What are you all saying, this is nucking futs....
PART 1
First off.... If you are not going bare metal, then all you need to do is key into your old paint with 240 wet and dry. Considering that you have masked your car 100%, prime your car using the best hi-fill spray primer you can afford, if you go for 2 pack, you will find it will have an isocyanate based catalyst, very toxic, and doesn't need to be breathed in to cause harm. I have been a painter for years, and I take very silly risks when I know I shouldn't.
Once the car is primed, get yourself a cheap polly spray in a contrast colour and lightly dust-coat the car using whichever colour you have chosen (I normally just use a cheap can of black).
At this stage, its time to have your lunch and leave the car to dry off. Finish your lunch, take a drive to the shops and buy your missus a bunch of flowers, it will give you credits for those late nights in the garage. All this just to make sure that your primer and dust-coat has dried properly. Last thing you want is to start rubbing back your hhard work to find that your starting to peel your primer under the wet and dry.
Get a bucket of water, preferably warm water with some ajax or lemon kitchen cleaning cream, this will remove any natural oils that your hands have while rubbing it back. I start with 320 wet and dry till nearly all of the contrasting dust coat is gone, then use 400 wet and dry till all the dust-coat is rubbed back evenly. Be carefull not to create small grooves from the iregularities of the bumps in your hands. After years of prepping and painting you soon get a feel for any small dings.
If you still have some dust coat showing, it is because of low spots, and this is the time to carefully level off the primer with some nitrocelulous wipe. It is a single pack filler, but excesive use can be a big mistake as it shrinks if used in bulk. This is purely used as a surface wipe for very minor low spots, and it sands ver easily also.
At this point I rub the whole car back with 600 wet and dry making sure that at this stage lemon creme cleaner is used in your water.
PART 2
At this stage you have chosen your paint... Either 2 Pack or Acrylic. Next you need to know what the weather is going to be like to help you choose what thinners you will need. Faster for cooler, slower for hotter is the rule of thumb.
Always start your spraying from the highest point, and making your way down. Start off by laying down your dust coat, which should flash ooff fairly fast, it will make a good key for your wet coat to be layed down on. With mini's, we are very lucky as it can be painted from seam to seam, so long as it isn't metalic or mika paint,, in that your wet coat needs to be very even.
A:If you are just using a hi-gloss single pack acrylic and not a 2 part system ( base and clear or acrylic and clear), then its time to go clean up your gun and put every thing away and get ready for dinner. (Do not attempt to colour sand for at least 7 days).
B: If you are going 2 part acrylic (Acrylic and clear), wiat tilll the next morning, Now it is time to bring out your 1200 wet and dry. Lightly rub down your paint, getting rid of (but not completely) any orange pealing that you may have from inexperience of painting. Orange peel is from not making sure your viscosity thin enough. Too thin and you can get runs very quickly, and you can also get dry bands from the pint dring too quick, again, it won't matter all that much as you will be sanding this out. This is the advantage of clear over base or clear over acrylic. Don't be tooo perdantic about making this too perfect, your clear coat will do this for you.
Generaly I do 2 dust coats in opposite directions (criss cross) and then lay on a good wet coat. I do this twice allowing a week betweenfinal coats. This need not be done, but I prefer a good thick clear coat, it gives depth and can be colour sanded to a glass finish.
I think this might cover all the basic questions on the process of painting. 
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, and should stick better.