Engine Compartment Painting - Tips and Price List

The Learning Curve
This is a good project for beginners. The prep and procedure are all the same as a for full-blown paint job, but the stakes are much lower, and therefore there is more room for trial-and-error learning. Here are two things we learned while doing this project.

Suede Engine Bay
The unintended effect of using a larger fluid tip and a smaller needle is a nasty wrinkle finish. We switched out the 1.6 fluid tip for the larger 1.8 tip to spray the primer on in thicker coats; however, we forgot to switch to the corresponding 1.8 needle.
The unintended effect of using a larger fluid tip and a smaller needle is a nasty wrinkle
The wrinkle effect would have been cool if we had been spraying something else, but it just looked weird here. Time to break out the 320 and practice our sanding techniques some more.
The wrinkle effect would have been cool if we had been spraying something else, but it jus

Use Activator
All caught up in the moment of spraying the basecoat, we went to town with the clear, spraying directly from the can. But wait, what's all this dust? It turns out, when you don't activate the clear, it looks like this. Say goodbye to your fingertips, you'll take them off with all the sanding.
All caught up in the moment of spraying the basecoat, we went to town with the clear, spra

Paint And Prices
Description	Price
DuPont 2840S primer-sealer, 1 gal.	$113.00
DuPont 2805S activator, 1 qt.	$34.02
DuPont V-4904S 2K UltraProductive primer-filler, 1 gal.	$123.00
DuPont V-4975S activator, 1 qt.	$61.00
Nason basecoat, 1/2 gal.	$40.00
Nason activator, 1 qt.	$28.40
DuPont HC2300S clear, 1 gal.	$151.79
DuPont HC2305S activator, 1 qt.	$47.69
3M 320-grit wet or dry sandpaper, 100 ct.	$35.29
Sharpe air regulator	$27.00
Inline air filter	$47.00
Total	$708.19