jfr's 63swc

First, I have some experience at paint and bodywork - I worked in a car restoration/body shop for a year while I was in college. But, that was 40 years ago. Hence the problem! We only used lacquer back then. I have a '63 driver that I want to do some minor fiberglass repairs on. I can easily handle the fiberglass work (and have even done that much more recently that 40 years!) but do not know what type of paint to use to spot in after the repairs. The car has been repainted (at least once!) in the past before I owned it, so I do not know the history. I tested the existing white paint with lacquer thinner and it did not wrinkle so from what I have read, it is probably not enamel. No paint came off even with rubbing so it is also probably not lacquer. The test for clear coat that I read online is to sand with 600 grit - if white residue, it is clear coat, if color, it is base coat. Since the paint is white to start with, I am not sure how this test will help. I do not know what the paint might be and what I should use after my repairs - that is the advice that I am looking for.

I know getting a perfect match might be difficult, but at this point I just want to be able to drive the car while making these repairs so I do not want to paint the whole car at this time. It is currently a 20 foot driver that I would like to get to a 10 foot driver! Not looking for a show car, I would be afraid to drive it!

Thanks in advance for your help!

DUB

Seeing how you are not worrying about it beign a show car, It really does not matter what is on the car now.

Knowing you more than likely are not going to shoot it in lacquer...shooting it in a single stage acrylic urethane white....or...a basecoat / clearcoat white is up to you.

Not knowing what your plans are on 'blending' the white paint ...will be up to you on where you plan of stopping the blend. Which can aid in any buffing needed where the blend stops And seeing how you seem to not be wanting to get to involved in this...prepping the areas needed so your 'blend' and where you stop the paint is not as noticeable due to not having any clue on where on the car you plan on painting..... and thus.....me giving you any tips or tricks to make it look good is pointless due that was not a question you asked for advice on.

DUB

jfr's 63swc

Hi Dub,

Thanks for the response, You say "you more than likely are not going to shoot it in lacquer" Why not? I really would prefer lacquer since that is what I am familiar with. Is there any specific reason not to use it? As I remember, it did not require a booth as the dry time was fast enough and any oops in the final coat could be fixed with some elbow grease. If there is a reason, I guess I will be learning a new paint! I appreciate your advice!

The reason I did not mention where the repairs would take place is because they are everywhere! Rear valence cracks, rear wheel arch lips (where they were built down an extra 1/2" to 3/4"), soft top access panel, body panel behind passenger door, both door jambs, passenger door gaps, both front wheel arches (one crack, one hump), both headlight doors, front grill opening where it is missing the tabs for a '63 grille (because the replacement front clip is a later model!). I am sure I have missed some! I had planned on attacking and completing one panel at a time.

Time/effort is not an issue as this is a retirement project. I have already completed the mechanicals and the interior was already redone by the previous owner.

Regards,

Jon

Dave Tracy

From your description of the needed repair areas, you might want to reconsider your decision not to repaint it at this time. You would be duplicating your efforts with the sanding, repair, and spot painting. Since this is a retirement project, strip the paint, do the body work and paint it. My $.02.

jfr's 63swc

Dave,

Thanks for the input and you are definitely correct, but I just do not want to take the car off the road for the year or more that it would take me to do all of the repairs at once.

Since I have not painted in 40 years, I am just trying to find out the easiest paint for me to apply after each of the repairs. I have done a lot of reading on the new materials and it is all confusing to me! I was just hoping there was someone else who has gone thru the same situation or who's experience spans that 40 years that can give me some good specific direction.

Regards,

Jon

DUB

In regards to shooting lacquer. I have no problem in shooting it and I still do from time to time.

BUT...the key thing to remember is that lacquer can cause some enamels to lift and wrinkle due to the strength of the solvent and how it can penetrate the enamel and cause it so soften.

You can put enamel on lacquer...but not the other way around....but I have found how you can but it is an unconventional way of doing it so i will keep it to myself.

SO...if you want to spray lacquer on it...have at it and see what happens when you apply it and if you get any paint reacting.

Most current basecoats are really no different than lacquer. How they spray and how they are generally not catalyzed. So if you have concerns on shooting a basecoat...you are mistaken due to it would be just about the same.


If I had two paint guns....one with lacquer in it and one with basecoat...you would not know which one was which one until you smelled it when spraying. They shoot about the same.

DUB

jfr's 63swc

DUB,

Thanks for the advice. I guess I will get a quart of acrylic enamel and hardener and give it a few test spray trys to see how it works for me!

Regards,

Jon

DUB

Acrylic enamel will be hard to blend out and get to look good due to you will have to wait a while to be able to sand on the blended edge and the buff on it and that edge not want to peel back.

I know it can be done due to I have done it but due to the properties of acrylic enamel... .it can be a tad bit challenging......depending on how good you want it to look when done.

DUB

jfr's 63swc

Dub,

So, now I am confused - no lacquer and no acrylic enamel. Back to my first post, what paint do you suggest a DIYer use to make these type repairs?

Jon

DUB

I am not saying that you cannot shoot lacquer....because you would have to test it and see if it blows up on you and causes the paint to wrinkle or blister when you shoot it. The grade of lacquer thinner is critical here due to using a thinner that is for higher temps....thus taking longer to flash off....can cause for a reaction becasue that solvent that is lingering on teh surface is also penetrating t what you shot it on ....versus....using a solvent that flashes off much faster....thus....there is no reaction.

No one can tell you for certain until you test it.

Using an acrylic enamel has it own set of problems and wrinkling and blistering is more than likely not going to happen but as I wrote....getting the blend to work well can be a a challenge. thus ...test it also. OR...you may realize that you may need to paint more than you though and use body feature lines as a break point to hide the edge of the paint where it stops.

OR....use basecoat/clearcoat and blend out the color and then apply clear over it and out past to where you blended the color and then deal with THAT edge or use a body feature line to hide the edge of the clear.

Without seeing what you have going on...or actually knowing what you remember from when you did this work a long time ago. Knowing where to break paint at on a panel is helpful and if you did not do that back when you did this type of work...ti is not a big deal Sometimes you can use a feature line and sometimes you cannot and just have to realize that the entire panel needs to be shot. Which is why I am suggesting using BC/CC due to you can blend the color and then apply clear over the existing color that you blended it into. I do it like that about every time I repair a car.

DUB

jfr's 63swc

Dub,

Thanks for all of your input. I think I will start with the rear valence since it is removeable, do the fiberglass repairs and then just experiment with blending with both lacquer and acrylic enamel. Worst case, I can just start over and paint the entire panel.

regards,

Jon

DUB

Sounds like a plan.

Are you afraid of using or trying basecoat / clearcoat???

I know if your car where in my shop...that is what I would use due to I know it would work.

DUB

jfr's 63swc

Dub,

Not afraid of basecoat/clearcost. I did one project a few months back and just finished another small project today that utilized basecoat/clearcoat. Both vehicles had basecoat/clearcost on them so I figured that was the way to go. Since the vette does not have clearcoat, I had not really considered that as an option since I did not think it would match as well. I am probably dreaming that they can match the paint color but I will never know if I do not try!

Regards,

Jon

DUB

Any paint can fail in regards to the color match IF it is not mixed correctly so you can blend it out.

The clear needs to be CLEAR and not a yellowy color...if possible. You can shoot a clear that is crystal clear...and STILL have the color be off. Which is why you shoot test panel and see how close you can get the color to match. The color can be tinted so it can literally be butt matched if needed. See the tread below.

Think of it like this...THE AMOUNT of clear you apply can alter a color when blending is being done. The proof in this can be best described in how a swimming pool looks form a high rise hotel on a sunny day. The pool was painted in that light baby blue color....and we all know water is CLEAR....but why is it that when looking down on the swimming pool on a sunny day....the 3 foot part of the pool looks baby blue....but the end where the diving board is looks a deeper darker blue. And that has to do with how the light can get though the water....even though it is CLEAR.

So..I have no FEAR in doing repairs and blending out the paint and applying clear....BUT...I am WATCHFUL on how much clear I apply on the edges of the panels where they will butt match to the adjacent panel and NOT apply a butt load of clear in this area.....OR...it can throw off my repair and make the area I just painted look darker to the adjacent panel due to excessive clear beign applied. There are variables in this and I can type for a very long time to cover them but I think you get the point. NO NEED in applying a lot of clear on that paint that has not been covered with fresh basecoat.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ts-inside.html

This thread is really good but the issues in dealing with me matching the orange paint start at post # 48 and go from there.

DUB

jfr's 63swc

Dub,

Matching should be interesting - hopefully my local paint supplier can handle it!

Sounds like I will be experimenting with shooting clear on the valence panel too!

Thanks again for your time and help!

Regards,

Jon

DUB

YES...white is one of the worst colors to get spot on perfect for a butt match. A trained eye like what I have can see a half a shaded off or it needing a bit more blue, yellow, red or black

Getting a blendable match ...can be done but it also can take some time. It has everything to do with the 'eye' the person mixing the paint and IF they can see colors well. You would be shocked on how many people are color blind and do not even know it. 3 guys in a class I attended for matching paint took the eye test with the chart with stuff written on it with all the colored dots and they were deficient on several colors.....and never knew it.

DUB