flyboyslc1

Hello to all my internet Corvette buddies. I bought this 1991 coupe a year and a half ago. At that time it had 108,000 miles on it. It was a good 20 footer, but up close, had a lot of paint issues. I have painted several cars and a few airplanes. Never used base/clear coat paint, but decided to give it a try after getting quotes of 4-6000 dollars for a good re-paint. The car isn't worth much more than that, so I thought What can I really hurt? It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Along the way, many other problems were found and corrected. Some of them I remember were a hood hinge totally worn out. Many panels that were in need of alignment. One door was sagging, the plastic lenses on fog and turn signals were really crazed over, broken wires to the rear hatch de-fogging grid, a vapor canister that was defective, bad weatherstripping, and probably a few others that I have forgot.

I am not a pro at this, but consider myself an experienced amateur. My purpose in doing the videos was to encourage others to try it. So my best tips are these: 1-buy paint locally if you are inexperienced, as the local vendors can be a great source of information. 2- build a spray booth with exhaust ventilation. 3-try to paint in moderate temperatures and humidity levels.(winter worked best for me, no bugs, low humidity) 4-ALWAYS wear your tyvek suit into the spray booth. The static build up on these plastic cars will pull dust and fibers out of your clothes and put em on the car. I repaired several areas that I am sure were cause by my ventures into the booth between layers of clear coat. 5- Make sure all your body work is done and your panels and hood are where you want them before starting paint work. 6-At a minimum, make sure you have a good, fresh, respirator with organic vapor canisters. 3M makes a good one. Throw it away as soon as you smell paint, because it is no longer working well. 7-Take good pictures of the dis-assembly. Place fasteners in plastic bags, and make notes so you remember how to do the re-assembly. 8-use a test panel, such as a piece of sheet steel or something to practice on, and whatever you do to that, do it to everything else. 9- Same idea, is to try your technique on a small part. The targa top would be a great starter project. If you totally mess it up, a body shop can straighten it all out for you. 10-Make sure you have a filter and moisture trap on your air compressor. 11- my recommendation would be for three coats of clear, if you are going to color sand and buff. Remember to stay away from the sharp edges. 12- clear coat allows you the chance to sand out runs, sags, and the like and then buff it all out.

Lastly, have a little fun with it. Nuthin like being able to say, when someone asks, Who did the paint? and you can say "I did"

If I can help, let me know.

steve

corvetteronw

Excellent job and we so much appreciate you posting everything on YouTube! Thank you sir!

flyboyslc1

It was a pay back for all the great help that I have received from other members on the site. The collective body of knowledge that resides here is what keeps these cars on the road. Recently I learned what makes my front brakes rattle(missing parts not installed by previous owner) and how to adjust the door ajar switches. Eliminated two problems quickly.

steve