DIY Paint Experiment Conclusion

Here is a closeup shot of one section of the hood.  You can see the reflection of my hand (thats a reflection and not a hand print)  which will give you some idea of the quality.  No brush marks, even tinting, very high gloss after some elbow grease and polishing compound (not buffing compound). I'd call this experiment a success.   I'll let you know in a year or so about durability, but so far everything that's been claimed about this technique has been spot on true, so I have no doubts that this will also be durable.  

Out in the sun 

Paint Job on a Budget

As you know by now, this is a budget build of an electric car. The challenge is to find the parts used or to rebuild what I can find cheap. I hope to find a used forklift motor, build an Open Revolt controller and power this with either used and refurbished batteries or off the shelf deep cycle batteries from Walmart.  And, although this is a budget build, I don't want it to look like an amateurish effort. One of the things I've wanted to try for awhile is to paint a car using a technique first described on the Mopart forum board. You can find that string here. 

Since this first appeared on the Internet, a number of folks have put this technique to the test including the folks over at Hot Rod.  So, since it looks like my hunt for bargain parts is going to take me awhile, Abigail and I decided to start our own paint experiment on the hood of the Volts-Wagen. 

In case you didn't want to hit the links I included, the way you do this budget paint job is to use Rustoleum thinned to an almost watery consistency with mineral spirits.  You apply the paint with a high density foam roller, and foam brush,  wet sand and repeat about six times.  Finally you finish the job with some quality time with polishing compound and a buffer.  Lots of money for a professional paint job is replaced with lots of labor in your own garage. 

Today we applied the first coat after a good wet sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper.   The first coat turned out even better than we expected.   If this turns out like we would like, this is going to be one good looking EV.  

The pictures don't show up with the actual color.  We'll try to get pictures outside in a few days as we update our progress.   

This is the first coat, and although the picture doesn't show it very well you can see a little of the original gray color through the sail blue paint.  Already though, you can see the gloss and this is at a tacky stage.  

 

Here is a better view of the first coat.  All the people who have done this say the first coat always looks bad.  So, it looks like we are doing it right,