Painting bonnet. RICE ALERT!

[NeoNasty]

Ive got a spare ST162 Celica in my garage, and I am going to paint the bonnet off that one and wack it on my silver Celica for a change. I know its homomo rice, and I am not stupid and I will be keeping my Nice silver bonnet to bolt back on later when I get sick of it.

I need advice on sanding down the white bonnet. what grit do I need. I know a little about sanding, but not a whole lot. Its just something to keep me busy this weekend instead of mowing the lawn.

Any ideas? It will only be some mat black look at me rice boy l33t styleZ so im not really worried about the finish that much.

Oh yeah. I does anyone want anything from the Celica aswell? Its a 1988 ST celica with a busted 3sfe. Ive stolen the fuel tank and I will be keeping the seats/lights/some interior pieces and the alternator. Im in Chadstone, Melbourne. I will start a proper thread when Im done with the car.

-Shaun

[urantia]

Yeah i'm interested in the two gaurds if there not rusted out, any idea if these are the same as a at162 celica SX (3sge) I reckon they are.

Also how about the front plastic grill? and the passenger side headlight/blinker

Cheers, Chris

[Major Clod]

You'll just need to just take it back enough so that the surface is smooth enough for your undercoat. Ideally you want to get rid of chips, scratches and dents as early as possible in the process.

You can use a random orbital or something with anything around the 300-400 grit. Just go back until you've gotten rid of any chips and scratches so that it is smooth. Finish it off with 400 on the orbital. If you don't have access to a sander, just use 280, 320 then 400 wet. Again this all depends on how the current finish is, if it is nice and smooth you'll probably get away with 400 just to break the surface and give something for the undercoat
to grab onto.

Don't be tempted to go too coarse. You might save time getting rid of the original paint, but you'll spend even more time getting rid of the deeper scratches.

Make sure you spray any exposed metal with etch primer before you undercoat.

When undercoating, make the first couple mixes as a filler to get rid of any scratches left by the 400. Block out with 400 wet, using a firm foam/rubber block on the big flat areas. Spray again and block with 600. Each coat can get a little thinner as there should be less scratches to fill up.

It is very handy to spray on top of each undercoat a fine guide coat using a dark colour, just to tint the top layer. It only needs to be a dust coat, doesn't need ot be thick at all. That way when you are blocking, you'll be able to easily see any deep scratches or dints, you'll be surprised how many you find. You'll also be able to tell where you have sanded so that you don't go too far through it. Keep undercoating and blocking until you're guide coats no longer show scratches, then you can simply smooth down your undercoat with your final grit.

If you finish the undercoat 800-1000 for acryllic, the results will be good. If you are using two pack, I believe it doesn't need to be quite as fine, though I would still go to 800. Don't take my word for that as I only have experience with acryllic.

Good luck!

[Bahnugget]

gday mate, good luck with ur bonnet painting (rice boy )..

is your car fitted with a sunroof? if it is, im interested in the panel (if its not rused) and the switches.. cheers.

[Garth AE86]

agreed with clod, take your time dont rush and you will get good results

[AE86slut]

agreed with clod, take your time dont rush and you will get good results

From the guy who's giving me stick for taking too long! lol


But yeah, take your time with it and you'll be blown away with how good it will come up!

[bathurst-91]

you can be dodgy and not take too much time but APPLY YOUR COATS THICK! + UNDERCOATS to counter this... I put on 2coats of primer and 4 of paint and when i started to sand before clear i got down to primer and metal in some cases! (put it on way too thin)

but the moral of this is dont be dodgy and take your time

[Major Clod]

you can be dodgy and not take too much time but APPLY YOUR COATS THICK! + UNDERCOATS to counter this... I put on 2coats of primer and 4 of paint and when i started to sand before clear i got down to primer and metal in some cases! (put it on way too thin)

but the moral of this is dont be dodgy and take your time

Interesting, but I think I'd rather sand and reapply my cheaper undercoat than my expensive topcoat!

[takai]

Ok, kinda the reverse question. I bought my bonnet from a ricer, and it was mostly black when i got it. I reblackened it for a while, but want to paint it white.
Any ideas on getting the black out of the crevices on the underside?

[Major Clod]

Ok, kinda the reverse question. I bought my bonnet from a ricer, and it was mostly black when i got it. I reblackened it for a while, but want to paint it white.
Any ideas on getting the black out of the crevices on the underside?

Do you mean from the grooves in the braces and that sort of thing underneath? If that is the case it can be a real pain in the arse to clean them up. I used a combination of paint stripper, sandblasting and a buffer wheel for all my hard to reach spots, but I was going back to metal. Underside of my bonnet was the most annoying part to clean up.

[takai]

Yep, behind the bracing. In the end i dont really care as its not a show pony, but it would be kinda nice to do.

[Sparky]

I think the easiest way with the reverse of the bonnet is to either have it sand blasted or forget about it. As long as it got paint on it, it wont rust - even if it is black or fluro green.

Just a tip if you are using rattle cans. Warm the can up by imersing it in hot water, and make sure you shake it really good. Both of these steps together will help the paint flow and minimise orange peal effect this will give you a better job.

The other advise I have for you is to select a solid colour. Dont try out a metalic - they are fidily. With a solid colour you have a lot of room for error.

Make ablolutly certain you fix every problem while spraying with undercoat. The best way because if you make a mistake undercoat is cheap, and most undercoat dries in 20 minutes. Your top coat may need 24 hours between coats.

Dont be affraid to sand the undercoat. - Just put some more on watch and episode of macgyver and sand till bonnet is flat.

Make sure you use a block - you hand does not cut through evenly and will mess up your work.

If you do select a metalic then spray in a crosshatched pattern to avoid having all the fleks faceing the same direction this looks weird when finished.

When sanding a metalic paint you can only sand lightly with something like 800 sandpaper. If you make a mistake on the paint you dont have much of a choise other than to spray over it. This is because when you sand metallic paint if you cut to deep then you will start sanding the fleks when these show through it looks ugly. So you cant really cut through the paint like you would a solid colour. This is why I say use a solid.

What ever you choose to use dont forget to lightly sand at the end of the job with a 800 and 1200 and go to an auto shop you might find a 2000 then use a polishing compound to bring it to life.

There are plenty of painting tutorials on-line to test out.

Good luck

[NeoNasty]

thanks for the replies.

If only you lived closer to me, then we could just swap bonnets. That would make it a lot easier. The one I am painting is white. *shrugs*

Sorry dude, Im going to be keeping the blinkers, but yeah when I am finished with it. I will send you a PM about the guards if you are still after them.

EDIT: Oh, and the grille is rooted, and the guards will be the same as the SX.

-Shaun

[SeptemberSquall]

If you're in Chadstone and you're going to use rattle cans, for the love of god give me a call. I'm also in Chadstone, and I've got a garage and a compressor and a gun and 20lt. of PPG matt black you can use.

Don't use rattle cans.

[AE86slut]

If you're in Chadstone and you're going to use rattle cans, for the love of god give me a call. I'm also in Chadstone, and I've got a garage and a compressor and a gun and 20lt. of PPG matt black you can use.

Don't use rattle cans.

I agree. Although we did paint a certain R31 wagon matte black with rattle cans recently with great results, it's so worth the effort of doing it properly with proper paint. Just make sure you do your prep right, otherwise it will last about 2 days!
Aside from that, you'll learn a whole lot of stuff along the way, and you can pretend you are a spray painter for a day or two.

Biggest thing (apart from shitty prep) I found to make a difference was when mixing the paint. I'm using acrylic and mix it 1 part paint to 1.5 parts thinner and it seems to be spot on. After painting I've been rubbing with 1200 wet, and have gone through to undercoat in a couple of parts, so put on around 6 coats I reckon. Don't go too thick because then you will start to get really small orange peel which is a prick to rub out. I've been going until it just starts to get a satin look (like halfway between gloss and matte), did the entire inside of the shell like that and it turned out tops for acrylic, not needing anything to finish.
Don't be scared of stuffing it up either, it's just paint and can be rubbed or stripped back, plus it's all learning anyway!