Could someone tell me how to remove the paint off of an '82 with out damaging the fiberglass? Also anyone know of a good primer to use, and about how many gallons it will take?

Thank you :)

 

Captain Lees Fiberglass paint remover. Available through mail order. Use the primer that goes with the paint system you will use. Be very careful with bare fiberglass so that you don't get any grease on it, also don't clean it with solvent based cleaners, use alcohol based.

 

Thank you, also might you recommend a paint to use? Along with a company name.

Thank you again for your help.

 

:iagree:

I've used Captain Lee's with great success. I don't have the website handy, but if you do a Google search on Halon Marketing they are the Captain Lee distributor. I prefer DuPont or PPG products but once you commit to one, stay with the same brand through the entire painting process. Don't mix!
I think you'll find many have had good luck with other brands as well.

 

Thank you both, you have been a great deal of help! Any pointers on painting a vette?

 

One other thing what is the process, I know you have to remove the old paint, scuff??, prime, shoot new paint, then a sealer?, is there anything else or maybe some pointers someone would care to lend?

Thank you again for your help.

 

You can also go to your hardware/home builder store and get BIX, in the black and white can, about 17 bucks a gollon. Water soluble, safe to use on blass. Used Bix on mine and on a 66.

 

If you decide to use another type of stripper, make sure it is safe for fiberglass!! I'm not familiar with the type George mentioned but he wouldn't steer you wrong. I think all the horror stories you hear about paint stripper wrecking fiberglass is because someone used aircraft stripper or a stripper not meant for glass. I was at Carlisle a number of years ago and saw a project '63 splitwindow coupe on a trailor. The price in the windshield was unbelievably low even for a project. When I got up close to the car, the fiberglass was absolutely destroyed! It was all sticky and so soft you could literally push your fingers in to it. :U

The best thing to do, IMO, is to pick up a copy of Eckler's fiberglass book if you've never done bodywork on a Vette before. You should also pick up a good reference on painting with the new technology paints. All the sweat (and success) is in the preparation. Use a 2-part primer surfacer for the paint system you choose, and block sand using a guide coat to highlight any high/low spots to smooth it all out. Lars also has a good reference on painting in the tech section of this Forum. After studying up, you may decide it's more work than you want to take on but at least if you decide to look at having a shop do it you'll be an educated consumer. :thumbs:

 

Here is what I know about painting from several years in the body shop business.
First off, the more time you spend prepping the substrate, the better your paint job will be. If you are going to strip the body down to bare glass, you probably want to do it a section at a time and let the stripper do the work. I like to lay down plastic and then brush the stripper on in one direction and let it sit. Sit back and enjoy watching the paint bubble up off your car. With fiberglass, you don't really want to use a big metal scraper that will gouge the body as you scrape it, use a wood or plastic one. Then, follow whatever the stripper can says as far as clean up of the excess. I have never done this so I don't have any tips, but maybe someone else here does. When you have the whole car down to bare glass, don't let it sit in the sun, don't spill on it, don't touch it with greasy hands. Basically be careful around it. You should get some primer on it soon after stripping to avoid causing problems. As I said earlier, use an alcohol based cleaner before applying the primer. One thing you can NOT save money on is primer. Get a catalyzed primer that is recommended for the paint system you are using. I suggest Dupont URO prime. It goes on really thick and it sticks to dang near everything, and sands nice. Some people suggest using a water-borne primer (gel coat)before putting on the primer, but I don't have experience with that. They say it is for UV protection, but I understand that the URO prime and the paint provides adequate UV protection by itself. If someone has documentation to prove otherwise, then I would listen to that. After you have the whole car primed, look back and see how much primer you have used, then multiply that number by three, and that is how much primer you will need for the whole job. When the primer dries, get some black guide coat, available either in a spray can or in dry carbon form that you wipe on. Lightly cover the whole car. Then take some sandpaper on a block and start blocking the car dry, with long strokes on the straight parts. The grit of sandpaper depends on what the surface was like before stripping. If it needs a lot of help, start with p180 grit and block it all down once and then re-prime. If it was pretty straight before, then use 220 or 320. I would still recommend re-priming. On the final sanding before painting start with 400 wet and finish with 600 grit. The guide coat will show you where you have low spots (remaining guide coat) or high spots (substrate showing through primer) and you will be done blocking when the whole car is sanded and there are no more low/high spots. Take lots of time masking the car and take apart as much as you can. I always paint bumpers off of the cars. If you can find a booth to rent for a weekend then do it. The paint job will turn out much cleaner in a booth and after you have spent all that time prepping the car you don't really want to have flies land in it. Wear a respirator when you paint because you want to be around for a long time to drive the corvette after it looks so good.
Dupont uses a Valueshade system where the sealer is tinted to go along with the specific color basecoat. This makes it so that you don't have to use as much paint to cover the primer underneath. You don't have to use sealer, the URO prime will work as a sealer as is, but if you do, put on one wet coat of the correct Valueshade sealer for whatever color you are painting, let it flash according to the directions and the temperature conditions where you are painting. Then put on your basecoat. Don't worry about making this coat look glossy, it won't no matter what you do. I always spray the basecoat dryer than everything else because it helps control mottling of metallics and lets you keep working rather than waiting so long between coats. Tack off the car between coats and keep a piece of 1500 grit paper in your pocket to knock off any big specs of dirt before putting on the next coat. After the car is adequately covered with the base color, let it flash and Then get ready to put on the clear coat. Contrary to popular belief, extra coats of clear isn't always the best way to paint. Extremely thick clear coat will chip easily. Put on 3 or 4 coats Maximum. Start off with a tack coat (not extremely wet) then let that flash and throw on the gloss. Be careful around corners so that you don't put on too much material and run it. The best way is to go around the funny edges first, and then hit the easy stuff.

This is just a basic overview. There are many things to remember and do's/dont's. Try out painting some other little stuff to get the hang of it before tackling a whole car.

Good luck and be sure to post progress pics.

 

Lemans, thank you for your help.

Willis, I do not know how to thank you. But thank you, I do have one question where is says sit back and watch it bubble (the paint) what do you mean by using a wood scraper? Do you mean like a dry wall scraper for patching holes?

Sorry just a little unclear to me?

Thank you again. :hurray:

 

Willis one last thing what is "flashing"?

 

I was reading about Cpt. Lee's it says after applied to use a stripper, anyone have one to recomend?
http://www.halonmarketing.com/mall/Spra'%20Strip.htm

 

you want to use a plastic scraper, metal scrapers will gouge the paint, regardless how careful you are...

Bix is Fiberglass safe. Home Depot carries it. Stripped my 68 and a friends 66.

 

Thank you

 

GDaina, how many gallons of stripper does a vette take? My paint is horrible and it very thick in some areas. Probably a few colors worth.

 

Figure one gallon per coat of paint.

 

Flash time is the time between coats of paint. Usually 15-30 minutes depending on the type of reducer and hardener. Check the label of the paint for flash times.

 

we used 2.5 gallons on the 66 that had 7 different colors, including 3 layers of primer. We used a 4" paint brush to apply Bix on one panel, then covered that planel with a plastic sheet, and squeezed as much air out as possible. The plastic sheet slowed the striper's evaporation and allowed it to work on the paint. After covering a panel, we did the same to the next panel. When one side was covered with plastic, we went back to the first panel and started removing paint, then reapplied the stripper and plastic and moved to the second panel and so forth, till one side was clean...then we started the whole process on the other side.

 

How thick was the plastic? Is it the sticky soft plastic sheets you to cover left overs or plastic to cover the carpet for when you paint?

Thanks,
wgc_3

 

U can use any plastic sheet...plastic drop cloth, about a buck at Home Depot.