wow I really wish I had the tools to do any of this! Ive always been a fan of great paint and your two civics looked great! Do you have any pointers to beginners to give regarding painting a high quality job?

 

yea i was pissed when i seen that. the abs and all the bs in that corner cover that crap well so you couldnt really see it. no frame damage its all orginal color and i dont see any signs of pulling or anything. just in that spot some of the metal was replaced with oem honda peices cause they still had the honda part sticker on the one peice. you can tell a body shop did it. they did a nice job just didnt really spend anytime on that peice. thats why im fixing it. wanted to show before and after pics. you think that is bad should have seen the yellow si civic when i got it.

ill get her taken care of.. some of my previous work.

before



after



painted this midori.. and did the bay..






knowing how to properly prep is a big thing. a good gun makes a huge difference. i have a couple satajet's. proper air pressure for your gun. clean ball for the gun to keep water out when spraying. i like to wet the floor down before spraying to keep dust from blowing up off the floor. id practice paint and prepping on small parts like a extra hood or door any body panel. maybe take a hammer and put a couple light dents in and try and work on that. k2 high build priemer is your friend. lol worst case you screw up. scuff it, wet sand it and try agian. when spraying over lap your last stroke of paint about half way and keep your gun about 12-16" from the car. go to slow you will lay too thick and run. go to fast your going to not get a good coat thus resulting in orange peel. i like to do 4 coats of base (color) and 3-4 coats of clear.

and from my experience.. the cheaper clears that take 4:2:1 like shop line usually run easier. i like to go with a 4:1 clear. which is 4 parts clear, 1 part hardner. the 4:2:1 is 4 parts clear, 2 parts reducer (which causes it to be runnier) and 1 part hardner. cheaper clear is good for like paint small parts but on a car i would use PPG deltron clear. Longer lasting doesnt fade, and keeps its shine over years. base (the color) i go cheap really. thats always just 1:1.

 

Yea man. You sure know what you're doing!

 

got some work done, and going back out today to get some more of the bay worked on.

pulled the interior. plan on swapping out the red carpet for black. and needed to pull the dash for welding up the holes on the firewall.





got the ugly crossbar out.



put in new crossbar. moved it to the front spot welds of previous crossbar which added about 4" more clearance for access to the front of the motor.







then made templates and got started on the front peices of metal work.



all welded up.



and on the passenger side..







will have more updates possibly tomorrow.

 

got the engine and trans painted lastnight. yes the valve cover is getting redone in a new color. now just waiting on some stainless allens to come in for the engine dressup. going to try and polish my intake, and paint the pulleys black and try to freshen it up. last thing i want is a fresh clean bay with a dirty rusted bolt engine that will stand out.

 

What did you use to paint your block and tranny? And lol your project is very closely mimicking mine! Gonna be two badass bays when it's all done.. Believe me you have your work cut out for you, I'm well into the 300 hour rang for time spent on my bay.. The firewall and the corners of it are hands down the worst..

 

Also, what filler are you using? I wouldn't go straight from welding to a polyester filler.. You should hit all your seams and welded joints with "All Metal" first, really strengthens things up and fills in any small imperfections that I would worry would crack regular polyester filler

 

automotive paint just make sure the block and trans is squeaky clean. ive done handful of shaved bays pretty sure i know how much work goes into one. lol yes corners are always a pita.. yes both will look good.


just using regular evercoat. yes all metal is good but if prepped properly theres no reason a polyester filler wont do the job. back then say 15-20 years ago all metal was a must. but fillers have been improved. and i used the same filler on previous builds and no issues occured. but ill pick some all metal up and try it.

 

If you think you can get away without it go for it, All Metal is a PITA to sand when its in any area thats rough to get to.. I usually just shape it with 36 grit, but if you trust the regular evercoat then by all means, I just wanted a little extra peice of mind I guess, and for the engine and tranny, did you just hit it with some degreaser and wire brushes? then paint it?

 

yea just called my buddy at the bodyshop, he told me to use duraglass which is made by USC. he said all metal is like sanding rocks. lmao.

far as the engine. yea i degreased the shit out of it. i used this stuff that my buddy gets at his work. hes a disel mechanic and they have a heavy duty degreaser they use for semi engines. i also used a little bit of engine brite gel. i sprayed it on and let it sit on the block for a day came back and rinsed it off with some stuff called purple power. yes wire brush works well, and a old tooth brush in the tight spots. i was going to paint the motor and trans black like my last motor but it was a PITA to track oil leaks. looked awesome but sucked on a turbo motor. lol

so i hit the engine with VSM silver off the civics and cleared it.