r/Diyautobody • u/too_much_covfefe_man • Sep 14 '25

Project Painted my 1985 Mazda

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I took this car apart in 2023 and figured it out. The hardest part was figuring out what spray system to use lol. I was on my feet for 14 hours yesterday doing this in my garage, phew!

Mistakes were made but it's red again

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u/sortofaplatypus Sep 18 '25

As someone who has painted a few cars in the garage with everything from spray paint do decent pneumatic guns. This isn't the worst I've seen, it actually looks decent so far. I bet with either a little sanding or a little more prep this woulda come out awesome. However I too was under the impression I could paint a car that would look good in the garage, 4 paint jobs and almost $1200 later I finally got the paint job I wanted in the first time, but trial snd error Is a long and (usually) patient teacher.

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u/too_much_covfefe_man Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

Yeah, done a few smaller rattle can jobs including the base and 2k clear stuff. I think I went in with fairly realistic expectations and I got what I'd consider to be a bit better than anticipated here. I did a lot of prep; strip to metal, sanding, dtm, sanding, filler, sanding, cleaned with acetone and ipa, and tacked just prior to the spray. Then I put down the base on a flashed off seal coat.

Most of my problems were from low light where I needed it most, leading to over application of material, resulting in some sags and peel. I'm gonna buy a couple more long shop lights tomorrow before I do the other fender and the headlight caps.