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gilber33

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Got a box of stuff for the next little project for the e30. I’m going to attempt to spray the trunk lid and bumper. If it turns out okay I will probably gradually work my way down the car panel by panel. 

2A56E272-AA5A-4772-A8A4-194642535698.jpeg

Non bmw but I replaced the module and pump that operates the awd on my XC70. Gave me a renewed appreciation for older cars. It was an expensive repair. 

F51B83A4-76D1-47F6-B884-1C605BE9DBB7.jpeg

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3 minutes ago, KaiserRolls said:

Im sure it’ll turn out ok on each panel. The color match/blending might be the issue. 

I’ve seen your playhouse skills so I have full confidence in you 

If I go beyond the trunk lid I would only paint sections where there is a seam so I’m not blending anything. Even if the color is slightly off between say a door and a fender, it will still look better than the paint that’s on it now. 

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9 hours ago, gilber33 said:

Got a box of stuff for the next little project for the e30. I’m going to attempt to spray the trunk lid and bumper. If it turns out okay I will probably gradually work my way down the car panel by panel. 

2A56E272-AA5A-4772-A8A4-194642535698.jpeg

Non bmw but I replaced the module and pump that operates the awd on my XC70. Gave me a renewed appreciation for older cars. It was an expensive repair. 

F51B83A4-76D1-47F6-B884-1C605BE9DBB7.jpeg

 

Looks the same as the P2R Haldex unit.  Worst design ever!  Why would it be designed so that you have to remove the driveshaft and input flange to get the 1/4" of clearance to remove the pump????  And why is the filter in such a difficult spot???  Also no drain plug for Haldex or the rear differential.  I added 1/8" NPT drain plugs to both on mine when I had it.  There is no way to properly remove all of the fluid with the suction method.  Oh and the price for parts is insane.  A new pump is over 300$ for that tiny little thing.  Luckily mine failed open, probably due to the brushes being worn out but if it shorts then it will ruin the DEM and then you are out 400$ for that too.  And the special fluid is 30$ / liter.  I don't miss that car.  ;)

 

As for the painting, see how it goes with the spray cans but I am a novice and had good results painting some parts on my van after a deer accident with an old HVLP gun.  The spray cans will be very expensive to do a large area with.  Mine turned out good and it was Toyota Beige with metal flake which made it trickier than just a regular color.  The metal flake takes practice to lay down evenly but even that I figured out pretty quick how to make it look right.  I tested on a piece of cardboard to get the gun set up.  That looks like the 2k clear coat in a can.  Huge sticky mess on everything.  Make sure to protect everything, the over spray goes everywhere.  It is different than paint over spray, somehow it coats everything in the room.

 

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Kind of like @jc43089 said, cans are expensive for areas larger than a trunk or smaller panel. If you want to not spend a lot, the Harbor Freight guns are good for one day of use. I.e. don't clean them and use them again. If you want some more confidence in the gun, you can get something decent for not a ton of money and will get a lot more even coating of paint with a proper gun over an aerosol.

Painting sucks, painting cars is worse.

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3 hours ago, jc43089 said:

Looks the same as the P2R Haldex unit.  Worst design ever!  Why would it be designed so that you have to remove the driveshaft and input flange to get the 1/4" of clearance to remove the pump????  And why is the filter in such a difficult spot???  Also no drain plug for Haldex or the rear differential.  I added 1/8" NPT drain plugs to both on mine when I had it.  There is no way to properly remove all of the fluid with the suction method.  Oh and the price for parts is insane.  A new pump is over 300$ for that tiny little thing.  Luckily mine failed open, probably due to the brushes being worn out but if it shorts then it will ruin the DEM and then you are out 400$ for that too.  And the special fluid is 30$ / liter.  I don't miss that car.  ;)

They are the same. Since I replaced the pump all of the fluid was able to drain out, but the yes, the pump was $300 and the rebuilt DEM was $700. I have no knowledge of being able to purchase a DEM for $400 - since they are coded to your car.

And then you have to take it for a drive, top off the haldex fluid, and then suck out 40ml. :rolleyes: Once I get it cleaned up I will probably list it for sale and look for an 850 wagon.

3 hours ago, jc43089 said:

As for the painting, see how it goes with the spray cans but I am a novice and had good results painting some parts on my van after a deer accident with an old HVLP gun.  The spray cans will be very expensive to do a large area with.  Mine turned out good and it was Toyota Beige with metal flake which made it trickier than just a regular color.  The metal flake takes practice to lay down evenly but even that I figured out pretty quick how to make it look right.  I tested on a piece of cardboard to get the gun set up.  That looks like the 2k clear coat in a can.  Huge sticky mess on everything.  Make sure to protect everything, the over spray goes everywhere.  It is different than paint over spray, somehow it coats everything in the room.

It's not the 2k clear coat, it's the more basic one. I intend to close my garage door just enough to wedge my box fan under the door and then seal off the gap and run the fan to create negative pressure. I'm hoping most overspray gets sucked out then. I have a cheap HVLP gun, however, I have a relatively small air compressor that I bought primarily to run air nailers and fill up tires, so I don't know how it will work with a gun. But I might get some of their premixed paint to give it a shot.

 

2 hours ago, SteelBlue said:

Kind of like @jc43089 said, cans are expensive for areas larger than a trunk or smaller panel. If you want to not spend a lot, the Harbor Freight guns are good for one day of use. I.e. don't clean them and use them again. If you want some more confidence in the gun, you can get something decent for not a ton of money and will get a lot more even coating of paint with a proper gun over an aerosol.

Painting sucks, painting cars is worse.

I like the idea of painting, but it's not my favorite thing to do. The paint is in such bad shape that even if I get it to look OK, I'll be satisfied. But if this turns out fine, I'll also try their premixed paint assuming my air compressor can handle it.

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I forgot the coding part, did you get it from Xemodex?  I'm glad I didn't need to deal with that as mine was fine, my pump would run intermittently and it sounded weak when it was running, you can activate the pump with VIDA and watch the pump current draw and the output pressure.  Do you have a VIDA/DICE setup?  It is the most important thing for troubleshooting on a Volvo.  

You need a decent air compressor for an HVLP gun but not a huge one.  I think my little one I used for painting is around 2hp, 4.5 CFM at 90PSI.  My compressor has a 4 gallon tank and then after the dryer was another 30 gallon tank.  It was losing ground slowly as I painted but I gave it 30 seconds between parts to catch up and never had a problem.  You need very dry air though, I made an ice powered air dryer that works really well for cheap, let me know if you want details on it.  It worked so well that the dessicant final dryer never even had any color change.

I made a "booth" with tyvek wrap and had 3 box fans exhausting under the garage door and everything inside the booth had clear coat on it.  

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i also made a 'negative pressure paint booth' with a box fan inside a small room. it does not keep the paint off of surfaces as well as you think it might. it does help keep the cloud of paint from being super obnoxious and helps with exhausting the fumes. you should still be prepared to cover things you don't want to get speckled.

i also deployed that 2k clear for painting a bicycle frame once. the extra nastiness of the paint wasnt worth the hassle for the finish it created. i wouldnt use it again. YMMV

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36 minutes ago, jc43089 said:

I forgot the coding part, did you get it from Xemodex?  I'm glad I didn't need to deal with that as mine was fine, my pump would run intermittently and it sounded weak when it was running, you can activate the pump with VIDA and watch the pump current draw and the output pressure.  Do you have a VIDA/DICE setup?  It is the most important thing for troubleshooting on a Volvo.  

Yeah, I have VADIS. I had sent it in to xemodex for them to rebuild it and they called back after running their tests and said "you need to replace the pump or the warranty will be void". Basically, your pump is also fucked. So, I did it all. Job was actually pretty simple, just so much money, and seems so unnecessary.

Mine failed by blowing the fuse for the AWD system in the trunk. Replaced the fuse and it blew it again instantly. Car had no communication with the DEM because it had no power (and couldn't power itself). But there was a laundry list of codes stored from it. But, drove it to work today and all appears to be well.

36 minutes ago, jc43089 said:

You need a decent air compressor for an HVLP gun but not a huge one.  I think my little one I used for painting is around 2hp, 4.5 CFM at 90PSI.  My compressor has a 4 gallon tank and then after the dryer was another 30 gallon tank.

I have an 8 gallon husky which is 4.8 scfm at 40psi which from what I can decipher is at the low end for a mid-grade hvlp gun to run efficiently, but it can be done.

24 minutes ago, straight6pwr said:

. you should still be prepared to cover things you don't want to get speckled.

I will be moving stuff out of the garage that can be affected by odor (strollers) and will cover everything else. Going to get one of those rolls of plastic from Maynerds.

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I agree next time a harbor freight gun is the way to go. Buy 2

1 for primer and 1 for base/clear.

Naked Gun by Klean Strip to clean them out. They are good for a bunch of uses as long as they have been cleaned correctly.

People give the harbor freight guns shit all the time when in reality it usually isnt the gun. Its the painter.

Make sure you get an air regulator and an oil/water separator to prevent greasy air from getting into your paint.

This is for next time.

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Lol. Now I wish I would have just gotten the premixed paint to use with an hvlp gun right away. Oh well. 

I was skeptical if my compressor would work, but from everything I’m reading it should be fine. Maybe not ideal, but should work. 

Now I want to spray the whole car. Maybe in spring. 

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4.8 cfm at 40PSI is not going to be enough.  I think my gun spec is around 12 cfm at 25psi.  Mine is about 4.5 @ 90PSI which is significantly more air than at 40PSI.  Also the more storage you have the more of a buffer you have.  I need to get my big compressor hooked up.  It puts out 21cfm at 175PSI.  It only runs about 50% duty even sandblasting.

I used Nason brand paint from my local parts store and I would use it again, good price and it sprayed nicely.

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21 minutes ago, jc43089 said:

4.8 cfm at 40PSI is not going to be enough.  I think my gun spec is around 12 cfm at 25psi.  Mine is about 4.5 @ 90PSI which is significantly more air than at 40PSI.  Also the more storage you have the more of a buffer you have.  I need to get my big compressor hooked up.  It puts out 21cfm at 175PSI.  It only runs about 50% duty even sandblasting.

I used Nason brand paint from my local parts store and I would use it again, good price and it sprayed nicely.

I was browsing compressors and found a few that are 6 scfm at 40psi and 5 scfm at 90. 

Even if I invest in a new compressor and hvlp guns, the cost of that and paint is still SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than giving the car to a shop to do.

It would still be a diy paint job, and although I want it to look good, I need to maintain a bit of patina so I’m not afraid to drive it. 

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1 hour ago, gilber33 said:

I was browsing compressors and found a few that are 6 scfm at 40psi and 5 scfm at 90. 

Even if I invest in a new compressor and hvlp guns, the cost of that and paint is still SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than giving the car to a shop to do.

It would still be a diy paint job, and although I want it to look good, I need to maintain a bit of patina so I’m not afraid to drive it. 

This is how I justify many tool purchases.  Remember that that size class of compressors is borderline too small anyway.  I was painting a hood, bumper cover and one fender so I could pause between parts.  When you paint a whole car you need to keep going to maintain the wet edge so you can't just stop and wait for the compressor to keep up.

 

A minimum of something like this would be good.  And it would do any other compressed air tasks.  Downsides are that it isn't portable, and it needs 240V which any decent sized compressor will.  And it is only a single stage so the efficiency is lower.

https://www.menards.com/main/tools/air-compressors/masterforce-reg-belt-drive-60-gallon-155-psi-stationary-electric-vertical-air-compressor/mela3706056/p-1444439609007-c-12910.htm?tid=-6497802411279208338&ipos=1

 

Going to a 2 stage is really nice because the volume of air jumps significantly and the compressor isn't working so hard to produce high pressures.  It takes more justifying to your wife though.

https://www.menards.com/main/tools/air-compressors/masterforce-reg-2-stage-80-gallon-175-psi-stationary-electric-vertical-air-compressor/mev5048055/p-1444439608567-c-12910.htm?tid=-4341116177322132525&ipos=2

 

Another option though is to borrow another smaller compressor like yours and hook them together and the combined air output will be plenty.  Just make sure they are plugged into different circuits so the breaker doesn't trip.

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Yeah, neither of those will be happening. Lol

I can justify it by spending $300 on a compressor and it being just good enough. 

I would most likely remove the hood and fenders to do it. I have some repairs that I need to make on those so I would do it in pieces. I think it also gives me some more room for error rather than trying to do the entire car at once.  

Home Depot has a 30 gallon Husky compressor that is 6.8 scfm at 40psi for $300.

the HF hvlp gun needs 6 scfm at 40 psi so that compressor should be on the bring of good enough. 

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Bumper and trunk lid are primed. What I’ve learned so far is to get more primer than you think you need. I could have used more can but I had just enough. Sanding by hand sucks and a pneumatic sander would save a significant amount of time. 

I think this is good practice, however, I would say that anything over this amount of painting an hvlp setup is a must. 

I also didn’t go full paint booth painting the primer because I know I’ll be sanding it, but after it’s sanded, I’ll be much more diligent in sealing the space off  

30BA4174-44C7-4404-9A16-C34C852CD926.jpeg

DF336140-C491-4359-A7F4-1758FD6341DF.jpeg

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3 hours ago, gilber33 said:

Bumper and trunk lid are primed. What I’ve learned so far is to get more primer than you think you need. I could have used more can but I had just enough. Sanding by hand sucks and a pneumatic sander would save a significant amount of time. 

I think this is good practice, however, I would say that anything over this amount of painting an hvlp setup is a must. 

I also didn’t go full paint booth painting the primer because I know I’ll be sanding it, but after it’s sanded, I’ll be much more diligent in sealing the space off  

30BA4174-44C7-4404-9A16-C34C852CD926.jpeg

DF336140-C491-4359-A7F4-1758FD6341DF.jpeg

Just make sure to wet sand in between coats to avoid orange peel. I’d also probably clay bar any of your existing paint that was in contact with the runs from the sanding that you’re doing on the car. Not sure how that material will stick to the clear coat. You getting the paint matched anywhere? There’s a good spot in Appleton that paint matches in aerosol cans(I don’t think you’re in Appleton).

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I know I'm late to the party on the comments, but my engine bay had been shot with a home depot HVLP, and a 10 gal craftsman air compressor. 
The only large difference is that I didn't have large flat areas that I had to worry about air consistency as much. Using an inline water trap, and a water trap right at the gun makes the largest difference. 
Painting is something I always wanted to spend more time with, but takes time and space!

Engine bay for reference. 

Ben's E30 PaintBen's E30 Paint

 

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All the runs from sanding are behind the bumper and washes right off when I spray it with water. 

I wetsanded the clear coat. The directions from the company were to do the several coats of primer and then wetsand before base coat. 

The paint is from automotive touchup. They mix your paint when you order it. So all the aerosol cans are premixed Delphin paint. 

They also do ready to spray paint for hvlp which is where I’ll get the next batch. 

image.jpg

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1 minute ago, GunMetalGrey said:

I know I'm late to the party on the comments, but my engine bay had been shot with a home depot HVLP, and a 10 gal craftsman air compressor. 
The only large difference is that I didn't have large flat areas that I had to worry about air consistency as much. Using an inline water trap, and a water trap right at the gun makes the largest difference. 
Painting is something I always wanted to spend more time with, but takes time and space!

Engine bay for reference. 

Ben's E30 PaintBen's E30 Paint

 

That looks really great. 

Ultimately I’m fine doing this in spraycans, but the rest I will do with a gun. I think this is giving me good practice for the process and the steps. Also, I can’t hand sand anymore, I need an air sander  

This is my roof. 

8159AA04-3C01-4744-8C38-52C3F851D335.jpeg

And I wish I could accurately take a picture of the rest of the car but it’s like the fender has clear coat on it and then the door has none. From afar, it’s not bad, but up close most of the clear coat is gone from the car. 

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So one other project I’d like to starting compiling parts for is adding AC back to the car. The entire ac system on the engine side has been removed so I’m hoping someone can help me confirm I still have the connectors for it that I need.  

I have these three on the passenger side:

5E077438-4472-4D41-ADCA-8EA49D6ADD7C.jpeg

47975A8A-CDB1-4EE9-A80E-6E2DA3BAD279.jpeg

I’m assuming one is for the compressor, one fire the drier, and one for the temp sensor that would go in the radiator. Can anyone confirm that’s what these connectors are? 

And then on the driver side I have this remnant pigtail which I assume is for the aux fan:

0888EB58-24DB-46D7-AA32-FC5C5CF736E8.jpeg

22C26769-B968-4537-89B9-12C25CF1986F.jpeg

Are those all the connectors that I need? I can’t think of what else on the ac system would have a connection? 

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