Hi Guys,
I am in the process of restoring my 1970 Corvette L46. I'm in the P&B stage and I have put together a plan. Could you look at my plan and let me know if it makes sense. I have very little experience. I have done rust repair and priming/blocking on one other car, and painted an engine bay on another. Both came out well but this will be a much more ambitious project.
I am just finishing up sanding the car down to the fiberglass with 80 grit. I used blocks to keep things as level as possible. There are some spots of the original red primer, but there were no adhesion issues, so I assume that's OK. I will have to do some minor fiberglass repair here and there and then I'll be ready for priming and painting. This is my plan:
-SPI epoxy primer (2-3 coats)
-Prime and block with Slicksand until level
-Seal with reduced SPI Epoxy
-Basecoat
-SPI Clear (Universal?)
I am going to build a homemade paint booth with intake and exhaust fans and filters. I did this in my attached garage when I painted the engine bay a few years ago and it worked really well. I intended to paint the car I did the other body work on but had to tear it down before I could get to it. I've since built a 20x28 detatched garage that I'm going to use this time.
I am looking to end up with a decent paint job, something along the level of the original paint. Nothing over the top. I am going to paint it Ontario Orange:
https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?color=Ontario Orange&tditzler=2084&rows=50
So here are my questions (so far anyway, I'm sure there will be more):
-Is my plan, and the products I'm using with it, a good one?
-How many coats of epoxy should I shoot?
-Should I do a light blocking with guide coat on the epoxy before the Slicksand to keep things level? Then do whatever filling is necessary here?
-Any suggestion on the brand of basecoat? I am willing to spend what it takes for a quality, easy to spray product.
-Which SPI clear would be best for a novice in a homemade paint booth? Universal?
-How many gallons of the epoxy (for initial prime and sealer), base and clear should I need for a 70 Corvette?
-My shop is heated. I can get it up to 70 degrees even when it's pretty cold out. But I would need to open the shop (it has doors in front and back) while I'm shooting. So the air flowing through the booth might be outside the products temp range while I'm shooting. Can I do that if it's cold outside, then close the shop up to let the products dry/cure?
Per that last one, I going to try to do all this, including building the booth, in the next couple months or so before winter sets in. I'm in North Texas, so winter is not too bad, but I've read the epoxy needs 65 degrees for 48 hours or so to cure properly. I assume the other products will need a similar minimum temp. I think I'll be OK on the epoxy, it's still getting into the 70s and 80s here, and probably will be till the end of the year. But by the time I get to the color and clear, it might be January or February.
What do you think?
I am in the process of restoring my 1970 Corvette L46. I'm in the P&B stage and I have put together a plan. Could you look at my plan and let me know if it makes sense. I have very little experience. I have done rust repair and priming/blocking on one other car, and painted an engine bay on another. Both came out well but this will be a much more ambitious project.
I am just finishing up sanding the car down to the fiberglass with 80 grit. I used blocks to keep things as level as possible. There are some spots of the original red primer, but there were no adhesion issues, so I assume that's OK. I will have to do some minor fiberglass repair here and there and then I'll be ready for priming and painting. This is my plan:
-SPI epoxy primer (2-3 coats)
-Prime and block with Slicksand until level
-Seal with reduced SPI Epoxy
-Basecoat
-SPI Clear (Universal?)
I am going to build a homemade paint booth with intake and exhaust fans and filters. I did this in my attached garage when I painted the engine bay a few years ago and it worked really well. I intended to paint the car I did the other body work on but had to tear it down before I could get to it. I've since built a 20x28 detatched garage that I'm going to use this time.
I am looking to end up with a decent paint job, something along the level of the original paint. Nothing over the top. I am going to paint it Ontario Orange:
https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?color=Ontario Orange&tditzler=2084&rows=50
So here are my questions (so far anyway, I'm sure there will be more):
-Is my plan, and the products I'm using with it, a good one?
-How many coats of epoxy should I shoot?
-Should I do a light blocking with guide coat on the epoxy before the Slicksand to keep things level? Then do whatever filling is necessary here?
-Any suggestion on the brand of basecoat? I am willing to spend what it takes for a quality, easy to spray product.
-Which SPI clear would be best for a novice in a homemade paint booth? Universal?
-How many gallons of the epoxy (for initial prime and sealer), base and clear should I need for a 70 Corvette?
-My shop is heated. I can get it up to 70 degrees even when it's pretty cold out. But I would need to open the shop (it has doors in front and back) while I'm shooting. So the air flowing through the booth might be outside the products temp range while I'm shooting. Can I do that if it's cold outside, then close the shop up to let the products dry/cure?
Per that last one, I going to try to do all this, including building the booth, in the next couple months or so before winter sets in. I'm in North Texas, so winter is not too bad, but I've read the epoxy needs 65 degrees for 48 hours or so to cure properly. I assume the other products will need a similar minimum temp. I think I'll be OK on the epoxy, it's still getting into the 70s and 80s here, and probably will be till the end of the year. But by the time I get to the color and clear, it might be January or February.
What do you think?
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