New project coming up....input appreciated

O

OJ86

Promoted Users
I am going to be starting on a Grand national. its just a street car for a buddy. I am going to take it apart. it has a glass hood and decklid, plus its a t-top car.

I am going to strip the car down to metal. then -->

2 coats of epoxy
light filler work - 80/150 (filler areas)
Polyester primer - block 80/150/240
2 coats of epoxy - block with 400/500

seal with epoxy
base - black
Universal clear 3 coats

panel painting this car also.

cut with 600

then flow coat with 3 more. then cut and buff

I am going to black epoxy the engine back and front frame rails.

Ok, where are the flaws in my plan??!!

I planned rippping the doors and fenders off and just chemical stripping them. Any thoughts?
 
Normally I would use SPI 2k after the polyester, but trying to save on costs a little, and keep reading that the epoxy builds nice.

Should I lay my unreduced epoxy down with a 1.8?
 
I use a 1.3 for the reduced coat before base. 1:1:1. Lays thin wet and even. Don't forget to induce!! It works so much better.

Only area I see a concern is the chemical stripper. Need to make DOUBLE sure you have the stripper neutralized. If it strips rather easy by sanding, I would just go that route.
 
Oh ya I use 1.3 when I reduce it 1:1:1 Although I never really induced it when reducing that much. Define works better??

I'll try and sand it down with 80 before chemical stripping. It's all original paint.

But my initial 2 coats of epoxy unreduced. Should I use a 1.8 or 1.5. I'm putting the polyester on top so maybe I'll just go with a 1.5.
 
Misread your post. Thought you said reduced coat, my bad!!

I let my sealer induce for atleast an hour now before spraying. It just seems to spray and lay better as opposed to spraying right after I mix. I know BK doesn't induce when reduced this much, and I've done it both ways but I just think it sprays better.

As for the tip for unreduced, it's your call really. 1.8 will give you more build, and is what I use when I use the epoxy as a building primer. If you are going right over with polyester, I would use the 1.5 though. I like to wait a good while before I spray poly over the epoxy. Usually over night or a few hours. SPI is thicker than other epoxies and you can apply it well without it taking off on you.....that often leads to problems if you apply polyester too soon over it. There's a thread floating around here on that subject.
 
Should last forever! But consider this option: Shoot your two coats of epoxy over the clean and textured steel surface and allow it to cure up overnight-then shoot two coats of polyprimer on-this way you captured the perfect recoat time on the complete surface of that epoxy. Now block and fill as needed. Polyester body filler over sanded polyester primer is just fine-excellent adhesion-poly on poly. Spot primer any bare metal showing with epoxy and shoot two more coats of poly primer, block and final prime with epoxy, final sand, seal and paint. I like taking full advantage of the epoxy's recoat window for optimum adhesion and if there's a fair amount of filler work to be done it will oftentimes go past the recoat window leaving the bond strength only as good as the mechanical grip will provide-maybe that made sense.... ...
 
I think GM had the dies pretty good on those. I can't see why you couldn't make it perfect with a couple rounds of three coats epoxy after your filler applications. In my opinion the less material the better and I can't see the need for poly fill on an 80's car. Now if it was a 20-30's car then that's a different story.
 
The car has a lot of dings in it. I figured with the poly I could lay 3 coats on, long block it to death, basically be back down to the epoxy in most areas and I wont have to worry about chasing or missing dings.
 
Bob Hollinshead;13959 said:
Should last forever! But consider this option: Shoot your two coats of epoxy over the clean and textured steel surface and allow it to cure up overnight-then shoot two coats of polyprimer on-this way you captured the perfect recoat time on the complete surface of that epoxy. Now block and fill as needed. Polyester body filler over sanded polyester primer is just fine-excellent adhesion-poly on poly. Spot primer any bare metal showing with epoxy and shoot two more coats of poly primer, block and final prime with epoxy, final sand, seal and paint. I like taking full advantage of the epoxy's recoat window for optimum adhesion and if there's a fair amount of filler work to be done it will oftentimes go past the recoat window leaving the bond strength only as good as the mechanical grip will provide-maybe that made sense.... ...
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I had a mishap with some transtar epoxy last winter when I laid poly over it too soon and the metal temp wasnt up to snuf. Is there a downfall to letting the epoxy sit for 2-3 days at 65 degrees(metal temp) and then shooting my poly?
 
Temperature is a key to consistant results, 65 degree metal temps are just fine and with SPI you'll be good shooting the poly the next day-I usually let it go 24hrs, no scuffing needed at all-the poly pretty much welds itself to the epoxy. Two days is OK also but after that I'd scuff the epoxy and as time progresses the window is closing and adhesion is less. There's really nothing wrong with coating sanded and cured epoxy with polyester products-you'll have decent mechanical grip but it isn't as strong as an application within the recoat window at the optimum time. JMO though.....
 
Brad J.;13960 said:
I think GM had the dies pretty good on those. I can't see why you couldn't make it perfect with a couple rounds of three coats epoxy after your filler applications. In my opinion the less material the better and I can't see the need for poly fill on an 80's car. Now if it was a 20-30's car then that's a different story.
Click to expand...

I've worked on alot of these 80's cars over the years, Monte Carlos, Grand Nationals, Regals, Cutlasses, Grand Prix.... the stampings aren't all that good IMO. There's nothing wrong with using polyester primer if you cut off what isn't needed, it's a time saver, no shrinkage, and a heck of a lot easier than trying to glaze coat a complete panel like a lot of people do.
 
I just disagree I guess. A pick, file, shrink disk in the right areas can eliminate a lot of block work and have a better job in the long run. Even if you didn't want to do that some putty over the dings with a metal spreader gets you in the ballpark with less material build up than poly fill an entire door. Once again if it was a 20's-30's-40's than I'd be singing differently on needing more filler to perfect it.
 
I'll be honest. I know enough to be dangerous when it comes to metal working but not enough to be efficient at it. This is just a fun street car for a buddy. It's been leaned on and banged up alittle over the years. Bigger dents will obviously be hammered out. I'm not a fan of 1/2" layer of filler! But I can't spend weeks and weeks on it.
 
OK, I know what you mean. Doing this for a living sometimes I forget how much I've learned over the years and take for granted.

I've been eyeing a 83' Hurst that my uncle bought new from the R&D center at Olds. Had two uncles that worked for Olds back then. One in engineering that saved the car for my other uncle in Maintenance. Been sitting in a barn since the early 90's. Not perfect but it would be a fun car. These cars and the grand nationals are really growing on me. Other than a fox body stang there pretty much isn't anything from the 80's that I care to own and I grew up in the 80's.

Good luck on your project.
 
I posted a silver mustang I just finished in the project section. This is the same owner. This is his street car. Single turbo ls1. 1000hp street car! I'll post pics when it arrives in a few weeks.
 
orangejuiced86;14041 said:
I posted a silver mustang I just finished in the project section. This is the same owner. This is his street car. Single turbo ls1. 1000hp street car! I'll post pics when it arrives in a few weeks.
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To bad he took the V6 out. My old one had 1200hp fun 9.01 @159mph. Post some pictures when you start.
 
Brad J.;14006 said:
I just disagree I guess. A pick, file, shrink disk in the right areas can eliminate a lot of block work and have a better job in the long run. Even if you didn't want to do that some putty over the dings with a metal spreader gets you in the ballpark with less material build up than poly fill an entire door. Once again if it was a 20's-30's-40's than I'd be singing differently on needing more filler to perfect it.
Click to expand...

I don't see why a 20's-30's-40's car wouldn't respond to the same metal working techniques...
 
Quick update: had to replace the drivers to rocker and some minor patching on the lowers of the doors. Other than that car is pretty clean. Layed the epoxy yesterday, poly will go on this afternoon.

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