The Body & Paint Process

In this town, getting a custom paint job can be a bit of a challenge. I knew it would be hard to find someone that was willing to pay the attention to detail that I was wanting. Furthermore, being a color-change car, with a custom color, extra time would have to be spent painting all the inside surfaces. Having some experience working in a body shop environment when I was in my teens, I understood the basics involved. I have always wanted to paint my own car, so I decided to spend some time researching and learning by practice.

Do it right, or don't do it at all: I took my time painting this car. You will see many pictures in the Body Work section where I might just repair one small area, then primer it. This is obviously not the most efficient way of painting a car, but doing it this way allowed me to focus on getting each panel perfect. Also, during much of the time I was doing the body work, I was still deciding on the exact color I wanted. The car was to be blue, but which blue? I tried several colors, sampling many of the Porsche blues that were interesting. In the end, I mixed my own paint color, based on a code I derived, and named the color 'Uber-Blau'.

Body Prep - All rust was cut out with new galvanized metal welded in. In places where rust was present on the outer body, the body was grinded down. POR-15 was applied over any rust spots after aggressively grinding down. In general, I did not take the entire car down to bare metal, because I found the factory paint provides an exceptional foundation.

Paint - The car was painted in stages. The inital color coat and three layers of clear were first applied. Then, the entire car was block sanded with 600 grit paper. It then went back into the spray booth for two more layers of clear. The final coat of clear was then block sanded again, in stages from 1000 to 1500, and finally to 2000 grit. When perfectly smooth, it was then buffed to a high shine.

 Windshield and Dash Replacement

 Body Work

 Targa Top and Rocker Refurbishment

 Custom Paint Job

"How I painted my 914 Thread" on 914World.com