In This Article
Evan Shanks is a competition drift driver, and the LS3-swapped Nissan 370Z in this build is the car he calls his pride and joy — a hand-molded front bumper, self-laid fiberglass fenders, a 400Z headlight conversion, and a full FD-spec cage. For the color, Evan wanted something nobody else on the grid would be running, so he sprayed it in Toxin, a green candy-pearl with a colorshift that covers most of the spectrum.
Toxin is a custom Alpha color built for this exact car — it reads green in the shade and flips through gold, purple, teal, and amber the moment light moves across a panel. Below: who Evan is, how Toxin basecoat behaves over a black ground coat, and the exact sequence to lay a candy-pearl like this down on your own build.
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Download the Free PDF →Meet the Builder: Evan Shanks
Evan Shanks builds his competition drift cars from the body panels up. The 370Z here is LS3-swapped, dry-sumped, and running a dog-box transmission, a quick-change rear, and a full FD-spec cage — Evan molded the front bumper himself and laid up his own fiberglass fenders before any color went down. He has painted several of his own builds in custom Alpha colors from The Spray Source, so a one-off color on a race car was familiar ground.
The 370Z ran the full Toxin Vehicle Paint Kit system: DTM Primer-Sealer (AP-7541) as the black ground coat, Toxin basecoat, and HS Glamour Clear (AC-4521) cut with Alpha urethane reducer and AH-7100 activator. It was Evan’s first time spraying heavy flake and his first job in a real downdraft booth — and the panels came out clean enough that he expected people to call the photos AI-generated.
The Color: Why Toxin?
Toxin is a candy-pearl basecoat — Alpha builds it as a four-to-eight-color candy pearl, and it earns the count. The base reads as a green candy, and the colorshift pearl runs through purple, teal, blue, gold, amber, and red as the viewing angle changes. Evan described the panels flipping from Aston-green to gold to purple in a single pass under the booth lights. The Alpha binder is formulated for pigment control, so the green stays even across a long panel with no striping or mottling, with strong UV resistance and clean pearl suspension.
Evan sprayed Toxin over a black ground coat from the DTM Primer-Sealer, the foundation the color was built on. The black ground coat is what delivers full coverage and lets every candy and colorshift tone read at its strongest. That is exactly how Toxin was designed to be sprayed: over black, the green candy goes deep and every shift tone reads at full saturation, which is why the 370Z looks like a different color at every angle.
Want to spray a Toxin sample yourself?
This color doesn't have a pre-sprayed sample yet, but you can build your own DIY sample if you have spray equipment:
Every Way to Get Toxin
Whether you're painting a full vehicle, a motorcycle, a guitar, or just touching up with a spray can — Toxin is available for every project size. Each kit includes matched products sized for the job.
Toxin Vehicle Paint Kit
$854.93 USD
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Toxin Paint Basecoat
From$17.50 USD
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Toxin Spray Can
$59.99 USD
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Toxin carries a heavy flake, so the flake itself is doing the visual work — let it. Evan's one real fight on this build was getting enough flake through the gun: open the fluid needle so the flake lays down with the candy carrier instead of the carrier flooding ahead of it. Keep your passes even and overlapping and the colorshift stays consistent from panel to panel.
What's Inside the Vehicle Paint Kit
These are all the products included in the Toxin Full Vehicle Paint Kit. Every product is already matched and compatible — no hunting across brands, no guessing on ratios.
One-coat direct-to-metal primer that doubles as a black sealer when reduced as a sealer. Evan shot it as the black ground coat so Toxin had the foundation it was designed for — full coverage with the green candy reading at full saturation. DTM Primer-Sealer is the first thing in the gun on this build.
Ready-to-spray candy-pearl basecoat — a green candy carrying a colorshift pearl through purple, teal, gold, amber, and red. It is suspended in an Alpha-formulated binder with pigment control, strong UV resistance, and clean pearl suspension. Mix Toxin basecoat 1:1 with Alpha urethane reducer and shoot it over black.
2K high-solids clearcoat for the final coats. Evan mixed HS Glamour 2:1 with AH-7100 activator for a wet, deep finish that flows out flat for buffing. This is the coat that locks the candy-pearl in and gives Toxin the bottomless depth it reads under direct light.
Alpha Urethane Reducer (AR-3000 Series) —
Alpha urethane reducer matched to your booth temperature. It reduces the Toxin basecoat 1:1 and thins the DTM ground coat per the cheat sheet. Pick the temperature grade that fits your shop on spray day.
HS Activator (AH-7100 Series) —
AH-7100 activator for the HS Glamour clearcoat. It comes in fast, medium, and slow grades — Evan reached for a slow activator so the clear had time to flow out flat across the long 370Z panels without orange peel.
The waterproof reference card that ships in every kit. QR codes on the back jump straight to step-by-step videos. Keep the Cheat Sheet taped up inside the booth — the ratios and the spray sequence are right there when you have a gun in your hand.
Optional Add-Ons
The vehicle paint kit has everything you need to go from prepped surface to finished paint. But depending on where your project is starting, these add-on bundles can save time and money on the prep and masking side:
Bodywork Bundle
$175.00
Body filler, abrasives, and everything for panel repair. Ideal if your project needs dent or rust repair before paint.
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Light Bodywork Bundle
From $92.99
Dolphin Glaze finishing putty and OptiGrit sanding abrasives. Perfect for filling pinholes, minor scratches, and light surface imperfections.
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Mask & Mix Bundle
$75.00
Mixing cups, strainers, masking tape, and masking paper. Everything you need for clean, precise masking and easy paint mixing.
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Linear Blocking Tools Starter Set
From $236.50
CNC-cut polycarbonate sanding blocks with lifetime warranty. Produces perfectly flat, straight panels for a professional finish.
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OptiGrit PSA Sandpaper Bundle
$64.99
Complete PSA sandpaper set in 80, 180, 220, and 320 grit. The full grit progression for blocking and prep, sized for long boards.
Shop NowThe Complete DIY Process
Step 1: Body work, block sand, mask
Evan spent months on body work before the 370Z ever saw color — molding the front bumper, building fiberglass fenders, and block-sanding every panel dead flat. A candy with this much flake reads every flaw, so straight body work is not optional. Knock the gloss off existing paint, feather every repair edge with the right grit from OptiGrit, then mask the glass and openings. Anything you skip here telegraphs straight through the candy.
Step 2: Black ground coat with DTM Primer-Sealer
Mix the DTM Primer-Sealer as a sealer and lay it over the whole body so every panel goes uniform black. This is the ground coat Toxin was built on — black is what delivers full coverage and lets the green candy and every shift tone read at full strength. Give it the flash time on the cheat sheet before you reload the gun for color.
View DTM Primer-Sealer (AP-7541) TDS →
Step 3: Toxin basecoat — wet coats, then a flake pass
Reduce the Toxin basecoat 1:1 with Alpha urethane reducer, shake it so the flake and pearl are fully mixed, and shoot even, overlapping wet coats. Evan’s one fight here was flake delivery — open the fluid needle so the flake lays down with the carrier instead of behind it. Build the candy until the color reads deep, then come back with a lighter pass to settle the flake evenly across each panel.
View Candy / Pearl Carrier TDS →
Step 4: HS Glamour clearcoat
Mix the HS Glamour clear 2:1 with AH-7100 activator — reach for the slow grade if your booth runs warm so the clear has time to flow out flat. Lay it wet over the cured candy. This is the coat that locks the pearl in and turns Toxin bottomless; Evan said the color only fully came alive once the glamour clear went on.
View HS Glamour Clear (AC-4521) TDS →
Step 5: Cut, buff, reveal
Let the clear cure, then wet-sand with the higher grits from OptiGrit, working up through the grades with a soft pad and plenty of water. Keep the disc clean — dried clear specks turn into pigtails under the buffer. Cut, polish, then finish. The payoff is what Evan got the first time the 370Z rolled into the sun: a panel that reads green, gold, purple, and teal depending on where you stand.
Watch the Build
Build footage from the shop — process, transitions, and the finish in motion.
Toxin Paint Mixing
Toxin 370Z Spray-Down
Toxin 370Z Finished — Front
Ready to Paint Your Own Build?
Everything Evan used — DTM primer-sealer (your black ground coat), ready-to-spray Toxin basecoat, HS Glamour clearcoat, reducer, activator, and cheat sheet — in one kit.
Build Your Toxin Kit — $854.93 USDLooking for a different color or kit size? Browse all car kits →
See It in Action
Watch Evan Shanks's Toxin build below, plus TSS painting tutorials and explainers — swipe through.
"I am convinced that people are going to think that this color is AI." — Evan Shanks
Frequently Asked Questions
Toxin is a candy-pearl, and the black ground coat from the DTM Primer-Sealer is the foundation it was designed to be sprayed over. Black delivers full coverage and lets the green candy and every colorshift tone (gold, purple, teal, amber) read at full strength. Spray it over black and you get the depth you see on the 370Z in this post.
It genuinely shifts. Alpha builds Toxin as a four-to-eight-color candy pearl — a green candy base carrying a colorshift pearl through purple, teal, blue, gold, amber, and red. The tone you see depends on the light angle, which is why Evan says the 370Z looks like a different color at every turn of a track. A Toxin spray can is the cheapest way to see the shift in person before you commit to a full kit.
Two things. First, your gun has to pass enough flake — Evan had to open the fluid needle so the flake came through with the candy carrier instead of lagging behind it. Second, keep your passes even and overlapping so the flake settles uniformly; the flake is what shows body lines, so straight body work and consistent coats matter. The ratios and sequence are on the Cheat Sheet in every Toxin kit.
Every Product Used in This Build
Toxin Vehicle Paint Kit
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Toxin Paint Basecoat
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DTM Primer-Sealer AP-7541 Kit | Alpha Automotive Paint
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HS Glamour Clearcoat AC-4521 Kit | Alpha Automotive Paint
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Urethane Reducer AR-3000 Series | Alpha Automotive Paint
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HS Activator AH-7100 | Alpha Automotive Paint
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Clearance & Flash Sales
Discounted kits, closeout colors, and flash deals — check back often, these move fast.
Shop Current Sales →Big thanks to Evan Shanks for trusting a one-off custom color on his competition 370Z and filming every step from bare body work to the first roll into the sun. Evan built the whole car himself, and Toxin is now a color anyone can order. Follow Evan for the drift season on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Want to be featured? Tag @thespraysource or email sales@thespraysource.com.
