My budget garage paint job, (Lots of pics!) Options

[ImportChick95]

Hi.
I just wanted to share some pictures of my celica and hopefully inspire some of you people with a budget.
My celica was painted in the garage with all bodywork and paint done by me. The whole paint job cost me $600. I never took classes for any of this stuff so I'm confident anyone can do it.

I bought this car 9 months ago for $1800. The body wasn't in the greatest shape.. but I saw potential in the poor thing and thus, became determined to bring back her beauty (on a budget).

The first thing I tackled was the rust. Aside from surface rust, the body and frame was actually very clean. Everything was intact. I grinded everything off and sealed with por15. The driver side door had a small rust hole on the bottom left corner. It bothered me so much that I replaced the whole driver side door with a rust-free one. Yes, I know, I'm super picky!

Original door with rust hole.


Close up of rust.


New door.



My life-saver-- por15. I love this stuff... well, except when it gets on my hands, then I hate it. (my room is messy)


Sanded down.



Base coat. Sorry, no pic of her in primer. I was too busy to snap a picture.



Cleared, wetsanded, and buffed. Car is super dirty at this point.






Everything put back on her.. by this time, it was dark outside.


I tried to take some better pictures today but it rained and was super cloudy. This was the best I could do.



I love the color. It's an OEM toyota supra color called anthracite. Here's a tiny collage I made on the color.


For a budget garage paint job, I think the car turned out great. I gleam with pride everytime I see it. I'm going to paint the trims this weekend as well as put on some rims.

I don't plan to work on anymore cars until next year. My '96 winter warrior corolla is next up in line. I think java black will be perfect for it. ...hmm, maybe jada green? Oh well, I have a whole year to think about it.

PS- I wanna thank my dad for his badass welding skills.

[Badkarma]

looks great. inspires me to actually go through with mine. were your neighbors annoyed with fumes? what kind of ventilation did you use?
just curious... what did you spray with? (Brand of spray gun, HVLP/Conventional, Gravity feed? what brand paint?)

PS.. i go to school with a few Hmoob guys here at UTI.

Erich