Paint - 2nd Attempt

We have now painted the interior the same color we will eventually paint the exterior. I have to admit, my son was right. It looks good.

Of course our project started with a trip to Home Depot. In case I forget, Lowes is much better than Home Depot, I won't go back. My son had already called me twice on Friday to inform me there was no way we could get all of the sanding done and the car painted by Monday. So I went to Home Depot and bought a small orbital sander. What a great tool! We finished all of the sanding after I got off of work Friday. My husband and I went ahead and removed the dashboard completely. Don't be lazy when you paint, take the time up front to get as much out of the way as possible. You end up with a quicker paint job, and fewer mistakes.

Saturday morning I got up and double checked the sanding job. Then I taped up the doors and vinyl stuff that I wanted to protect. Plastic garbage bags are great for covering the big stuff. Seems like I just did this a couple of days ago. Yup, dejavu all over again.

After it was all taped up, I sprayed another coat of primer over all the metal. Interesting, as I was sanding and priming the car again, I found whole sections that we had missed painting the first time. So I guess we're getting better as we go.

Once it was primed, we had to mix the paint. The paint was purchased from O'Reilly Auto Parts, and is a really nice metallic green/blue. We also purchased a spray kit that has a glass jar for the paint with an aerosol pump that fits on the top. It worked suprisingly well. Two parts paint to one part thinner, shake well, and spray just like a spray paint can.

My son helped me paint this time. He said he didn't help the first time because the paint was ugly, but now that we have good paint it was worth his effort to help. I was quite thankful for his help, my index finger was still sore from the first paint job. And he has longer arms to reach under the dashboard. He only leaned up against the paint once, and that was early on in the process. He learns fast.

I asked him to take a picture of me painting too. I think he got my best side for sure.

I was amazed that we did the entire interior with less than one pint of paint. I guess the auto paints give a much better coverage than your standard spray paint. I was impressed. It's not perfect, but come on. The car is 35 years old and looks like it. There are some rough spots, and a few where the color is slightly uneven. But overall, in my humble opinion it looks very nice, and definitely better than before we painted. And absolutely better than the first paint job.

After we let the paint dry for an hour, we put four coats of clear coat over the paint. My son seemed disappointed that it didn't turn out shinier. Again, my expectations are much lower. I think it looks very nice. It's even, sort of shiny, and a very pretty color.

After an all-day project, we finally were able to remove the tape and painters paper and look at the finished product. Tomorrow I'll put the dashboard back in place. I can't wait until after the headliner is installed on Tuesday so we can start putting in carpet, door panels and seat upholstery.