As I expected, painting was an adventure.  I started the day running around to get last minute items:  a cheap paint suit, new mask cartridges, and some other misc items.  Then, I chose the paint guns I wanted to use.  After the paint cup wouldn’t come off one of the guns I selected, I audibled to the paint gun I used to paint my last jeep (I was very happy I had the backup guns).

I wiped down the body and body parts, mixed my primer, and went to work.  At first the painting went well, but after a while, the gun started acting up a little.  And, of course, I managed to spot several spots that i somehow missed during the prepping process that needed either a little filler or a little sanding.

Once the primer was on, I got a little water and some 400 grit sand paper and gently ran over the primer, cleaning up the areas as I went.

Next was the paint.  I mixed the reducer and hardener with the paint and went to work.  I got the first pass done and was relatively happy.  I waited about half an hour dand went to work again.  As I was painting the grille, which was hanging against the wall, some gray primer blew off the plastic and landed right on the grille.  While I cussed the primer, I held the gun too long near the driver side turn light area.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell I’d done this until later (my light was kind of iffy by that point).  After the second coat, I grabbed a light and started walking around the body parts.  That’s when I started seeing a variety of spots I hadn’t gotten.  So, with a spotlight in one hand and a spray gun in the other, I circled all the parts for another round.

After letting the paint dry, I went to the clear coat.  By now, it was dark outside and my light wasn’t good at all.  I did my best to shoot anyway, but after spraying everything, I could see there were a variety of missed spots.  So, I decided to halt and pick back up in the morning when the light would be better.

The paint ended up being darker than I expected it would be.  But, it should look good.  The pictures here don’t really capture the color well.  There are definitely a few areas I sprayed a little too heavily, but it really isn’t worth it to me to sand them down and start over.  Hey, it’s  a jeep and I plan on scratching it and being rough on it.  I expect it will need painting in a few years anyway.

One of the smarter things I did was purchase a cheap fan and purchase a cheap heater filter.  I mounted (see pic to the right) the fan in the plastic to pull air out of the paint booth and then taped the filter in front of the fan to catch the paint.  Wow! The filter got much dirtier than I thought it would.

I had hoped to complete painting this weekend, however sore ribs from a hit I took playing basketball slowed me down a bit.  Today, I felt a little better, so I spent the day putting together a paint booth and taping off the body.  It’s hardly state of the art or a monument to high quality design, but it will get the job done.

My friend Lary dropped by yesterday with a larger compressor and an assortment of paint guns for me to use.  He was the person who suggested a website from which to buy some paint, but rather than the Urethane he intended for me to get, I ended up with an Acyrlic Enamel.  When he discovered what I had bought, he was very concerned, as he felt it’s a more difficult paint with which to work, especially with the paint being a metallic paint.  So, the two of us hovered over the various cans and he provided me many different tips on working with the paint, suggesting which paint guns to use and more.

My next step is to make a run to home depot to get one more sheet of plastic for the floor.  Then, I’ll grab some degreaser and do one final clean up of the body parts.

Below are some pics of the paint booth:

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Brian sent me a great suggestion about my transmission gauge strategy.  As you might remember, the style of gauges I purchased didn’t offer a transmission temperature gauge, so I decided I could use a water temperature gauge.  So, my next question was how to do it?  It was Brian’s suggestion to use a simple ‘T’ system.  I liked the idea, so I hit Home Depot and $17 later I had what I needed.

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I got a question from a reader about the wiring harness I used.  After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that the harness I bought is probably being closed out, hence the drop in price.  After doing the research, here’s what I learned.

KICKZ Harness (this is what I received in the mail):
http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/autoloc/details.lasso?itemid=KICKZ is a 15 fuse 38 terminal 22 circuit wiring harness.  This is what I received.  The MSRP is $388.70, you can purchase it from the Hoffman Group for $299 (web special price), you can purchase it through ez2wire (which appears to be nothing more than a pass through marketing group) for $219 regularly, and I got it via auction from ez2wire for $143 (plus shipping).  So, that’s confusing!  The KICKZ is definitely a barebones choice (no extra switches for example).

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No, the painting didn’t take place this weekend.  I’m still waiting to receive my paint …

One purchase I did make yesterday was some gauges.  I decided to go with Equus gauges, 8200 performance series.  Schucks had this set of gauges for only $39.99 (not on sale), so that saved me $35 on gauges that were already reasonably priced.  So far, I’ve got a speedometer, oil pressure, voltage meter, water temperature and fuel gauge.  The only downside is that they don’t make a transmission temp gauge.  I decided that if I really want a temp gauge on the transmission fluid, then I think I can cheaply adapt a water temp gauge to measure the temp of the fluid as it flows from the tranny to the tranny cooler.  I simply need to create a box that the fluid flows through into which I can screw the temp sensor (there seems to be no default place to put a temp gauge into a TH350).