[Stroker]

That's not much budget for the type of paint job you're wanting. I don't think it would even cover the materials let alone any labor. To get a decent job done with your budget I think you'll have to forget the flames and maybe the metalic paint. The flames could probably be done at a later time. I would think the least expensive option would be a single stage paint and no color change. You need to get chummy with a paint-n-body man that will oversee you doing as much of the manual labor as possible, stuff like sanding, sanding, sanding, and masking ect. To do a qualiy paint job is really very labor intensive you're going to have to do virtually all the work exept for spraying the paint to have a chance at staying within your budget.

Things used to be much simpler.....I remember the first car I had repainted 25 years ago. I had it in primer ready to paint, The primer had been sprayed with the car in the driveway using a tiny compressor and dirt cheap paint gun. Cost me $225 a $100 for the paint and hardner, $100 for the painter and booth, and $25 to mask. It looked good but didn't really last to long about 3 years later it started getting spider web type cracks everywhere. But when you're17 three years seemed like a long time.