PAINT
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU DATSUNS
A common theme during this project is that there were a lot of firsts for me. I've never worked on a car to this degree and painting one was no exception. I was super nervous. I put a lot of time and effort into getting ready for this point and I knew if I screwed it up I'd be damn near starting over, so I took to the internet and watched countless YouTube videos - most of them from Eastwood - on how to go about doing this. There is an awful lot to learn about painting a car. The technique, the science behind how different types of paint work, the tools needed and the environment - just a lot. I wasn't looking to become an expert by any means, but I did want to at least be educated on the process so that if something went wrong, I'd have a good idea as to why so I could mitigate the chances of doing it again.
All those things combine to result in needing to have just the right conditions. The temperature has to be just right, because different paints behave in different ways. In my case, for the one color I chose, there were 3 different paint formulas I had to choose from that were formulated to work in different temperatures - specifically the activator. That alone told me I had to be incredibly diligent about how I did this.
On top of that, there are different cure times based on those same variables, and you have to re-coat and paint within those variables or risk having to sand the car so the paint would adhere. I learned most of this from reading through the PDF files that Eastwood posts on their pages for every single type of paint they sell. Thank you Eastwood for giving us the tools and resources we need.
Not only is environment key - but the type of gun you use in conjunction with your compressor. Mine is a 50-gallon Craftsman compressor which I thought would be more than enough, but it's not. In doing all this research, I found that in my scenario, I wanted an LVLP (Low pressure, low volume) spray gun instead of what seems to be the more common HVLP (High pressure, low volume. No idea if this is right still - but it worked.
To prepare, I had to build a makeshift paint booth. I knew it was imperative that my booth was as clean as possible. To prep for this, I cleared the 1/2 stall of my garage, power-washed the floors, swept the ceilings and covered the walls in painters plastic. Then I mounted some hangers on the wall for the various parts and components and tested to make sure I would be able to access all the areas of those parts with the paint gun.
I had to invest in a handful of tools to make this work. I already had a compressor - reading around on the internet, it was nowhere near good enough, but I had no choice. I had to make it work because I wasn't about to go drop a shitload of money on a gigantic compressor that I don't have room for. I decided to do the parts separate from the body itself. It'd take longer, but would work given the restrictions I had with my compressor.
MATERIALS
As mentioned, I had to buy some stuff to make this work. Here's what I remember:
PAINT
Eastwood Epoxy Primer & Activator
I went with Eastwood Single Stage Moonlight Drive Blue Metallic
I had to use the Eastwood Urethane Activator for temperatures sub-80 degrees
Several mixing cups
PAINT GUN
The Astro EVO T14 is what I chose for a gun. It only requires 16-19 PSI to operate, and my compressor was capable of that as long as I didn't try to do everything at once. I highly recommend it - very well built and super easy to clean. It's also light-weight which was a plus. You'd be surprised at the fatigue you get when using one of these. The only downside to this gun is that it's spray pattern is relatively small, meaning you'll have to do more passes when working with it as opposed to maybe an HVLP gun with a bigger fan, though again, I was restricted in my compressor.
ACCESSORIES
It was also important to buy an inline pressure regulator that attaches at the gun to make sure you're getting the right air pressure. This came in very handy because even when setting the pressure at the compressor at 19, I was only actually getting around 15 at the gun. This allowed me to regulate closer to the sprayer, resulting in a properly working gun. I chose to also add an inline moisture filter to make sure the condensation from the compressor wouldn't get into my paint gun. That'd screw up the paintjob and force me to start over.
Coveralls - get disposable ones.
Respirator/Painters Mask (not the shitty N95 ones from Lowes, a real one like Bane
Goggles
I'm sure I'm missing something but at the end of the day, I looked like Walter White. It was pretty badass.
PRIME TIME
I got all my removable pieces ready to go and went to work. I dialed in the paint gun on a few pieces of cardboard to make sure I understood what the spray pattern looked like and how to operate it, and then took the plunge. Everything went great. According to the directions, I was able to re-coat everything after 30 minutes, so I did.
The next day, I moved all the parts out and rolled in the chassis. It'd have been cool to put it on a rotisserie but let's be real - it wasn't in the cards. Plus I'd have to pull the engine and I'm not ready to do that yet. Rinse and repeat for the chassis - prime it, wait 30 minutes and prime it again.
PAINT THE TOWN BLUE
Alright here we go - priming is done and it's ready for paint. The paint color I chose was called Moonlight Drive Blue Metallic. I went back and forth between that and several shades of grey. Ultimately, i went with this color because I wanted to have something that would remind me of my first car. The car I had so many memories with - and wanted to carry forward with the Datsun. I went out the next day and wiped down all the excess primer dust - pretty sure this is the step one of the previous owners missed when doing whatever paintjob that was. I got all my gear on and was nervous as hell, but at the same time what's the worst that could happen. I totally botch it and have to start over? It's not that big of a deal.
I'll admit - I did screw up mixing the paint at one point. Luckily I caught it before it was too late but it was a giant waste of money that ultimately resulted in me having to buy another gallon of both paint and activator. The good news is that Eastwood took care of me and got me setup with an expedited shipment before I was ready to roll the chassis in.
For the most part, everything turned out really well. I ended up sanding and repainting the hatch lid, one of the headlight housings, and a door because I got a run or orange peel on them. The rest went great. Any other imperfections I had I took to task with a jean pad on a buffing wheel and they disappeared.
SCIENCE IS A WONDERFUL THING
The car was painted. Naturally, the next question was how many minutes would I have to wait before I could re-assemble this thing? To my surprise, I only had to wait a day. A day!! I gave it two just to be safe, but it was time. I had all my nuts, bolts and screws in labeled plastic bags. Someone was thinking of future Cody when they did that - how thoughtful of myself. So here we go - time to put it back together!
THE CAR IS READY - BUT NEVER DONE
Everything is put back together, and it's back to road-ready. Like any labor of love, it'll never be done.
I bought this car in January of 2020, took delivery on February 11, and at this point it's now May 22nd. It took just over 3 months to get to this point. Now comes the more relaxed part where I can add things here or there to really get it to where I want it to be. I'm in a good place.