Painting over the OEM finish is not a bad alternative to going to the length that I did with this paint job. There are a few steps: wipe the finish down with a special solvent made for prepping OEM finishes, which removes all the wax, oils, and preservatives off the paint. Then if there are no chips, flakes, or dents just scuff down the paint with a scotchbright pad and some water mixed with liquid detergent (Dawn, for example). Let dry, go over it with Prep Sol and then a tack rag, and you are ready to spray the topcoat.

No primer is necessary if you do not use body filler anywhere. Body filler always ends up leaving little pits on its surface even after being sanded because it develops air bubbles in it as it cures. If there are chips in the OEM paint you can fill it with two part spot putty and sand it smooth. If you need the real body filler you can fill all the resultant pits with surfacer / sealer. You don't have to spray the sealer over the entire car, just the bondo. This stuff is excellent for building the glassy smooth surface that the liquid paint will need. I learned a bit about paint through this project and I was surprised at how tiny any imperfections have to be in order to print through a good spray job to show through the final gloss.

So yes, Introvert is right, I could have saved myself MANY hours and a couple hundred bucks if I had done it this way. As far as durability of these two methods, I don't know which one is better. I stripped it down hoping to save weight, but I doubt the five or ten pounds was worth all the time and extra money spent.

 

I like how your car has turned out Jeff, especially the wheel wells! NA is the way to go.

Let me know if Matt and I can come by and see it in person. We work in Albany so the drive would not be a problem.

Isaac

 

Sure, come by whenever you like. Matt has the directions. I am out there in the garage most evenings so just PM or email me beforehand so I can not be running errands.

 

Well I looked through my compactflash digital camera card and found a couple more angles of the car. Sorry I didn't reply sooner.




I think I like the bumper. Now to build some RE style non-popups . . . maybe some day when I have a lot of time on my hands.

 

That bumper really looks great man... My personal opinion is that it needs some type of lower lip, or splitter though. Does it still have the stock curvature , so that an aftermarket piece can be bolted on?

 

Yep, if I were to buy any lip made for a stock bumper it would bolt right on. The only shape I changed was between the flat area below the rub strip down to the bottom rim of the bumper cover. Even my main inlet's lower segment is basically fiberglass laid over the stock piece. The real change happened on the dividers between the center and side inlets. Where it was curved back before, it is now mildly curved outward. Just doing that and changing the inlet shapes made a world of difference.

 

well i just started on a bumper myself, i cut the grill out and have fiberglassed about half of that. im wanting to put eather 2 single holes above the stock inlets for the brakes or get rid of the the inlets and just have 2 holes. im also looking to put an inlet somwhere on the bumper to connect to the stock air inlet before the filter, probly eather ont the trim or next to the ftp lenses.