Hey fellas,

I've pretty much got the 7 stripped down to bare bones and I am ready to begin the bodywork. I've already cut out a lot of the rust on the car and just have a few other spots that I'll rememdy tonight when I get home. I'll be welding new metal back in and then covering it with bondo and sanding it smooth.

My main predicament if all of the crappy layers of primer and paint on this car. As you can see in my avatar the previous owner covered over the factory paint in spots with some crappy primer for reasons unkown. there were no dents there because when I sanded off the primer it was regular paint underneath. I have no clue why they primed the random spots. Anyway, I sanded and stripped a large portion of the car down to bare metal and primed it with duplicolor filler primer to get a fresh start. My plan was to do this to the entire outside of the car, in the door jambs, and under the hood. I was then going to prime the entire car and paint it.

I did a nice test spot on the back left part of the car by the fuel door, except for some reason my primer isn't sticking to the bare metal very well. If you scratch it with your fingernail it flakes off really easily. I rinsed off all the paint stripper with the hose, but I'm wondering if there are still chemicals on the metal from the stripper that is keeping the primer from sticking. Do i need to put something on the bare metal before I prime it? Or do I need to clean it with something to make the primer stick and remove the solvents from the paint stripper?

After I strip a small portion of the car should I go ahead and prime it? I'm afraid to leave it for too long because it might rust. Or should I wait til the entire car is down to bare metal and then prime it? The car is in the garage, but I don't want the metal being exposed for too long because it's obviously going to be a several week job just stripping and priming this car.

Finally, what is a good way to remove all the paint on the car (assuming this is what you recommend I do) and get down to bare metal? I was using an aerosol paint stripper but wasn't really impressed with it. It didn't take the paint off very well and really just leaves you sanding again.

So... do I wanna take this car down to the bare metal? How long is it safe to leave the bare metal exposed? Why isn't my primer sticking? What kind of primer should I use? Is aerosol primer okay? I'm having a lot of trouble with this whole prep job because my previous paint job is basically gone in places. I'm torn about if I should just sand it smoothe and paint over it, or strip it all off and start from scratch. I'm looking for any and all suggestions here. Thanks guys!

Jamie

 

Come on guys! Help a brother out! I gotta get this baby painted before the summer's over. 9 of you looked and didn't even respond! I know a bunch of you have painted your own cars or at least prepped them! tisk tisk!

 

Ok, I believe you want to take it down as close to the metal if not too the metal. To get the primar to stick you must first wet sand the car with about 800 grade paper. If you keep the car in a garage, the bare metal will show little to no oxidation, altho I can't say about outside.

 

I'm just wondering why you're doing this yourself! I paid good money to have a hotrod shop do all the work for me so that I wouldn't have to.

For all this effort, unless you're on a tight budget, I'd leave it to a professional.

 

if i were you id drop by a body shop and not only pick their brains, but pick up some of their primer, or get a suggestion of what kind of primer....i assume you have a paint gun, so you might as well use that for the primer

as for the paint removal, in all the past jobs ive done, i just sand it down, not always to the metal, but enough to get rid of the shitty paint, remember if that old primer has stuck that long, im sure its ok to stick for quite awhile longer, but its up to you i guess

hope it helps, and im interested in what others have done...so help us out!

 

You hit the nail on the head! As far as my 7 goes I mainly enjoy the mechanical aspect of working on the car, and upgrading it. This isn't to say that cosmetics aren't important to me, because they are very important. But I can't justify spending more on paint than I did on the car. I can justify spending big money on car parts because most of the time you are getting a rugged durable part that improves the car in some way. Paint serves a valuable purpose as well, but I think it is just too delicate and fragile for me to lay down that kind of cash right now. This car is my toy and I want to be able to take her out and have some fun once in a while without worrying about damagin my $2K paint job. For this reason I've decided to paint her myself.... hopefully...

 

You HAVE to take it down to bare metal. All the way. Trust me, me and my dad have been restoring old Chevelles for years, including bodywork, and if you dont take it donw to metal, youll regret it. YOu dont know whats under (or not under) that old paint. If you can afford it, get it sandblasted. If not, get an electric sander, and some 36 grit sandpaper. And get to sanding. I, by myslef, have sanded donw 5+ cars this way. Its not fun, but neccesary. Get a good quality high build primer, I think that the last stuff we used was made by Slicksand. When you get it down to metal, fill any big low spots and pound any big high spots before you prime it. And if you used a chemical paint stripper, you might have to neutrulize it with something. I dont know what, I dont really have any experiance with that stuff. Vinegar, maybe. Your not using an aerosol primer are you? that could be your problem right there.

 

Yes, i am using an aerosol primer. Do I want to stay away from them? What would you recommend as far as a primer? Something that can be used with a spray gun and compressor? I have noticed that the aerosol primer does a crappy job of sticking to the bare metal. How do you suggest I prime this bare metal?

 

Get a compressor and gun, if you dont already have them. And get a dessicant system, or you will be spraying more water than you would believe. Stay away from aresol anything, therye not made for what your doing. As for primer, get Evercoat Slicksand. Somepeople refer to it as spray on bondo, its so thick. Thats a good thing, cause it will fix any minor low spots. You spray, then longblock it, and repeat that a few times, and it will fill any little holes. Its also really durable. Good stuff.

 

If its not sticking its either, dirty, too shiny, or both. Start with 320 wet, and work up to 600 or so wet. Then clean it with a tack cloth. A rattle can will work fine, just be sure to mix it up real good. A spray gun is obviously better, but when doing small spots its hardly worth the mixing and cleanup time. I'm in the process of doing basically what you are, just farther ahead. After any bondo work I sand it as i said earlier then shoot some rattle can primer on it to keep it from sucking in moisture. When I go to prime the whole car (using a gun) I'll sand most of this primer off to get a good finish. HTH, if you have any more questions fire away

 

82transam,

did you go all the way down to bare metal before you primed? If so what do you do to keep the exposed metal from oxidizing while you are getting the rest of the car ready to be primed? It just seems to me like you can't leave the car exposed that long even if you are working indoors. Won't it oxidize before you get it primed?

 

Originally I planned to strip it all down to bare metal, but I discovered part way into it that someone had replaced the rear quarters and did a nice job of it, so rather than destroying all that bondo work I decided to leave it at that and just go from there. I found traces of body work else where as well and decided I didn't want to redo it all so I didn't strip the whole car. If that weren't the case and I was going to strip a whole car, I'd do it in sections, like say the roof and sail panels, then prime that to seal it, then move onto teh quarters, seal them, then doors, etc. Your correct it will oxidize within a matter of hours (days if its not humid like Jersey) When you say you've stripped the car you mean you've removed the fenders, hood etc right? If so then I'd ignore those until later, at least thats how i'm doing it. As it sits right now, my project is just a shell, and i'm just putting the finishing touches on some filler work. This weekend I'll sand it all down (not to bare metal) then shoot the whole thing in primer. Anyway, HTH

 

Use Lacquor Thinner and Shop Towels to clean the metal after paint stripping it. Buy 2 gallons and a couple of spray bottles because the lacquor thinner eats the rubber seals in the spray bottles.

 

Yea thats a good suggestion as well. Its a good idea especially since your using chemicals to strip the paint.

 

www.autobody101.com

 

this primer is what you may be needing
http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/pr...m?product=7565