfect environment.

-Daniel

 

[jesse12345]

Thank you! I'll probably save up for a way nicer paint job down the road, I'm just happy I gave it a shot. I mean I tried my hardest to keep things as clean as possible but it's impossible in my garage. It did turn out way better than I expected but beleive me the camera makes it look absolutely flawless which it is not. But it's not bad there's a few things that got in the paint but not as bad as the first time I sprayed.

 

[jesse12345]

I got the rest of the car painted along with the door handles. Next on the list is my bumpers and sideskirts. As long as I follow flash times the paint actually lays on very nice there's a few spots where I didn't give it enough time and it shows. Over all I'm very happy with how it turned out and I've learned a ton so far doing it.

 

[jesse12345]

I'm starting to get everything back on the car. Every couple of days I'll paint the side skirts, and then the bumpers just so as they dry I can put them on the car and cover it all at once. I did notice the drivers side fender had a few runs and suffered some pretty bad orange peel, so I may just sand it and re spray it off the car. Anyways it'll all be just fine, I just get real picky sometimes.

 

[jesse12345]

I have been grinding pretty hard to get this thing finished up before spring. I did spray the trunk jambs this morning and I ended up getting over spray on the roof even after everything was taped off. I tried the clay bar trick on it and it worked great so that was a relief. I'm waiting for the door caps to cure a little longer before I apply any pressure to them, otherwise the front and rear bumpers are all that's left. I am beyond happy with how it's all coming out. I am making a few mistakes as I go but I shall learn from them.

 

[jesse12345]

I finally got my bumpers painted last night, so I was able to rip all the plastic down. So far I'm very happy with it. I'll probably wet sand and buff to get it near perfection, so many things trigger my ocd. I'm waiting on some door handles I ordered to steal the gasket off one for mine. I also am waiting on some door cap clips. I keep ordering "oem" but they are Chinese everytime and they crumble after I try to install unlike the actual oem ones I have. I was also able to score an oldschool crank pulley.

 

[fourgsixty3]

Looks great. Awesome job doing it yourself. I don't know if I'd use an undampened crank pulley. I used one of those for a little while with no harm done but this was on a weekend car which maybe got driven 500mi per year. Still have it in a box somewhere. The few HP it frees up isn't worth the risk. Cool piece though.

 

[jesse12345]

Thank you! I'm 50/50 on the crank pulley only because I read somewhere that the stock 30 year old rubber is probably not doing much anymore. I don't know how much of it is true but I'm guessing having that weight maybe helps some? I did buy the piece super super cheap so if I don't use it I'm not upset about it. What are your thoughts on this and has anyone had any bad experience with an undampened pulley? I know my non turbo has one on.

 

[fourgsixty3]

If you're looking for a stock pulley in decent shape I have one I won't be using. Under 30k miles on it.

 

[jesse12345]

Wait so what are you using? I seen a brand new one online for like 40 bucks but I don't know if it's from China land or not.

 

[fourgsixty3]

Wait so what are you using? I seen a brand new one online for like 40 bucks but I don't know if it's from China land or not.

I'll be using a Fluidampr on the built motor. Jnz still has a new OEM crank pulley for sale for $189 so the $40 dollar ones you've seen are probably China made.

 

[jesse12345]

So you'd recommend staying away from the lightweight ones? The fluiddampr is definitely not cheap but is probably worth it. I honestly was just looking to make things look a little nicer really. I'm happy with what's on there which is a factory one it's just getting old.