Howdy all,
Get yer mind outa the gutter!!

The subject is a 1976 T-Top with a 25 foot metallic green paint job. I have brush painted a fence on my farm with less overspray and drip than Bubba put into this job. The only way you can tell it was BC/CC is the terrific orange peel finish on the paint. Anyhoo, we are in the planning stages of a paint job. I have always been a fan of a chemical strip followed by metal etching primer. However, the new corvette is neither metal, not am I familiar with a fiberglass safe stripper. As they are not a 'gelcoat mold' construction vehicle, I assume there are safe strippers availabe. Any advice here appreciate.
The plans are -
strip
wet sand to approx 400 grit
Fill whatever we find with Rage Gold. Hope to avoid kittyhair.
sand again
high build primer - a coat or two
guide coat and sand - fill or sand imperfections, again to 400 grit or so
Primer-sealer
Sand to 600
Basecoat - we were thinking a black metallic base
No plans to color sand
Kandy/pearl - something like emerald to a deeper green
Clear (borrowing a Klean-Air resp. for the Urethane clear)
Sand 1000-2000 if necessary. If not will proceed with rub and polish with buffer
Sound fair? My friend's wife is a professional photographer, so she wil be recording pics of our idiot selves to make a website at some point. I would really appreciate any correspondance, especially of ciritcal mistakes, so we can waste as little time and money as possible. Thanks!
Doc Phil

 

most of the big vendors sell a stripper (no....not that kind of stripper)....I think it's called Captain Lee's Spra Strip....also, most auto paint stores sell other brands specifically for glass. good luck

 

Lots of guys use razor blades.

 

Captain Lee's

 

Corvette Central sells some that I have used on a lacquer paint 81. It worked great.
Then again, there is always Brandi who can do a great rub job on your machine.

 

try razor blades first.... what's it going to cost $3-$5
& Judge for yourself








I used Razor blades

 

That kinda looks like MAN legs to me

 

Surely you mean using razor blades after the stripper has softened it, right?
Otherwise it seems like a razor would gouge the glass, especially in the curves.

 

Nope. Look it up in the archives - several posts with detailed procedures.

 

Let the paint sit in the sun to soften it. I personally am not a fan, but must admit, the pros know. Ask Big G.

 

I just finished mine using a heat gun and a putty knife....works great!!!

 

RAZOR BLADES!! No stripper. Especially if your car has been repainted in the past. Check out these posts of my experience using razor blades.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1627789

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1628398


Rob

 

I did mine with razorblades and where the razorblades weren't getting it done I took the paint down with 80 grit on a random orbital sander until I reached the primer and then switched over to 120 grit. Most of it was done by blade though and it went very smoothly once you get the technique down. I stripped five coats of paint including the primer this way, just stay away the edges with the sander and do them by hand.

 

I used Captain Lee's stripper on mine.

 

For stripper I like Captain Lee's or second choice Kleen Strip for fiberglass. It's the same Aircraft Stripper used on steel but for fiberglass only. Razor blades or any scraping process does work well, but there is a risk of damaging the fiberglass surface and creating needless repairs. Liquid stripping is safe for a non-production pace where the body can sit and dry for a couple weeks prior to priming.

Not all painters have the same process, so I would do some things in your procedure differently, but that's just my opinion. I pasted your list and made changes based on my methods. I use PPG, but the paint products you use can also change the procedure slightly. Try to stick with one manufacturer and if you vary, check compatibility. Verify word-of-mouth details (and anything written such as this) about product useage with the mfrs. written document and keep those docs handy throughout your project. Most mfrs. have the data sheets on-line. And cleanliness is always important in painting, but with Vette's you need to be absolutely **** about it.

strip - Liquid stripper and let the body sit for about 2 weeks.

wet sand to approx 400 grit - Dry sand with 320, you want to keep the body dry at this point and away from any oils if you are working on other projects nearby.

Fill whatever we find with Rage Gold. Hope to avoid kittyhair. - Hold off on adding filler for now. Repair major damage repairs with mat & resin at this point, but just do the major repair, don't add filler yet. Also, if you got stripper on previous body filler or bonding strip areas, the old filler needs to be removed. Old filler should be removed as a general rule anyway. But don't apply filler to those areas yet, you will at this point need to refill or glass over the bonding strips using the procedure you feel most comfortable with. I use Vette Fill, but you can use Rage on fiberglass. Both Rages are designed primarily for metals and I believe Rage Gold has improved properties for metal. Before applying fillers, apply epoxy primer to the entire body and follow the data sheet for the product you use which will explain prep, surface compatibility, recoat parameters, etc. DPLF is pricey and has recoat times, so read the data sheet. PPG DPLF is very good and my favorite, but for tighter budgets, Transtar has a good epoxy primer as well at half the price and no recoat restraints.

high build primer - a coat or two - Apply 2 coats (or mfr. recommendation) of primer such as PPG K36. K36 is a 2 part primer so you have to plan your usage to avoid wasted product and money, but it works and sands very well. But it can be pricey if not used carefully on a complete car. It all depends on your level of perfection. A less expensive alternative would be PPG Kondar, an acrylic based high build 1k primer compatible with most PPG top coats and used today by body shops for fast production work but one of the advantages is, there is no product waste since you can store unused product instead of discarding it. If you are taking your time with this project, the product will have plenty of time to shrink before topcoats which is one drawback of 1k products. There are those that believe Kondar is obsolete and won't work well, but I have used it a lot over the years and I have verified it's durability up to 10 years (and still counting) and it is a lot cheaper than 2k primers that I use. K36 needs one or two hours to dry before sanding. Kondar can be sanded in 20 minutes and be ready for more. Kondar builds fast, dries fast, and sands excellent, but it is a 1k product

guide coat and sand - I don't use the guide coat method, I spray alternate colors of primer and block each until I reach the prior color and stop, then recoat and repeat until the panel is straight. That's been my method for 38 years and produces perfectly straight panels. When you stop sanding through and you think it's straight, wipe a generous coat of wax and grease remover on it and check the reflection of the surface against the light. Surfaces may feel smooth but you can't feel the small waves that show up after the job is done. You are going with a dark color, so if your goal is to be better than OEM or the average paint job this step is important. If you were going with red, white, yellow, you could slack a little.

Primer-sealer - Apply 2 coats of epoxy primer as a sealer. PPG DPLF comes in colors including black.

Sand to 600 - Whatever the data sheet says for the base coat you use.

Basecoat - we were thinking a black metallic base
No plans to color sand - correct, if sprayed smooth wet sand the clear. Light metallics that are sprayed rough, will look rough through the clear or candy.

Kandy/pearl - something like emerald to a deeper green - Keep in mind you are spraying over black, how will you get base reflection for the candy?

Clear (borrowing a Klean-Air resp. for the Urethane clear)
Sand 1000-2000 if necessary. If not will proceed with rub and polish with buffer - Safety precautions are always good to follow, better safe than sorry. If the finish is rough 1500 to start, but I usually use 2000 to start and worn 2000 to finish. The deeper the sand scratches, the more polishing you'll need to do. Follow sanding with a rotary buffer and mild polish such as Meguires fine cut cleaner > Machine Glaze > Swirl Remover > followed by 3M Perfect-It 6066 using an orbital machine and it should be beautiful.