Technite73

I am getting ready to paint my 66. It stll has the 66 lacquer paint from the factory. Its too far gone to remain a survivor.

One painters insist that once the paint is removed it must be gelcoated.

This painter said if I do not gelcoat the paint will fail in a few years.

Others say it is not necessary if using quality epoxy primers and sealers.

I know they were not gelcoated originally. I have all original GM fiberglass and the car is a no hit car.

michael62

Good question technite. I have a 62 I am about to have painted and was wondering the same thing? Also, on top of technite's question, I am not going to paint an original color (semi vetterod), what are good brand paints that won't break the bank? Good luck technite.

Pop Chevy

Do a search on it, this subject has been pounded to death. After reading ALL of it I am NOT going to gelcoat my car. I am going to use featherfill

vettnut

To answer your question. NO You do not need to gelcoat. Only if your bodies outer fiberglass strands are unstable/lifting. Even then, there are many great products out there to address this issue. IMHO. I use Evercoat's Featherfill, and love it. Your bodyman says the paint will fall off without gelcoating,BS. Find someone who says it won't fall off. TIP: Go to autobodystore.com and go to the forum and post this question. Len Stuart does many vettes and owns this site. He is a good guy and a bodyman. Many other bodymen and enthusiasts visit and post on this site. Great for a second opinion.
DG

Technite73

Thanks for the tip

found this tread very helpful.


http://forums.corvetteforum.com/pain...-gel-coat.html

mike coletta

I think that this subject holds the all time record for "most opinions". My personal experience is that the best product is PPG 822 Epoxy primer. I've used Gelcoat, Featherfill, Easysand, Fourstar, and a host of others. Best holdout is Epoxy Primer. The PPG product is easy to sand (like Featherfill), but has way less shrink. If you do some research on the "shrink" of polyester based products vs. epoxy based products, you'll be amazed at the difference. All of the "Featherfill" type surfacers, including Gelcoat, are polyester based, and won't finish "shrinking" for 6 months to one year. That is why you see so many really nice paintjobs come out of the booth, and then 6 months later they look like the rocky mountains. That's not to say that you can't get a great job with those products, but, they have to dry out for a long time. This is my opinion only. So the short answer to your question is "no".

Mike Coletta

MosportGreen66

Wasn't the conclusion on this topic that from the factory no Corvette was ever gel-coated? I believe the term gel-coat is used for marine fiberglass applications. If you prep the body correctly, apply a spray polyester coating, block sand, use an epoxy primer and correctly repair any damaged areas, I think the paint will hold up just fine.

-Dave

woodsdesign

One thing that I have learned is that there are good body shops and then there are good body shops that know how to work on corvettes. I once bought a 67 from a good body shop thinking that he must have known what he was doing. I was wrong, the body work started showing after about a year. He screwed the fenders on then removed the screws and filled in the holes. Everyone showed. SO THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS TO GO TO A SHOP THAT KNOWS CORVETTES.

MosportGreen66

That's a very good point. Big difference between the two.

-Dave

Dave Tracy

Check out the Paint section on the Forum. I put gel-coat on my project followed by epoxy primer and build coats of PPG K-36. Would have skipped the gel-coat step. Good Luck and have fun.

ragtopman

I do not find a paint section on the forum??

al329

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/paint-body-138/