I have a black and silver 79 with two coats of lacquer. The original owner wanted a 78 Pace Car but could not get one. So he bought (my) 79 black car and added the silver to look like the Pace car. This was done in 1980. I want to repaint the Vette back to its original all black. The body and paint are in good condition for 25 years old. My question is, can I wet sand the lacquer and then spray new lacquer paint? I want to stay with acrylic lacquer because its original and easy to work with. Also, what size air compressors are we using? Thanks

 

Gee - there are so many advantages to the newer paints, but honestly, now that I have repainted my car with the newer paints - with all the challenges (they are so temperamental), I would do lacquer in a heartbeat. I know that's gonna be an unpopular statement.

 

Seems to me it would be a lot easier to touch it up, put the pace car decals on it, and top it with a few coats of clear laquer.


-W (runs quickly from the room)

 

Please correct me if im wrong but dont 79s have enamel? Or maybe just black was laquer?

 

'79 's were lacquer. The change came in 1981. Vettes assembled in St Louis were lacquer & assembled in Bowling Green were enamel.


Mike

 

Yeah, you are on the right track, just wetsand off the silver and, if it were me, I'd sand down the whole car down with 280 or something like that ...and repaint the whole car. The black on there now might look nice, but it's going to look old compared to the new paint. Plus, that old primer wasn't the best either. So, I'd sand it down and make sure there isn't a line between where the silver was painted and met with the black. Then, I'd put on a couple coats of lacquer primer, then let it sit for a couple days out in the direct sunlight (to totally cure it to reduce shrinkage). Then, wetsand with 400, then 600, then spray on several coats of black. Then wetsand the black and machine buff. You will have an amazingly good shine.

I switched over to urethane paints years ago, but honestly, you can get such a nice finish with lacquer when it's buffed and machine polished ...just like glass. People say you can duplicate it with base/clear, but I've buffed and polished lots of paint and there still isn't anything quite like polished lacquer.

Another thing, as far as longevity goes, your vette isn't a daily driver anymore more than likely. So, a lot of the pitfalls of lacquer won't befall you since it'll be mostly garaged.

As for a compressor, my normal suggestion is a vertical 60 gal compressor that puts out in the neighborhood of 10 CFM at 125 PSI. You can go smaller, but this is a good compressor for home projects. Look at the spray gun you will be spraying with and match the compressor to it. Remember there is about 10 psi loss for each length of hose. The other nice thing about spraying black lacquer is you should be able to get by with one of those $15 Harbor Freight spray guns.

Mark G

 

Yeah, these new-fangled paints just aren't good and shiny as the good old days of 1980 lacquer...

 

Yes. You can use the original acrylic lacquer if you can find it (it's getting hard to find) and if you can legally shoot it (VOC problems in some states).

 

My black 79 Vette has 2 repaints. I want to stay with lacquer. Can I prep and wet sand it and then spray right on top of the existing finish?