Finally getting warm enough to where I'm comfortable spraying some SPI epoxy primer on my inner Quarters and trunk tomorrow after work before final fitment and welding. There calling for a high of 70 tomorrow. The plan is to put my natural gas space heater on for an hour or so with the garage door closed before painting to get metal temps nice and high, Then shut it off and spray it all with 2 coats. But around this time temperatures are most likely going to drop as it gets later. about 2 hours after I spray is it safe to open the garage up for about 10 minuits to get some fumes out, close it, then spark up the gas heater? Its an open flame but it will be about 15 feet away from anything with fresh paint. Im thinking by this time it wont be a combustable atmosphere, right?

you will be fine, A shop I used to work for actually painted cars with open flame kerosene heaters IN SIDE THE SPRAY BOOTH .... needless to say after seeing 10 paintjobs while i worked there no one ever blew up.
Makes me wonder what a load of BS all the explosion proof lighting and stuff like that is.

Haha glad to hear i'll be keeping my eyebrows! Yea I wont need to have it on while spraying, but ill still give 'er a bit to dissapate any fumes, just to be on the safe side. Thanks for the info Mike!

Ohh and while were on the subject of stuff catching fire..... when you do a plug weld and the back of the panel being welded has epoxy on it, does it like to just smolder and flake off ( like e-coating does )or will it actually start burning? just curious because im going to have to do some welds on the quarters and the inside panel will be backed with epoxy.... not too easy to get at in spots, ya know?

Haha glad to hear i'll be keeping my eyebrows! Yea I wont need to have it on while spraying, but ill still give 'er a bit to dissapate any fumes, just to be on the safe side. Thanks for the info Mike!

Ohh and while were on the subject of stuff catching fire..... when you do a plug weld and the back of the panel being welded has epoxy on it, does it like to just smolder and flake off ( like e-coating does )or will it actually start burning? just curious because im going to have to do some welds on the quarters and the inside panel will be backed with epoxy.... not too easy to get at in spots, ya know?


yes regardless of what you use, it will burn back, smoke etc. Just remove the epoxy, EDP or weld thru from the weld zone. A small hand held spot blaster works wonder here, just point at the hole and all the coating is gone from the weld zone...Eric

The fumes have to get pretty thick before it ignites. A friend was painting in his garage with a jet heater running. After the second or third coat with the doors shut and the heater still running, there was a mighty flash and what sounded like a rocket engine taking off. It just flashed for a second and nothing actually burned, it just took the fuel out of the air. The paint job, however, needed an extra coat to cover the carmeling on the surface. It did shake up the kids that were in there. The Dad, too. It was only then they decided to turn off the heater.:thumbsup:

SPI Epoxy is pretty strong smelling. I just shot my fenders the other day in the garage to cover up some bare spots. The k38 I sprayed didn't have as much of a nasty smell. I like to give it 2-3 days before I start blocking or laying down any filer over it. The guys on the SPI forum say to give it a week to fully cure.

Make sure you have a good mask and open up the garage after you are done. The smell sticks around for most of the night.

Hey guys, wait a minute.......FIRST you should be reading the MSDS and read about the volatility and reactivity of what the paint is. This is not a chemistry class but the MSDS is to keep you alive. I have been an electrician as well as a fireman and you can do what you want but I have seen first hand the results of such explosions of hazardous atmospheres. If I was going to do the same type of painting. I would definately ventilate prior to heating with an open flame. Paint fumes / vapors ignite easily with a spark, let alone an open flame. READ THE MSDS and PAINT CAN LABEL FIRST. Beware.

yea i did read the label, but i just used the ole sniffer to tell if it was too fumey for my comfort and.... the grage isnt scattered out in the yard! whoo hoo! haha i think it turned out alright. i laid it out pretty thick, some orange peel and a few runs but im happy. First ime ever using a spray gun. Metal temps stayed in the 70's alllll night with the heater off too. :thumbsup:

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll295/happygounlucky86/SA400024-5.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll295/happygounlucky86/SA400025-4.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll295/happygounlucky86/SA400026-2.jpg

i hope your using some kind of exhaust fan during spraying-the fumes are killer
i kind of regret the earlier years when i shot laq. in a small garage, no exhaust, open flame, then drank a few beers afterward (well, i liked that part), now when i paint, i get pretty sick, even with good exhaust-i had to go to a full face mask, the doctor told me its going thru my eyes, and my body is sick of the abuse, lol

The fumes have to get pretty thick before it ignites. A friend was painting in his garage with a jet heater running. After the second or third coat with the doors shut and the heater still running, there was a mighty flash and what sounded like a rocket engine taking off. It just flashed for a second and nothing actually burned, it just took the fuel out of the air. The paint job, however, needed an extra coat to cover the carmeling on the surface. It did shake up the kids that were in there. The Dad, too. It was only then they decided to turn off the heater.:thumbsup:

Your friend was very lucky (not to mention stupid). A neighbor of mine tried the same thing and woke up in the hospital. The explosion literally blew him out the front of the garage into the driveway right behind the garage door itself and the resulting fire then proceeded to burn his house. He was home alone but luckily some else heard the explosion and called for help. He survived, but his garage (and car) along with part of the house did not.

NEVER paint around open flame.

Tom

I've always been careful to have the heater dowsed when I start to shoot. (wood burning stove) I just get it rediculously hot in the garage and shut the heater down. By the time it cools off enough to matter, The place is aired out, the doors are shut and the heater is fired up again. Just because my friend got away with it, doesn't mean I want to see if I can. :noway:

Besides, I used up all my good luck when I was a teenager. I'm not sure I have any left, so I have to be careful now.:thumbsup:


By the way Rick, what you have looks good, but ...uh... did you maybe forget to put something on before you shot the 1/4's? :D

i hope your using some kind of exhaust fan during spraying-the fumes are killer
i kind of regret the earlier years when i shot laq. in a small garage, no exhaust, open flame, then drank a few beers afterward (well, i liked that part), now when i paint, i get pretty sick, even with good exhaust-i had to go to a full face mask, the doctor told me its going thru my eyes, and my body is sick of the abuse, lol


I did have the garage open a bit ( and now i might have to clay bar the roomies car... whoops haha ) to ventalate when i was spraying, plus had a full face respirator on.



Next step it to put some seam sealer on any seams and i got some transtar quick dry rubberized undercoating to spray on top of it all. I got this idea from Scott70zz. Its the same undercoating he used and i think it looks great!

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1796746

http://mikescustomcars.com/projects/projects.asp?proj=SWalker&album=8&pic=392

Im not real sure how long of a window i have to put the seam sealer and undercoating on it, ill have to do some research later. Anybody know off the top of there head?

the flammable range of these products is VERY narrow. that means its very easy to make them too rich or too lean and difficult to burn. does that mean its safe? nope.... but i would be comfortable if the area was well ventilated. being a firefighter also makes me nervous around a lot of things, and seeing a local firefighter killed (LAFD) just a few weeks ago due to an explosion caused by a spark makes me even more nervous.

when i built the booth for the frame, i used positive pressure ventilation. all you need is a fan at the opening blowing clean air in, and in turn, it blows dirty air out the other side. the dirty air should never go through the fan.

tim