I had so much fun painting my last corvette that I decided to sell it 1.5 years ago for another one that needed a fresh coat of paint.
Back in November I started attacking the car with a razor blade, making quick work of the '80's lacquer repaint. A kitchen remodel and 3 months of cold weather later Im 99% done taking off the paint. Just have the door jams to go. I will gladly answer any questions about my progress to date, but for now Im posting the only thing that really matters around here, pics.

Last year:




Last night I finally finished taking apart and stripping the t-tops along with under the front bumper:







The front rivets have started to pop through. Anyone know the best course of action to fix this?




If I remove both screws and the T-top post it appears the inner piece is going to disappear forever into the body. Can I get access to this piece with the interior panels removed?



One reason I purchased the car was the quality of the body. Other than a little filler on the bonding seams, the rear lip and the drivers side rear its near perfect. There are little spots here and there with cracks, but thats expected with a 42 year old car. It also looks like the drivers side front may have been replaced. The bonding seam is less uniform than the other three, and there appears to be dots there someone screwed the new panel into place. However the repair was done right and I dont plan on redoing it.

Ill keep updating this thread to answer questions and to post progress pics. Im not getting the body as clean as Stinger12's (thats impossible and IMO an insult to stinger to think I can get it that clean :thumbsup, but he is certainly an inspiration.

 

You're doing a beautiful job so far man , thanks and looking forward to your add's to this thread.
Good luck to you.

 

I admire not only the hard work but also someone that makes time to do the hard work. I'm sure there has been many projects which have derailed you over the past few months, but your work is awsome.

 

Unscrew that top adjuster with impunity. The captive plate underneath won't go anywhere. You've done a clean, thorough job so far! Keep the pics and narrative coming.

 

I'm getting close to doing the body work on my coupe. You stated that you used razor blades to start to removal of the paint. What was your next form of paint removal. I assume you sanded down the car. What grade/grit of sand paper did you use. I'm looking forward when I can start the body work on this car.
Thanks for any information.

 

keep the pictures coming, I've never painted a car before, or worked with fiberglass, just old tractors.
So your the teacher

 

My first thoughts when seeing your license plate were..."BLISS...he might want to change that to BLISTERS before he's finished."

Keep up the good work and pictures flowing.

 

Is there any good reason why this body and paint thread is NOT in the body/paint section?

 

Hi Dt,
A lot of hard work showing in those pictures.
Those rivet 'bumps' have ben caused by the rivets that are part of the healight reinforcing bar that's bonded to the underside of the surround oxidizing over the years. They put enough presssure on the fiberglass to foorm a bump.
The only complete cure is to unbond the bar and start over.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

 

The best method I found was to razor off as much as possible of the color lacquer on the large areas. With a little practice you can get into some of the simple curves. There are going to be nicks here and there, but they will get taken care of later. After removing the green lacquer, the brown/red lacquer primer was left. Since this was the source of the previous paint failing, I wanted to make sure every little bit was gone. I bought a gallon of Kleanstrip Fiberglass airplane paint stripper. Follow the directions carefully and wear rubber gloves. Spread the gel over a 3x3' area using an old/cheap paint brush. After a few minutes take a plastic trawl and scrap off as much as possible. The primer should come right up. I was able to do my doors just by scraping of the primer. In areas that still have color, follow the same procedure as above, but it will take a bit more work. After scraping as much as you can, apply another coat of gel. Repeat until most of the color/primer is loose and you can see bare fiberglass. At this point I poured lacquer thinner over 000 grit steel wool and started scrubbing and wiping off the excess with paper towels. It makes a big mess so make sure you have something covering the floor.
After all the paint is gone, I am going to put down a layer of filler and sand it down with 80 grit. Ill post the products when I get to that point. Im going to use House of Kolors new KD3000 sealer/primer which can fill down to 36 grit scratches. Its better to have a rough surface for the sealer/primer to grip.

I read the wilcox corvette writeup and plan to replace the panel and remove the rivets.

 

Im working on a C3 corvette. Therefore it has as much right to be here as in the body section.

 

I'm glad you posted this here, why do some people try to put a wrench in a GREAT post.
Keep it coming

 

I AGREE

 

Doubletake, I'm doing a similar thread to yours over in the tech section. Same car, same color (Donnybrooke Green '70). Started stripping paint last May, but mine had three different paint jobs on it so a LOT more work getting the old paint off. You're making good progress...didn't recall seeing what color you're going to paint yours though...

 

Don't write on your vette with a sharpie, or any car for that matter! It can bleed through new paint, even when removed, and come back to haunt you. Even on steel cars writing with sharpie is a big nono. Use pencil.

 

Looks fantastic so far. I'll be keeping an eye on this and trying to pick up any tips I can for our project. Thanks for posting!

Adam

 

I found your thread a few weeks ago. As long as you are ahead of me ill be keeping tabs and stealing your good ideas. The car is going to be green. Not sure what shade yet. Im leaning towards a custom color using Autoair paint. Ive airbrushed with the stuff for years and painted my last car with it. Its water based, super easy to spray (dont have to mess with flash times etc) and cheap because you dont need catalyst and reducers.

Thanks for the tip, Ill take it off using rubbing alcohol tonight. BTW, amazing job on your car. Its awesome to see your career progress into the auto industry. Id appreciate it if you can keep an eye on this thread and keep pointing out my mistakes.

 

If I remove both screws and the T-top post it appears the inner piece is going to disappear forever into the body. Can I get access to this piece with the interior panels removed?


yep those retainers or supports will fall down and be lost. Be very careful and remove the large screws then rotate the base plate to the side and then put the screws back in the retainer. Then remove the large upper bolt that the t-top sits onto.

hth,

Sully

 

Thanks. I was really hoping I could take them off to get a clean painted surface and then reinstall. What are all the serious frame off guys doing?

 

i just had my 75 apart for paint and pulled them plates of and they did not fall down