Question for the Professional Painters
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 242
Likes: 0
From: Riverside CA
Question for the Professional Painters
I have a 72 Steel Cities gray car that has never been repainted. The car has several pretty large stress cracks
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/DSCN0718.jpg
The rivets are bulging up across the front
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...7/DSCN0894.jpg
And the bonding strips are showing through on all four fenders
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/DSCN0710.jpg
And the paint is like alligator skin all over the car.
I have checked with several bodyshops that specialize in Corvettes and have gotten estimates for paint and bodywork ranging from $6,000 to $13,000. I want to keep it Steel Cities Gray and I want to get the cracks, bulges and crappy finish fixed right.
When I talk to these guys I want to know what they are talking about.
What are the exact steps from start-to-finish that need to be done for a good job?
Strip old paint - how best?
How best to repair the cracks? What materials are best to use for this?
What are the steps for fiberglass repair?
How to fix the front end where the rivets are bulging?
How best to fix fenders the where the bonding strips are showing? I've seen a couple of different ways suggested like cutting a groove in the old strip before repair.
Ways of sanding? What is blocking? What all is needed to prepare for paint?
Best primer?
Kinds of paint? What was the car painted with originally and is that what I should have done again?
How many coats?
I know that's too many questions to answer but I just want to have an idea about what it's going to take. Any help will be appreciated.
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/DSCN0718.jpg
The rivets are bulging up across the front
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...7/DSCN0894.jpg
And the bonding strips are showing through on all four fenders
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/DSCN0710.jpg
And the paint is like alligator skin all over the car.
I have checked with several bodyshops that specialize in Corvettes and have gotten estimates for paint and bodywork ranging from $6,000 to $13,000. I want to keep it Steel Cities Gray and I want to get the cracks, bulges and crappy finish fixed right.
When I talk to these guys I want to know what they are talking about.
What are the exact steps from start-to-finish that need to be done for a good job?
Strip old paint - how best?
How best to repair the cracks? What materials are best to use for this?
What are the steps for fiberglass repair?
How to fix the front end where the rivets are bulging?
How best to fix fenders the where the bonding strips are showing? I've seen a couple of different ways suggested like cutting a groove in the old strip before repair.
Ways of sanding? What is blocking? What all is needed to prepare for paint?
Best primer?
Kinds of paint? What was the car painted with originally and is that what I should have done again?
How many coats?
I know that's too many questions to answer but I just want to have an idea about what it's going to take. Any help will be appreciated.
Advanced
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 92
Likes: 2
From: Galloway Ohio
Easy,
The way I do it is the result of 29 years of refining the process.
In my opinion, the best way to strip your Vette is to sand the paint off.
The cracks shown in your pic are the bonding seams behind the rear window. Once they are beveled out to a depth of 1/8" and they are still there, It's best fixed with polyester fiberglass resin and MAT not cloth! If when beveled out they disappear, then I fill with SMC panel adhesive.
Fiberglass repair: if it's structural (cracked clear through the panel) then bevel out about 1/8" deep and 1 1/2" wide the entire length of the crack. Fill this with resin and MAT, making sure that a roller is used to get rid of any air bubbles and excess resin. Finish off with a good quality bondo. Superficial stress cracks, I use SMC panel adhesive to fill after the crack is v'd out.
Front end rivets. They can be ground down and skimmed with bondo and blocked to get the panel straight. This is only a temporary fix IMO. For a permanent fix, the header bar has to be removed. I usually buy a new bar for a 73- 82. These bars were made to be bonded directly to the fiberglass. All the 68-72 Vettes had a fiberglass bonding strip riveted to the header bar and the rivets oxidized ( the white powdered stuff) thus pushing up on the glass. Only real fix is to remove the cause!
How best to fix fenders the where the bonding strips are showing? If there are no cracks in the seam material, I usually just bondo over them and block till they're straight. If there are cracks, see above.
Best primer? After it's stripped to bare glass and all body work is finished, I apply 2 coats of epoxy primer. This seals the glass and any errant strands of glass. Next is a 2K urethane primer. Some may say use a polyester primer, but I have much better results with a quality urethane primer. After this sets up the car is ready for guide coat and blocking. Block sanding is nothing more that sanding with a long sanding block in an effort to make the body straight. Once you are satisfied that the body is straight, epoxy seal, base coat, clear coat, sand, polish and re assemble. After trying different brands of primer, I have settled on SPI brand.
Kinds of paint? What was the car painted with originally and is that what I should have done again? I would use a quality urethane base coat/ clear coat. The car was originally painted with lacquer. For a driver, urethane. For a NCRS car, lacquer.
Hope this helps
Dan
The way I do it is the result of 29 years of refining the process.
In my opinion, the best way to strip your Vette is to sand the paint off.
The cracks shown in your pic are the bonding seams behind the rear window. Once they are beveled out to a depth of 1/8" and they are still there, It's best fixed with polyester fiberglass resin and MAT not cloth! If when beveled out they disappear, then I fill with SMC panel adhesive.
Fiberglass repair: if it's structural (cracked clear through the panel) then bevel out about 1/8" deep and 1 1/2" wide the entire length of the crack. Fill this with resin and MAT, making sure that a roller is used to get rid of any air bubbles and excess resin. Finish off with a good quality bondo. Superficial stress cracks, I use SMC panel adhesive to fill after the crack is v'd out.
Front end rivets. They can be ground down and skimmed with bondo and blocked to get the panel straight. This is only a temporary fix IMO. For a permanent fix, the header bar has to be removed. I usually buy a new bar for a 73- 82. These bars were made to be bonded directly to the fiberglass. All the 68-72 Vettes had a fiberglass bonding strip riveted to the header bar and the rivets oxidized ( the white powdered stuff) thus pushing up on the glass. Only real fix is to remove the cause!
How best to fix fenders the where the bonding strips are showing? If there are no cracks in the seam material, I usually just bondo over them and block till they're straight. If there are cracks, see above.
Best primer? After it's stripped to bare glass and all body work is finished, I apply 2 coats of epoxy primer. This seals the glass and any errant strands of glass. Next is a 2K urethane primer. Some may say use a polyester primer, but I have much better results with a quality urethane primer. After this sets up the car is ready for guide coat and blocking. Block sanding is nothing more that sanding with a long sanding block in an effort to make the body straight. Once you are satisfied that the body is straight, epoxy seal, base coat, clear coat, sand, polish and re assemble. After trying different brands of primer, I have settled on SPI brand.
Kinds of paint? What was the car painted with originally and is that what I should have done again? I would use a quality urethane base coat/ clear coat. The car was originally painted with lacquer. For a driver, urethane. For a NCRS car, lacquer.
Hope this helps
Dan
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,057
Likes: 4
From: Concord Calif
Easy,
The way I do it is the result of 29 years of refining the process.
In my opinion, the best way to strip your Vette is to sand the paint off.
The cracks shown in your pic are the bonding seams behind the rear window. Once they are beveled out to a depth of 1/8" and they are still there, It's best fixed with polyester fiberglass resin and MAT not cloth! If when beveled out they disappear, then I fill with SMC panel adhesive.
Fiberglass repair: if it's structural (cracked clear through the panel) then bevel out about 1/8" deep and 1 1/2" wide the entire length of the crack. Fill this with resin and MAT, making sure that a roller is used to get rid of any air bubbles and excess resin. Finish off with a good quality bondo. Superficial stress cracks, I use SMC panel adhesive to fill after the crack is v'd out.
Front end rivets. They can be ground down and skimmed with bondo and blocked to get the panel straight. This is only a temporary fix IMO. For a permanent fix, the header bar has to be removed. I usually buy a new bar for a 73- 82. These bars were made to be bonded directly to the fiberglass. All the 68-72 Vettes had a fiberglass bonding strip riveted to the header bar and the rivets oxidized ( the white powdered stuff) thus pushing up on the glass. Only real fix is to remove the cause!
How best to fix fenders the where the bonding strips are showing? If there are no cracks in the seam material, I usually just bondo over them and block till they're straight. If there are cracks, see above.
Best primer? After it's stripped to bare glass and all body work is finished, I apply 2 coats of epoxy primer. This seals the glass and any errant strands of glass. Next is a 2K urethane primer. Some may say use a polyester primer, but I have much better results with a quality urethane primer. After this sets up the car is ready for guide coat and blocking. Block sanding is nothing more that sanding with a long sanding block in an effort to make the body straight. Once you are satisfied that the body is straight, epoxy seal, base coat, clear coat, sand, polish and re assemble. After trying different brands of primer, I have settled on SPI brand.
Kinds of paint? What was the car painted with originally and is that what I should have done again? I would use a quality urethane base coat/ clear coat. The car was originally painted with lacquer. For a driver, urethane. For a NCRS car, lacquer.
Hope this helps
Dan
The way I do it is the result of 29 years of refining the process.
In my opinion, the best way to strip your Vette is to sand the paint off.
The cracks shown in your pic are the bonding seams behind the rear window. Once they are beveled out to a depth of 1/8" and they are still there, It's best fixed with polyester fiberglass resin and MAT not cloth! If when beveled out they disappear, then I fill with SMC panel adhesive.
Fiberglass repair: if it's structural (cracked clear through the panel) then bevel out about 1/8" deep and 1 1/2" wide the entire length of the crack. Fill this with resin and MAT, making sure that a roller is used to get rid of any air bubbles and excess resin. Finish off with a good quality bondo. Superficial stress cracks, I use SMC panel adhesive to fill after the crack is v'd out.
Front end rivets. They can be ground down and skimmed with bondo and blocked to get the panel straight. This is only a temporary fix IMO. For a permanent fix, the header bar has to be removed. I usually buy a new bar for a 73- 82. These bars were made to be bonded directly to the fiberglass. All the 68-72 Vettes had a fiberglass bonding strip riveted to the header bar and the rivets oxidized ( the white powdered stuff) thus pushing up on the glass. Only real fix is to remove the cause!
How best to fix fenders the where the bonding strips are showing? If there are no cracks in the seam material, I usually just bondo over them and block till they're straight. If there are cracks, see above.
Best primer? After it's stripped to bare glass and all body work is finished, I apply 2 coats of epoxy primer. This seals the glass and any errant strands of glass. Next is a 2K urethane primer. Some may say use a polyester primer, but I have much better results with a quality urethane primer. After this sets up the car is ready for guide coat and blocking. Block sanding is nothing more that sanding with a long sanding block in an effort to make the body straight. Once you are satisfied that the body is straight, epoxy seal, base coat, clear coat, sand, polish and re assemble. After trying different brands of primer, I have settled on SPI brand.
Kinds of paint? What was the car painted with originally and is that what I should have done again? I would use a quality urethane base coat/ clear coat. The car was originally painted with lacquer. For a driver, urethane. For a NCRS car, lacquer.
Hope this helps
Dan
not to change the subject here, but I do have a quistion for you. You say you change the header bar on earily cars to the later bar to bond without the bonding strip. Is there any reason I can't bond my 68 bar without the bonding strip? Thanks
