Hey guys- I have been working on my vette for about 4 years now, but it has been apart since about 1980 when my father first started on it. I traded him the project for a 33 ford pickup hotrod in about 2000.

I took the week off work with the goal of finally getting it in paint. Here it is (go to the corvette album):

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubgallery.asp?id_=676013

I used PPG base/ clear Milano Maroon over slicksand and DP50 (grey). Here is a bit of advice for you learned by me the hard way... Mineral spirits is not a good solvent to wipe the car down with before you primer it (duh- oil based )!! I wasn't thinking, and used it, and the slicksand and DP50 both looked like an egg shell finish. I spent 20 hours blocking out the DP50 before paint. WHAT A PAIN!!

I still a lot of wet sanding to do because the clear coat has some pretty good orange peel. For some reason the color went on perfect and flat, and the clear just wouldn't settle out flat?

The car is a 390 horse AC/sidepipe/ knockoff car and someone blew up the motor and now it has a CE code 425 horse motor. I did a .030 over stock rebuild on the engine and restored the AC stuff. I will probably dress it like the 390 horse car (except for the intake). I have a tremec 5 speed behind the big block that I pulled from my 69 camaro when I sold it, so I should have a pretty fun combo. I made my own shifter for the 5 speed to move it over 3 inches for the console, and modified a stock shifter handle to bolt up as well.

How long do you think I should wait before I start blocking out the clear?


Matt

 

Lookin good. Looks like it was worth the wait! Is that your little Healy also? I love those little cars with American v8's in them. It must fly.

 

Hey John, yep- that's my Healey too. It has a pretty healthy 283 in it. It's 10:1, .060 over and I had bigger valves put in the powerpack heads. I haven't had it to the track yet with this motor, but it should be high 12's. It was my daily beater through most of college with a stocker 305 in it, and it was running mid 13's. It doesn't take much to make 2180 pounds move quickly! It's my poor man's cobra....

 

That's a very nice looking car. I have '65 Coupe that's Milano Maroon. I think that color looks awesome with the shine and depth of basecoat-clearcoat paint.

From my experience I would say you didn't spray the clear wet enough if it has excessive orange peel. I generally spray one or two dry coats and then finish with a coat wet enough to flow out smoothly. You have to practice quite a bit as it's hard to get just the right amount of clear to avoid runs yet leave a really smooth finish.


With most of today's clearcoats you can color sand as soon as 24 hours after spraying.

I would be very cautious using a block on the clearcoat as it's very easy to sand through the clear on the high spots and edges. When color sanding I use my bare hands and lots of water. That way I can feel what is happening with the surface and if a tiny piece of dirt gets on the sandpaper I can stop to clean it off before it scratches the paint. If you use long smooth strokes you will get a perfectly flat surface without relying on a sanding block.

 

You must have been here allready Matt.

http://britishv8.org/swaps/examples.htm

 

Great sight John! I haven't seen that one before. There is just something about a rediculously small car, with a "too big" engine !