[KnumbKnuts]

Greetings,

I have a 74, with T-Tops... looks like original paint, but im not sure... it has bubbles in the paint just about everywhere, so i did a search on how to strip it properly. i read some previous posts about not sanding thru the gel coat, but it looks to me like these bubbles are pretty thick (about 1/16 or so) so my guess is that its peeling up from the fiberglass, and im afraid that when i go to sand this car down (by hand!) that im gonna ruin my chances of painting it again... i do not have much experience with fiberglass... you can probably tell my the nickname my father gave me (hes a big ford fan) for buying this car that im pretty much on my own. any help, book titles, sites, condolences, etc... would be greatly appreciated... you can post here or just email me it matters not, i will check both...

thanks in advance!

knumbknuts

 

[Will's41]

I used to restore old vetts and stripped a whole bunch. I found that stripping with a not to harsh paint stripper is the way to go. I used cleaning pads and plastic scrappers and some brillo pads / sand paper for the hard to reach spots. Be very careful with sand paper. You don't want to change the shape of the car, just remove the paint. Keep a water hose close so once the paint is soft you can use the water with the pads to remove the paint. Don't forget he gloves here. <img src="graemlins/nono.gif" border="0" alt="[nono]" /> Go slow and do a panel at a time. The bubbles sound like a bad repair or a paint job coming back up due to improper prep. Once the car is stripped it must be cleaned very well to remove any old stripper. I would suggest recoating with gel coat or a very good catalyzed primer to insure nothing from the fiberglass finds it's way to the top coat. A good site on fiberglass repair is <a href="http://www.fibreglast.com/," target="_blank">http://www.fibreglast.com/,</a> they have books and videos. Good Luck.
Will

 

[wally]

I used to restore vettes. Paint is a problem as you have descrived when someone puts lacquor over enamel. Later people all use enamel but vettes stayed with lacquor until very recently and anyone trying to restore lacquor has a problem because the enamel never really drys and it goes into the fiberglass pores making it all but impossible to get out. While the lacquor overlay may look okay for a while it eventually gets blistered by the enamel under it. I found no sealer or sanding or stripping method to fix this problem on a recent '68 I had a body shop put enamel on it and I was screwed. I finally sold the car wholesale I could not get it to stop the blister. You might try later enamels I did not but then again I am a lacquor man.
Its been my experience that the car chooses the color....by that I mean the body shape and bodywork control what you choose...as you say black is out then so are all dark hues. In the lighter shades you have some choice but I found metalics are almost always okay for a body that won't take black.

 

[Vettes]

You may want to check here for some tips:

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/kb/question.php?qstId=437

 

[bigwildgrin]

hey wally, or anyone that would know, I hate to get off the topic here, but... I heard lacquor paints are off the market. I tried to order House of Kolour lacquor through the local distributor and that's what I was told. I visited House of Kolour's web site and did not find any listings for lacquor. I used to paint my own projects and would like to start again, but I am a lacquor man at heart. by the way the problem you discribed with the '68 vette can be fixed using K200 and then by apply a sealer offered by House of Kolour (not sure of the name any more but if you call them they will know what you are talking about).

 

[adtkart]

In this area, Lacquor is not available anymore. They have taken it off the market because of the environment. The new paints reportedly do not release the stuff into the atmosphere as lacquor does. That's progress. The laquor used to make you high if you painted without protection. The new stuff can kill you. Makes sense to me.