Painting 986 Hardtop

[theprofessor]

First post on this forum: I hope that my guide serves a purpose for anyone else considering this project.

Materials Required:
Tack Cloth
Wiping Rags
Simple Green or equivalent degreasing agent that is water soluble
Pancake compressor
Air/Water line seperator
Acetone
Harbor Freight Gravity fed HVLP gun
2k Epoxy Primer
2k SEM Hot Rod Black kit
graduated 4:1:1 measuring cup (at most auto paint suppliers)
Strainer filters and mixing sticks
A ton of patience (Most important)
random orbital sander
320 grit
800 grit
1000 grit paper
sanding block
respirator OV


I began sanding the OEM finish, with much care being taken to not hit under the primer guide coat. Using the orbital sander was pretty easy. Just use caution on tight bends and high ridges. One you have removed the majority of the paint, clean with simple green, mask areas off, tac rag once dry. Spray 2k epoxy and let sit overnight. I then repeated this process followed by 400 grit wet / 1000 grit wet. This provided a uniformly smooth. Mix SEMblack as per instructions: Paint one coat (will appear very wet) 5-7inches from the body. Let this coat flash 15-20mins, then recoat. The paint will appear to have a great deal of gloss/orange peel. This is fine, as after a period of 24-48 hours it will flatten out with time.

Good Luck!

[S3adrag0n]

1-Welcome to the forum; 2-Nice write up; 3- Nice top! Do you have any pix of your top in the day time, it looks like you went with a flat black?

[kpm]

You can skip a lot of steps if you are just changing color. If the roof doesn't need body work just clean (soap and water AND a solvent wipe) scuff with a gray scotch brite pad, mask, tack, and shoot.

The old paint is your best primer.

[theprofessor]

I will post some pics when she is all cleaned up this weekend. Just did a 350 mi round road trip and she's a bit dusty... It did come out great! However, I do need to adjust the spinlock mounting points, above 100mph daylight peaks through the rear seal.

[theprofessor]

Originally Posted by kpm

You can skip a lot of steps if you are just changing color. If the roof doesn't need body work just clean (soap and water AND a solvent wipe) scuff with a gray scotch brite pad, mask, tack, and shoot.

The old paint is your best primer.

So long as the paints are compatible format, yes you can. I am pretty sure Porsche used a 2k formula base. Yet, something told me just to get all that crap off. I am a real attention to detail whore. Oh well, to each his/her own.

[theprofessor]