Second rebuild 1973
I used paint remover on the battery and storage boxes and like Alan said only use a plastic putty knife. I also used some 000 steel wool and rubbed pretty lightly to get off some of Bubba's black paint. Final wipe was lacquer thinner and a clean rag.
I also used simple green with the 000 plastic steel wool when all I needed was to remove dirt. Simple green does work on grease and oil too. Don't rub any more than you have too. I found two or three original grease pencil marking which was pretty neat. One was on the rear valance. One on the underside of the rear deck. One was on the rear bulkhead and the last one was the shim mark/number on the driver's side frame. Also found the original frame stencil on the passenger side just in front of the rear wheels on the outside of the frame. Kinda like a treasure hunt.
Experiment on a small area to see what works best. I avoided lacquer thinner to some extent because the original paint was lacquer as was the black out. I wanted to preserve the original overspray and black out as best I could. Lacquer thinner will remove the original black out paint and body color overspray.
I am going back over the black out a little but at least I had an idea of how it looked when it left the factory.
Bill
I used paint remover on the battery and storage boxes and like Alan said only use a plastic putty knife. I also used some 000 steel wool and rubbed pretty lightly to get off some of Bubba's black paint. Final wipe was lacquer thinner and a clean rag.
I also used simple green with the 000 plastic steel wool when all I needed was to remove dirt. Simple green does work on grease and oil too. Don't rub any more than you have too. I found two or three original grease pencil marking which was pretty neat. One was on the rear valance. One on the underside of the rear deck. One was on the rear bulkhead and the last one was the shim mark/number on the driver's side frame. Also found the original frame stencil on the passenger side just in front of the rear wheels on the outside of the frame. Kinda like a treasure hunt.
Experiment on a small area to see what works best. I avoided lacquer thinner to some extent because the original paint was lacquer as was the black out. I wanted to preserve the original overspray and black out as best I could. Lacquer thinner will remove the original black out paint and body color overspray.
I am going back over the black out a little but at least I had an idea of how it looked when it left the factory.
Bill
I found the VIN stamp on the frame last night and got all excited about that. Hahaha I found several marks under the rear deck so I will be real cautious in the areas you mentioned to see what I may find there too!!
Thanks!
Scott
On the production line there was a quick black-out in the wheel wells as was done in the engine compartment using the same semi-flat black paint.
But, not the entire wheel well was painted.
The easiest way to describe it is to say that the area the buyer could see as he walked around the car was painted... thus a little in front of, and behind, each wheel, and a little 'inside' of the wheel. None or almost none of the areas above the wheels were painted. Nor were the areas which could be described as the inside surface of the sides of the fenders.
There was also a bit of sound deadening material sprayed to the rear of each wheel, and also a quick spray inside of the rear wells in the area of the shoulder belt mounting reinforcement.
My car shows a bit more black-out, and it was done more carefully than was probably typical.
Regards,
Alan
You can see the 'swath' of black across the re-inforcement and down the front of the well.

In this picture you can see that the jack compartment doesn't have any blackout on it while parts of the inner face of the wheel well does.

The frame stencil is as Bill mentions a nice find. Remember when the car's right side up the stencil is upside down.
Last edited by Alan 71; Oct 17, 2013 at 09:08 PM.
On the production line there was a quick black-out in the wheel wells as was done in the engine compartment using the same semi-flat black paint.
But, not the entire wheel well was painted.
The easiest way to describe it is to say that the area the buyer could see as he walked around the car was painted... thus a little in front of, and behind, each wheel, and a little 'inside' of the wheel. None or almost none of the areas above the wheels were painted. Nor were the areas which could be described as the inside surface of the sides of the fenders.
There was also a bit of sound deadening material sprayed to the rear of each wheel, and also a quick spray inside of the rear wells in the area of the shoulder belt mounting reinforcement.
My car shows a bit more black-out, and it was done more carefully than was probably typical.
Regards,
Alan
You can see the 'swath' of black across the re-inforcement and down the front of the well.

In this picture you can see that the jack compartment doesn't have any blackout on it while parts of the inner face of the wheel well does.

The frame stencil is as Bill mentions a nice find. Remember when the car's right side up the stencil is upside down.

On the stencil is it always in that same general area Bill discribed?
Thanks
Scott
Last edited by FatCat; Oct 17, 2013 at 09:31 PM.
Mike
I have found this work is doable for anyone willing to just dive in and stay focused and organized to an extent.
I have chose to not pull the body for several reasons but one reason is I don't want to overwhelm myself.
I will finish this project and learn a ton and will probably work towards a body off restoration for another time.
Enjoy the thread and don't hesitate to post information, encouragement or even questions.
Scott
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Bill
Only had about an hour to spend since the TArms took so long but here are the results..laquer thinner and putty knife.



I am extremely happy with the results and though the undercoating was a PITA it wasn't as bad as expected.
Scott
You can re-do the frame stencil with the body on the car. ( I added it when I decided to have my car Flight Judged).
It ends up being about 3/4" closer to the ground, but I guess that's not too bad.
Originally the ink was applied over the stencil with a roller. Some people use a spray now which gives the image left on the frame a slightly different look.
The location of the stencil moved forward of the #1 body mount at some point.... I'm not sure when.... late 72-73??
Regards,
Alan

I plan to shoot a light coat of under coat and paint according to the way they were done at the factory.
Scott
You can re-do the frame stencil with the body on the car. ( I added it when I decided to have my car Flight Judged).
It ends up being about 3/4" closer to the ground, but I guess that's not too bad.
Originally the ink was applied over the stencil with a roller. Some people use a spray now which gives the image left on the frame a slightly different look.
The location of the stencil moved forward of the #1 body mount at some point.... I'm not sure when.... late 72-73??
Regards,
Alan


I did find a green grease pen mark on the pass side but you could make anything out of it so I took a picture for reference.
Bill and I discussed it and think it was probably a shim mark.
Scott
Last edited by FatCat; Oct 21, 2013 at 04:51 PM.
You can re-do the frame stencil with the body on the car. ( I added it when I decided to have my car Flight Judged).
It ends up being about 3/4" closer to the ground, but I guess that's not too bad.
Originally the ink was applied over the stencil with a roller. Some people use a spray now which gives the image left on the frame a slightly different look.
The location of the stencil moved forward of the #1 body mount at some point.... I'm not sure when.... late 72-73??
Regards,
Alan


Now I am going to have to redo my stencil.
Bill
















