John 65

Been working on my 68 body since spring of last year. Got it in primer on Memorial day. I thought it looked pretty good. Then I guide coated it and started sanding only to find out it wasnt as nice as I thought. It looked like the Atlantic ocean. Used a nice long sanding block ( I should have from the start, 1st timer here)and fixed all the inperfections and have been block sanding it for the last few weeks. Went from 320 to 400 to 600 grit. The panels are pretty nice now. I bought Dupont products, going with lemans blue BC-CC. I saved a lot on dissasembly, stripping and bodywork getting it to this point doing it myself and I didnt want to take a chance with around 700.00 worth of chemicals, so I had a friend come over and shoot the hood, deck, hardtop, and the loose parts. Had my garage door about a foot open from the floor with a fan at the back door and it created a nice vacuum. Theres some dust in the clear but that will sand out before final polishing. I am loving the color. Hopefully get to the rest of the car next week.

7T1vette

Lookin' good!

centralcalvette

Looks great, I'm excited for you, keep posting pics...

Mark G

You chose a nice color IMO!

John 65

Thanks guys. More pics to come next week !

Roco71

John,
Its looking real good, I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. Nice color by the way.
Scott

74 LS4-454

Looking good John, I remember seeing the 68 in the driveway last fall when I picked up the hardtop headliner from you. I am sure it will look great when it is all finished. Since I will be doing the 74 in the future, I'll need you to give me some tips from your experience.
BTW, did you ever finish Mike's Vette? Is his back together again? He has such a nice setup in his garage. I keeping thinking about the rolling chassis of his and hope mine will look as nice as his and yours when it gets finished. Later................................... Tom

John 65

Thank you for the kind words Tom, and for the book. Ime very happy with it, had to make 2 wheel lips, fix a bunch of cracks and address the sunken bonding stripps along with all the dimples in the headlight header bar. Mikes getting there slowly but surely. Body still off but hes doing 1 heck of a job on the car. Hes at the point now where its time to address the body,and the interiors gutted so thats being repaired now. Cracks and missing parts. Hows you car coming along? Have a good night.

74 LS4-454

Sounds like your the experienced body guy now!!! You have done alot in the past 8 months.
I have made some progress, but not as nearly as much that I would have liked to accomplish at this time. Of course since the Vette is an hour away from me, that plays a big part. Getting parts organized and cleaned, slow but sure.
Anyway don't need to hijack your thread, looking forward to seeing the rest of yours when you finish shooting the paint. Keep the pics updated, that Blue is a great color. talk soon....enjoy the weekend

Vette5.5

Done a few paint job's, but not fiberglass bodied car's. Surely you've discovered chemical strippiers can leach out for some time. Since you're doing guide coats and fine grit block sanding, very nice work. Only advice is, if burning out on this, push it into a corner for awhile, until the mood hits.

DZRick

Nice Job, John!

Can't wait to see it when you're done. Very nice color too.

929nitro

Very nice. Can't wait to see the finished project.

Something you may want to think about is to make a frame that you can mount air filters to ( cheap home AC filters) just to block the opening at the bottom of the garage door to minimize dust being drawn into you fresh paint.

John 65

Thats true, had the glass exposed for a year, cleaned and outside in the sun. With a little luck all the chemicals from the stripper are dry at this point, I sure hope so, did my 65 like 15 years ago with it, never had a problem.

929 Nitro thats a great idea, my buddy suggested that also but I completly forgot. Thanks for the reminder.

69 Chevy

"Of particular concern is the finding that painters are at relatively high risk for developing work-related asthma from exposure to isocyanates. Most two-part paints and coatings used in automotive refinishing include an isocyanate-based catalyst or hardener.

Spray painting can generate a great deal of airborne isocyanates that painters and other nearby workers may breathe in if they are not adequately protected.

Workers may also absorb isocyanates into their bodies through their skin. This may occur when workers use bare hands to mix and shoot paint or clean up spills. During spray painting, isocyanates may also be absorbed by unprotected skin at the neck, wrists and on the face.

Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs and makes it increasingly hard to breathe. Workers who become sensitized to isocyanates and develop asthma usually can no longer work with automotive paints.

Isocyanate-exposed workers have died from asthma attacks. New information suggests that isocyanates can cause asthma both through inhaling the chemical and from absorbing isocyanates through the skin."

John 65

Thank you for your informative post !

Easy Mike

81pilot

That is why I wear a painting suit, a head sock and latex gloves without powder in them. And a good mask. Really should use a self contained clean air breather with a lot of it.

John 65

Just for the record guys thats not me, I did have on the correct protection.

THefley

Love the color! But that does not look to be a dust free environment. I say this as I have made a few small paint booths with clear plastic, house air filters and fans in garage to paint bike skins and still had some issues.

But i like to see owners get in there and do their own work.

John 65

Thought about the plastic but I thought it woud create a lot of static. Wet sanding some of the dust out, looking good, and feeling smooth. Am staying away from the edges and sharp lines.