How much paint should it take to use on the front engine bay sheet metal

[oldcarnut]

Getting ready to prime and maybe shoot the paint on the engine bay, cowl, front frame, outside inner fenders, and some of the door jams.  I've sandblasted most everything off, wire wheeled over it, and then scuffed up with some scotch bright and 150.   Will wipe it down with lacquer thinner to clean it off one more time after taping it off.  I don't want to unnecessarily waste any paint so from anyone's experience, how much mixed paint BC/CC should I plan on using to get it all covered? I'm not going to worry too much where undercoating will go back on so I'll go with a light coat there.  Thanks

[restoman]

Depends on what brand of paint you buy and what colour you spray. Some bases mix at a 1:1 ratio and coverage is extremely good. Other bases mix at 2:1 and coverage is horrible. You should always plan on buying a little more than you think you need - better to have some left over than to run out before you're done.
2 qts un-mixed should be a good starting point.

[oldcarnut]

Its Limco Supreme at 2:1 going from Burnt Orange to Petty Blue color.  So am I reading that your saying its going to take 3 qrts mixed to do just the front as in the pics?  I was thinking that a quart mixed would have done but I haven't stripped one down to this point before.  The guy at the paint counter had said that 4 qrts (1 1/2 galls mixed) would do the whole project.  I planned on some waste but I didn't want to mix up too much waste as I'm doing this in stages.

[Silver R/T]

You're not going to prime engine bay first?

[TylerCharger69]

You stole my question Silver R/T.....   Id spray some sealer as well!!!

[oldcarnut]

Certainly going to prime it first with Limco 800K 2K Primer Surfacer.  Goes on just about straight after mixed with the hardner.  I did ask the guy but since I was going on bare metal I was told that I didn't need the sealer.   Granted this is not top line paint but for as much as I will be wanting to drive it I couldn't see buying real high dollar stuff to get road chipped/scratched only needing repainted again in the same time frame anyway.  I used Nason before which I think is about the same level and have had it on the R/T for 10 yrs now with frequent driving and is holding up good. 
I'm not a skilled or trained painter so I would probably be wasting money on the best stuff but I can appreciate any help or knowledge offered.  I've run out of time to get er dun tonight primed but hopefully by the end of the week it will have color on it.

[Silver R/T]

Sounds good. On the areas that aren't cosmetic ie wheel wells, under fender I'd just shoot epoxy primer and spray rubber coating over that.

[Orange Bird]

An epoxy coat would be best on bare metal, then build on that from there. I started with a PPG DP90, black, then coated with white DP48 (i believe) to make my Orange pop. Black sticks better then I used white. You'd be pushing it to do it w/a qt I would go with what the other member said and get 2 qts. I know the crap is expensive but considering what you went through to get where you are now, now is not the time to squeak. You know what will happen if you do, you will pay anything to finish that last square foot. The good thing about the epoxy is that you have up to 7 days to deal with it before having to rescuff surface so if you run short, just get more and shoot the next day.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

[BlueSS454]

I bought a quart of a 3:1 single stage urethane to do the engine bay, underside, interior cab, door jambs, underside of hood & trunk lid, back sides of the doors, and interior trunk.  I still have some leftover.  The key is to have the gun setup right for what you are spraying so the paint goes on the car and not into the air.

[oldcarnut]

An epoxy coat would be best on bare metal, then build on that from there. I started with a PPG DP90, black, then coated with white DP48 (i believe) to make my Orange pop. Black sticks better then I used white. You'd be pushing it to do it w/a qt I would go with what the other member said and get 2 qts. I know the crap is expensive but considering what you went through to get where you are now, now is not the time to squeak. You know what will happen if you do, you will pay anything to finish that last square foot. The good thing about the epoxy is that you have up to 7 days to deal with it before having to rescuff surface so if you run short, just get more and shoot the next day.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

I saw your RR paint work.  Looked really nice great job.    My paint booth will consist of one side of my 2 car garage with plastic drop sheets hanging down from the ceiling to sorta close it in and a vent fan  . 

[Orange Bird]

I have dropped down plastic also in my past life and it worked ok and for this it should not be too bad. When you start getting to the finer stages, it will become more critical to time your paint work - maybe in morning/evening while some dew is still down before it gets too dusty. A biggie is the exhaust! Filter the back side of the fan and blow into enclosure. If you pull out w/std fan, you have windings sparking there around the armature and that creats an explosion hazard. Be careful and have fun.

[69DodgeCharger]

Sounds good. On the areas that aren't cosmetic ie wheel wells, under fender I'd just shoot epoxy primer and spray rubber coating over that.

You beat me to it. Why waste paint in an area like an outer wheel well? Nobody's going to see it, and it will be tore up from driving in short order anyways....plus probably be covered in undercoating. I painted mine with Rustoleum. I reduce/thin it and spray. The stuff is  rock hard and lasts forever. $8 a quart

[Silver R/T]

I like 3M undercoating. It dries fast, solid when it's dry and covers well. I tried Napa brand undercoating and it's junk imo

[oldcarnut]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.  I got it primed but I'm hoping that we get some good heavy rain tonight to clean out the air again before I paint it.  This time of year the pollen for the past few weeks is so thick that everything gets just about covered in yellow dust.  You can wash your car and go in for a drink then come back out in a half hour and it's tinted yellow again.  We're on the downside of it but without much rain there is plenty of the dust swirling around almost like driving on a dirt road.

[oldcarnut]

Well I got-er-dun today so to answer my own question, it took about 22 to 24oz of mixed paint and 1/2 that or so of clear.  Paint coverage was good with at least 3 coats and the same with the clear on the more seen surfaces.  I may scuff it up some later to get a few pieces of dust nibs out then possibly one more coat of clear after I see it in daylight.  Overall it came out good with no runs. I like the color much better than it was.  Used a HVLP gun.

[ktneifert09]

I did mine with about 2/3 of a quart but that was just the inside of the engine bay.  I'll post a pic.

[69DodgeCharger]

Mine took about 2/3 of a cup also.

[oldcarnut]

It looks like I used a little more approx 3/4 qt. color and covered a little more area so I wasn't too far off I hope.  I should have used more clear.  Going to spray some today

[BlueSS454]

I thought I had posted a pic...  This was almost 1 quart of a single stage urethane.  I also did the inside of the cab, trunk, back of the doors, fenders, underside of hood & trunk with it.

[sittinonready43]

now that looks good my charger is petty blue  we painted in side the fenders as well looks good

[69*F5*SE]

I've always liked Petty blue.  Engine bay turned out nice by the way.  Good job.   

[oldcarnut]

Thanks guys.  I hope to get most of the wiring etc back in this weekend.  Got my new SS brake lines and metering/distribution valves in and started remaking some of the rusty brackets from stainless sheet metal.  I have a lot of it sitting around so I may as well use it. Next is the fender mods and on to the nosecone.