Advice on priming car

[75 Florida Roadster]

I need some advice on priming my vette. I am sanding the car all the way down to the original primer as best as possible. Can I use a combo laquer primer surfacer to make sure my body work is good and to fill minor imperfections and then use a urethane primer over that? This is my first corvette I am painting and want to do it right.

 

[dmrodco]

Are you sanding to the original gel coat? Its a epoxy type sealer that seals the errant fibers of the glass. Do not remove that !! Use a filler primer then seal the whole thing with epxoy primer to seal everything. the New type epoxy primers are compatable with most all types of paint. So you should get years of trouble free service from that type of prep. Don't let anyone tell you they never used gel coat on vetts . I stripped mine down to the ORIGIANL gel coat so I KNOW they did. you will know it by its grey VERY smooth appearance. You would be well served to buy the ecklers book on how to paint your vette. Good luck. Dewayne

 

[75 Florida Roadster]

Thank You! DeWayne, On my front left fender I can see exactly what you mean about the factory gelcoat. That is where I am at right now, and that is where I am stopping.I plan on primming the car and then using a body putty to fill imperfections that the primer filler will not cover and then block sand the putty down then epoxy primer or urethane primer the whole car. What kind of paint did you go with for your finish coat? Did you do a 2 step clear coat? What about a straight laquer paint job. I think they are fantastic when done properly, with a clear coat on top? Will that hold up on the vette? I restoted a 68 Firebird like that and a 55 Buick 2 dr hardtop. I will buy a paint book from Ecklers ASAP. Thanks for the advice. I will keep you posted on my project. It will be a long SLOW process because I am disabled and I can only do a little at a time but time is all I have.
After I paint the car I plan on putting a 383 with 425 hp in her with about a 2500 stall converter (or what ever is needed) 75 Vettes are not very popular because of the low hp engines but I have the cure for that. BTW do you know how to put a picture of your car in your signature? Once again Thank You
Jack

 

[dmrodco]

We are going to go with a 2 step ( base coat clearcoat ) in 2000 VIPER GTS blue. I have been using the 1 step version to paint the drive axels and stuff like that. The brand I have been using is PPG. I like the way it lays down its smooth and very forgiving. I wasn't too sure about the color until I took one of the axles out in the sun and OMG it was stunning. I am thinking of ghosting the hood bulge to give it a custom look. Good luck Dewayne