New Project 1994 Acura Integra

Hey everyone I recently purchased a 1994 Acura Integra and i have put about 4 grand into racing parts ect. The paint on the outside of the car is fading 1 because my car is Milano Red and that color fades like no other lol but there are also alot of chips in my paint and probobly about 20 little dings. i also have been wanting to shave the side moldings on my car,antenna,emblems,and a couple other things but i need to know how to go about doing those so i was asking for some advice. also when i am starting this project i am going to just repaint the car a red so i dont have do do door jams ect + i like red but i wanted to know if i bought say a spray gun and roller and rolled most the car and sprayed the parts i cant get to easy would that work? also in depth a list of items i should buy i dont care if it cost a little more than 50 dollars in supplies it can be upwards of 100-200 thats still a good budget for me. also when guys are wetsanding are you using sanders or hand doing it and which would be better here are some pics of my integra i litterally have been usuing a touchup pen to fill in the paint chips and its getting annoying cause it looks horrible up close. thx any suggestions would help im trying to make my car look really good
also just incase anyone is wondering i was going for a black/red theme because the parts i put on in black where to replace parts that where faded lol. i will just be painting it all black and putting a Carbon Fiber hood on top


You cant see it because the image is to large but there also a spoiler on the back thats black type r

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c326/jpizzlemtg/1204071409b.jpg




i took off this fender i am getting a replacement one.


also for all the little dents and stuff what type of putty I.E. bondo should i use to fill the dent and how to i go about doing it any help would be greatly appreciated

also another question i live in oregon and temps right now range from 30 at night to 45 max in day what ratio in cups do i use mineral sprites to paint>?

karlbasher wrote:Hey everyone I recently purchased a 1994 Acura Integra and i have put about 4 grand into racing parts ect. The paint on the outside of the car is fading 1 because my car is Milano Red and that color fades like no other lol but there are also alot of chips in my paint and probobly about 20 little dings. i also have been wanting to shave the side moldings on my car,antenna,emblems,and a couple other things but i need to know how to go about doing those so i was asking for some advice. also when i am starting this project i am going to just repaint the car a red so i dont have do do door jams ect + i like red but i wanted to know if i bought say a spray gun and roller and rolled most the car and sprayed the parts i cant get to easy would that work? also in depth a list of items i should buy i dont care if it cost a little more than 50 dollars in supplies it can be upwards of 100-200 thats still a good budget for me. also when guys are wetsanding are you using sanders or hand doing it and which would be better here are some pics of my integra i litterally have been usuing a touchup pen to fill in the paint chips and its getting annoying cause it looks horrible up close. thx any suggestions would help im trying to make my car look really good
also just incase anyone is wondering i was going for a black/red theme because the parts i put on in black where to replace parts that where faded lol. i will just be painting it all black and putting a Carbon Fiber hood on top




also for all the little dents and stuff what type of putty I.E. bondo should i use to fill the dent and how to i go about doing it any help would be greatly appreciated

ok sounds pretty good so far, on the shaving of those differant things, anything bigger than a small drill hole you will want to have welded up, like antenna or door handles, the small holes from emblems and such, really should be welded too but you can use some good filler and fill them in and sand back smooth.
as far as the paint chips you will want to make sure you use a good high build primer on and sand and feather them back to the original paint (otherwise it will project through the new paint. you could just sand and feather them without the primer but it makes life a little easier is why i suggest it.
the dings, alot of the time you can get those to pop out with some dry ice, but if they want you will want to fill them in with filler but you don't really want your filler any thicker than about 1/16" , so if they are any deeper than that you need to use a body hammer to knock them down some.
the spray gun is a matter of preference as most everybody here uses a foam brush to get into the places a roller won't fit.

also on the temp issue you should be fine with the normal mix of 1:1 or 2:1 as paint is not a heat cured process , most of the people on here report better results when it's cooler, less orange peel and what not.
anyway hope this helps some let us know if you have anymore questions
and get us some pics of your progress when you start (we likes pics around here) J

um also another question i was going to take off my side moldings but the holes be hind them are larger than you stated but what some people have done on Team Integra forums is they have bought aluminum and cut it into squares taken off door panel inside and put this hard stuff that body shops use on one side of it and then pressed it on top of hole from inside and let it dry and then bondo from the other side. i dont want to have to wheld because i dont know how to do that and dont have tools for it but should this work? i know that i need to do side moldings if i am repainting this car but the antenna and top squirter i dont have to do there just for a show look any advice would help thx

also should i do the car like this sand off old paint put on bondo the fill in holes and dings, then resand bondo parts to make them even and then primer whole car, and then start process of painting with ratio of 1cup paint to 2 cups mineral sprites and then what do i do after that 2 coats wet sand, 2 coasts wetsand, 2 coats wetsand, then polish??? also i already have my front bumper off would it be easier to paint it on the car or off and should i take off my back bumber or do you not need to at all. thx

you could try that method on the side moldings, it may crack down the line, but hey if it does with this type of paint you can just patch it and repaint whenever you want LOL i love this method for that very reason
and as far as pulling panels i would'nt worry about it, just paint it on the car you could use your front bumper for you learning stage to get a feel for it.
and no you don't really need to primer the whole car unless you want to you could just primer the spots you fix. thats totally up to you, if you are going to have primer patches all over the car then it may be easier to prime the entire thing though to save on so much feathering.

oh ok so im just sanding the car down to the primer to begin with gotcha. and i guess i wont do the antenna and rear squirter cause i dont want to wheld i just went outside lol at 7 am cause i had a spare driver side door and i pulled off the side molding and the holes are a little tiny squre prob 2 pencil widths in length and theres 6 of them the only problem i saw was that the very last square inside is really hard to get your hands to because of window bar there so im not sure how i would do that one.. any ideas lol oh also on the top of my integra if you look in pics there molding in between the top of the rail above doors and the top roof cap and its black should i tape it off first or just paint over it i was thinking it would be pretty hard to paint it off.

also what grit sand paper should i do the whole car in to start with? to get off all the old paint

ok so i bought a sander today and it came with 80,160, and 280 grit sand paper which one should i be sanding off all the original paint with to get to the old primer 280?

yeah 280 will work but if you don't really need to take off that much unless you just want too, you could just fix, repair fill prime and sand the rest with a 400 wetsand.
as far the shaving goes, i don't know how well it would work but you could try and take the paint all the way to the metal for just that hole and use some jb weld on it, i can't say how that will hold up, but theoretically it should work well for a hole that small. you will need to probably grind it some to get it back down smooth though, it's pretty tough.
the black strip your speaking of (couldn't really see it in the pics) i believe your talking about the rain gutter. thats really a personal preference as to what you do on that.
oh and remember to take lots of pics when you start (we likes pics around here ) later bro J

You have a good idea of how all of this works and I love integras by the way . Looks like you are off to a great start. We have developed a database of knowledge on this particular concept and it's growing everyday. Make sure to post pictures of your progress and we will help you out with any questions or concerns you may have. Good luck!

ya i will start taking pics guys yesterday i started sanding it down with my new sander i got the passanger side rear quarter panel all the way shaved down and guess what the 3 pads that came with sander 220-160-and an 80 all got used up in that section so i have to go buy more pads and stuff heres my question though my front lip is poly urathane and my rear wing is coated with a gloss black finish do i need to scruff them both up and primer them first? they seem very slick so i would think you would have to. also when i start wetsanding i have to use regular wetsand paper and a block or my hands to do it dont I? thats what my dad said atleast wasent sure. and how did you guys apply the water to the wet sand paper when you where doing it just a bucket and keep putting water on paper? and for how long did you do it thx all these question answered would really help me out i have a buddy coming over friday to help me bondo the car and then tommorow i have to go buy aton of sand paper its expensive though i was suprised lol and home depot only goes up from 80-380 in sand paper where did you get your wetsand paper

oh and my other question is look at my car in those pictures you see how its under that carport if i back it up all the way if it rains the rain can only touch if the wingusts are rediculous should that be ok to do my car like that or should i put a huge ass tarp in the front also we have been having temps of 30-35 at night is that ok? my parents think im an idiot for doing this i just want to prove them wrong

karlbasher wrote:ya i will start taking pics guys yesterday i started sanding it down with my new sander i got the passanger side rear quarter panel all the way shaved down and guess what the 3 pads that came with sander 220-160-and an 80 all got used up in that section so i have to go buy more pads and stuff heres my question though my front lip is poly urathane and my rear wing is coated with a gloss black finish do i need to scruff them both up and primer them first? they seem very slick so i would think you would have to. also when i start wetsanding i have to use regular wetsand paper and a block or my hands to do it dont I? thats what my dad said atleast wasent sure. and how did you guys apply the water to the wet sand paper when you where doing it just a bucket and keep putting water on paper? and for how long did you do it thx all these question answered would really help me out i have a buddy coming over friday to help me bondo the car and then tommorow i have to go buy aton of sand paper its expensive though i was suprised lol and home depot only goes up from 80-380 in sand paper where did you get your wetsand paper

i personally would get some descent etching primer for those urethane bumpers to make the paint stick better, should be able to grab some spray bomb type in the auto section at wal-mart, and as far as sandpaper goes an auto parts store should carry what you need for types, i usually get mine off of ebay, but you are going to need it too soon to wait on shipping and stuff.
to wetsand i just leave a hose running at a small trickle maybe a bit more and sand with one hand and run water over it with the other.
your just trying to smooth the paint out all over and give the next coat a lil to etch too, you don't need to sand the hale out of it.
keep on J

karlbasher wrote:oh and my other question is look at my car in those pictures you see how its under that carport if i back it up all the way if it rains the rain can only touch if the wingusts are rediculous should that be ok to do my car like that or should i put a huge ass tarp in the front also we have been having temps of 30-35 at night is that ok? my parents think im an idiot for doing this i just want to prove them wrong

i would try and put a tarp up to make sure no water hits it while the paint is trying to dry,
and as far as your rents go just take your time, patience is a must with this method, with out it you will just prove them right. the temp will be fine, should actually make it come out with less op if any at all and that means less sanding and thats always a good thing.

ok so i have sanded the whole rear end so far i am sanding the whole thing down the the old primer or i have been only a couple spots you can even see red but its already sanded a ton. do i even need to sand that much lol? will i see any improvements by doing it that much or should i just scruff it up enough to remove clear coat and then on dent go to metal i was just thinking this would make it look nicer. also i have to still primer my lip,wing, and sides i took 80 grit paper to sides today and scruffed them up so it would stick and put them back on but i need to know if primer will dry in 30 degree wether or im a just going to have it sit for 12-24 hours thats fine if i have to i just wanted to know im not doing any painting prob tell later next week im just preping whole car taking my time and trying to do that part right im making it look really (JDM) if any of you know what that means and im putting aluminum squares behind all my holes im filling with a strong autobody bond that will keep the aluminum there and then i can just bondo the top of the hole getting rid of my sides, all embelms, front bumper holes, and everything that says integra. was gonna do antenna and rear wiper squirt but that is way way way to much work lol the side moldings are already rediculously hard to do atleast i dont have to pay a shop 400 bucks to wheld it though i will post up pics once i get a new fender and get done bondoing and preping car i have to atleast wait a week to get a new fender my old one was bent up to hell as you can see a little in my top pics thx for comments guy i like them more are better!

hey can you throw up a pic of the sanding you have done so far, so we can get a feel for how much your actually sanding. i don't really know if your going too far or not without really seeing it.
you might need to wait a while on letting the primer dry with that temp im not real sure i still would'nt think you would need to wait a full 12-24 hrs though.

ok here we go these are the pics i sanded all the way down to the primer but in some places it got down to metal unavoidable. and I sanded down to metal where the holes where so i can bondo them. the rear bumper i just have to scruff up because its not a metal surface. thx plz give me comments i think i am going to just scruff up the rest of the paint on the car because i dont was to get down to metal and ive heard there is no difference

Good job. Its an easy fix on the spots that are showing metal, get a couple cans of spray can primer, (good stuff, not cheap) and just dust a coat or two over the metal sections, then before you get ready to paint use sanding block to scuff it up. This will insure that you dont have any low areas showing through your new paint job.

well i decided on the rest of the car to just take off the clear coat. and not go all the way to the primer its so much work and ya i bought a quart of rustolium primer for rusts and stuff so its like a dark brown color but that was all they had so thats what i got. and i will put that on the metal parts and then scruff them up after a day or so. im also taping off the whole car now i noticed that i was scratching up my rubber modlings around the windows and that was annoying to me so im in the process of taping it all with blue painters tape. then tonight i should be able to get both side sanded and tommorow i will do the front i also have to take off my side moldings but thats a 2-3 hours job because i have to tear the interior apart. ya fun! sometimes i wish i had never done this but lets hope it turns out ok. should i paint the doorjams? my car was red and im painting it red again just so i dident have to worry abought that type of ****

if the red is close i wouldnt. But if you decide to the easiest way to do those would be to buy the same color rustolium paint in a spray can, justcause its kinda hard to get in all the craps and creases tith the roller, im gunna use the spray can on my jams.

ya i primered the bare metal on my car today and i primered my sideskirts gotta sand the rest of car tommorow and sand down new driver side fender its black though and then put on front bumper and sand it. then friday i have to take out rear seats interior panels and take out rear lights and side moldings and bondo holes then this weekend its all panel adhesive filling the side molding large holes and then ill start painting car tuesday or wednesday

sounding good bro, just keep taking your time it's going to turn out great.
we all go through that what the hel* was i thinking phase, so that pretty normal just keep pluggin away and you'll get it.
and remember to keep on J

It's coming along nice man. Don't worry about how it looks right now, once your finished you will be happy with the way it turned out.

ok so i put back on my front end and i replaced my crunched driver side fender today. im going to go out and sand rest of car down tonight but my question is i have been sanding the whole thing with 80 grit just to get the stuff off faster and now i am not even going down to primer anymore just removing the clearcoat and scruffing it up. once i get done with everything doing that should I resand the whole car with 400 grit Wet sandpaper? im just worried cause of what the guy with the blue honda said