Paint delaminating - how far to take it down?

FarmBoy

Newbie
My daily daily driver is a super sweet 1998 Lumina aka Lumarocket. It is a well maintained car so I would like to make it presentable or even nice if I can. It started to shed paint in sheets up to the size of a dinner plate starting this winter. Had to go around the neighborhood picking them up on a windy day. The pics I have included show the beginnings of the shed. The horizontal part of the trunk is down to primer completely now and the hood shed is 4x the size but the roof is holding. There are some small nicks that are starting to shed. Most spots seem to start at a break in the paint surface. I want to at minimum repainted those spots to prevent rust issues (presentable)!. Depending on recommendations of how far down to go I may repainted the car in black ( make nice). I would appreciate any advise on what I can expect with those options or please add others if you have some. FYI- I am very upside down on the costs compaired to car value but she's paid for and cheap to maintain and insure so why not get more practice but can't justify a top shelf job so I'm doing it myself. This forum gives me some confidence to try it.
Thanks
FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared"
 
You have a rare car being a 98 GM and that is just now occurring. Only thing to do is to take it all the way down to metal.
 
start with an airgun or pressure washer but it should razor scrape fairly easy looking at the pics, then finish it off with 80 grit on a da and klean-n-strip discs
 
I presumed it would be a down to metal job. Thank for confirming this and saving me from some wasted effort to save the original paint.
I'm getting the hang of how to do this job up to the point of bc/cc. I'm am new to body and paint so any opinions or recommendations on the best way to get a nice black color on the car. I will be shooting a fender, hood and bumper with some shop line SS to match another car -1999 GM with still perfect paint till the wreck - to get some experience. From this forum I gather I'm better off doing a BC/CC with SPI black to allow me to fix some newbie mistakes as I go. I did read that the single stage might be better to spray though. I still have my first car (68 mustang coupe one day younger than me) to restomod and then my 1936 Chevy Canopy Express to original. Any advise is appreciated. I don't mind doing it the hard way ( no shortcuts) for practice since that may help me gain experience for the proper way to do the 68 and the 36.
Thanks for the info guys!!

FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared"
 
There's only one way to learn!! Post pics as you go, you should be able to get answers to your questions in here.
 
You can do one panel at a time if you like too. Take that panel down to metal and epoxy that way you don't have to worry about flash rust and if you need to fix a ding here or there you can do that work over the epoxy.
 
Then re-epoxy that panel after body work at the same time you are priming the next bare panel. two birds one stone!!
 
Chad.S;n81010 said:
Then re-epoxy that panel after body work at the same time you are priming the next bare panel. two birds one stone!!

Yes sir- I have been doing that where possible with the three pieces I have off the nephews car. I'm spraying or puttying or sanding something all the time between rest breaks. Thanks for reaffirming it. I have 36 hours in on these three junkyard pieces and a nice couple of bills from Andy for their Spi products. It all is worth the learning lesson to get better and then faster!
 
Bob Hollinshead;n80992 said:
start with an airgun or pressure washer but it should razor scrape fairly easy looking at the pics, then finish it off with 80 grit on a da and klean-n-strip discs
Thanks Bob I will use this method to get it to steel and then to DATEC's idea of shoot it with epoxy and body work? Any fears of driving it around in various stages of the building it all back? - other than the obvious strange looks from the jealous people that don't have a 1998 Lumarocket. I'm pretty sure that's why they are staring and honking
 
Driving in primer while work progresses is of no concern, you will hurt nothing unless you drive directly after priming give it a day to dry.
 
FarmBoy;n81012 said:
Thanks Bob I will use this method to get it to steel and then to DATEC's idea of shoot it with epoxy and body work? Any fears of driving it around in various stages of the building it all back? - other than the obvious strange looks from the jealous people that don't have a 1998 Lumarocket. I'm pretty sure that's why they are staring and honking

LOL, at this point that car can only go up in value so that's a good thing! 2-3 good coats of epoxy primer will protect it well for a long time
 
When I did a Ford Ranger with that same problem I did not find anywhere the oem primer had failed. I used an air hose, pressure washer, razor blade and sanding to get back to the primer. I then epoxied it, then a bit of body work, epoxy sealer, bc/cc. I would call Barry and ask his opinion on removing the oem primer before I sand to bare metal.
my $0.02 worth.
 
separation is clearly between the primer and base, most of these are poor repairs though. Our 97 sitting in the lot just started losing its clear coat. Paint definitely has to come off, Go around the car, it really looks like a body shop repair on that side.
 
FarmBoy said:
Chad.S;n81010 said:
Then re-epoxy that panel after body work at the same time you are priming the next bare panel. two birds one stone!!

Yes sir- I have been doing that where possible with the three pieces I have off the nephews car. I'm spraying or puttying or sanding something all the time between rest breaks. Thanks for reaffirming it. I have 36 hours in on these three junkyard pieces and a nice couple of bills from Andy for their Spi products. It all is worth the learning lesson to get better and then faster!
Sometimes the lesson I learn is that I wish I just bought a new part instead of putting so much time into a old beat up one. however right now I am fighting a car with little value, that has nothing available.
 
Just because I threatened a nephew That I would give him the car in about another 9.5 years I will talke it down to metal. It has 20,000 miles on a new engine and well maintained mechanically I will fix her up. When I'm done it might be one of Jay Leno's must haves for his collection. Thanks for all the tips guys. I'm sure I will try some till I find what works best for me. I have access to a great pressure washer and heat guns and some grinding and sanding tools to speed up the process once I get a feel for it.

Pictures are of the other car not my LumaRocket. Happy with the spray on the SS but have some dust imperfections to work out. It is a real great place to do body but the dust is a killer. I'm looking for a temporary,portable, cheap ,well lighted , heated and A/c, roomy and tall, and properly vented paint booth. Anyone seen something like that at HF?
Thanks
FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared "
 
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