How much do you do??

[studiog]

I had a 61 Vette when I was 19. I did all the work myself... the car was only about seven years old then and I made allot of mistakes. Now I have the "wisdom" :L and cash to do my current 61 project right. This forum is a tremendous resource for me to that end. The knowledge I have gained here has allowed me to do much more than I would have ever attempted on my own even with all the "How To" books there is nothing like a real person telling you their personal experience with something. Thanks guys... and gals.

 

[studiog]

The only thing I would change is I should have painted it myself with lacquer (long painful story).

Dave I will be painting pretty soon and am interested in your paint story if you are willing to share it.

 

[IH2LOSE]

I am sitting here trying to figure out if I would do it again. I do not have an answer, but I will be glad when it is finished.

Dave


Dave I know the feeling all too well and have said the same thing as you as I am working on a project.
A quote of mine that comes to mind is

"What the heck was I thinking I am an A/C mecanic"

I had said to my self that the 66 was my last project.(I have bad knees causing back and hip problems)any ways as the 66 project is ending (redoing some things trying to get the car ready for flight judging) I realize that no matter how bad my knees get I will always have a project car to work on,I also realize that its cheaper to purchase a complete 100% done car then it is to build one.But it seems working on cars keeps me out of trouble.

My dailey drivers I dont touch,I wont even do an oil change or rotate the tires on them.I have it done by a shop.

But I would not think twice about tearing into a project car.I also do allot of wrenching on collector cars for freinds who do not know how to wrench on something.I dont do it for money I do it to help them out.And anything I do for them is with them present and assisting on it. the best part of helping someone on there car is being able to teach some one how to use tools.It may seems silly but some folks dont know how to use a tool.How to loosen or tighten a fuel or brake line fitting buy using a back up wrench.

Lastly I own and manage a heating cooling company and we have a large fleet of vechicles and get angry with my mecanics when they come to me and say my brake light is out what should I do?My truck is making a funny noise what should I do? I am thinking to my self how much I pay these mecanics why would they not just dig in and fix it themselfs? But what I have found out is there are different types of mecanics,

1-That has been trained by others to replace specific parts or componets and they can only diagnose what they have been trained to do.

2-The other mecanic is a person as my self who is curious how a thing works.They have no formal training except by doing, figuring out whats something is supposed to do,then figuring out how its supposed to do it .then figuring out why its not doing it .This is how I learned how to fix things.And also when I am working on something new I seek the advice of people or refrence books on how to better understand the thing I am working on.

Pedro thanks for the post it makes for good reading

 

[Dave65]

Dave I will be painting pretty soon and am interested in your paint story if you are willing to share it.

I had two questions 1) should I paint with lacquer or acrylic urethane and 2) should I do it myself.

My inclination was to use lacquer but many said lacquer would not hold up. The gallon of lacquer I bought (and still have) said it must be clearcoated. I asked around the local NCRS chapter and many, including an individual who is an NCRS board member, suggested acrylic urethane. One of the members who has painted many cars said definitely acrylic urethane and he had some who painted for him who would be willing to just spray the color at my shop - it sounded like a good plan.

To make a long storty short, the first attempt at painting did not work. The body was painted one day and the doors, headlight and other panels were painted a couple of weeks later. They did not match (color and metalic) and were moulted (sp?). It also took a full two gallons of paint.

I was extremely distressed . A kid at the paint store said a light blue metalic (Nassau Blue) was hard to paint with acrylic urethane but he could/would redo it for me at his shop and would do it right - and his price was reasonable (I just wanted the farking thing painted). He painted it but mixed a clear with it to keep it from moulting (I did not know he was going to do this) and it will not pass the rub test (if that is important). I do not know how the paint will judge but I do plan on having the car judged. Using the clear also changed the tint of the paint such that it outside surfaces are a slightly different color than the jabs and hood ledge, etc. You have to look but it is noticable - of course I will always see it.

I feel if I had done it myself with lacquer the issue of moulting with acrylic urethane (which takes a long time to dry) would not be a problem, the colors woulds have matched and judging would not be an issue.

Prior to this I had not painted a car for 30 years and before I did the primer was not certain I could do it right. Having done the primers and all the sanding and buffing, I do not thing it would have been that hard to do. However realize I have a very well equiped shop where we do aircraft restorations. It would be tough to do in a garage.

This is how the car looks now (note the blue floor which is where some of the first two gallons of $260 a gallon paint went).

Dave

 

[magicv8]

I have done everything but a body lift (paid to have that done) and setting the lash on the ring and pinion. I no longer like to weld, do full body paint, or rebuild engines (I set up and install) - and I hire that done as needed.

I started working on cars when I was 14 (in 1958) and worked full time as a dealer mechanic, then put myself through engineering school at night in the 60s and 70s.

 

[studiog]

I had two questions 1) should I paint with lacquer or acrylic urethane and 2) should I do it myself.

My inclination was to use lacquer but many said lacquer would not hold up. The gallon of lacquer I bought (and still have) said it must be clearcoated. I asked around the local NCRS chapter and many, including an individual who is an NCRS board member, suggested acrylic urethane. One of the members who has painted many cars said definitely acrylic urethane and he had some who painted for him who would be willing to just spray the color at my shop - it sounded like a good plan.

To make a long storty short, the first attempt at painting did not work. The body was painted one day and the doors, headlight and other panels were painted a couple of weeks later. They did not match (color and metalic) and were moulted (sp?). It also took a full two gallons of paint.

I was extremely distressed . A kid at the paint store said a light blue metalic (Nassau Blue) was hard to paint with acrylic urethane but he could/would redo it for me at his shop and would do it right - and his price was reasonable (I just wanted the farking thing painted). He painted it but mixed a clear with it to keep it from moulting (I did not know he was going to do this) and it will not pass the rub test (if that is important). I do not know how the paint will judge but I do plan on having the car judged. Using the clear also changed the tint of the paint such that it outside surfaces are a slightly different color than the jabs and hood ledge, etc. You have to look but it is noticable - of course I will always see it.

I feel if I had done it myself with lacquer the issue of moulting with acrylic urethane (which takes a long time to dry) would not be a problem, the colors woulds have matched and judging would not be an issue.

Prior to this I had not painted a car for 30 years and before I did the primer was not certain I could do it right. Having done the primers and all the sanding and buffing, I do not thing it would have been that hard to do. However realize I have a very well equiped shop where we do aircraft restorations. It would be tough to do in a garage.

This is how the car looks now (note the blue floor which is where some of the first two gallons of $260 a gallon paint went).

Dave

Dave it looks great in the photo. When you speak of "moulted" do you mean "mottled" where areas of the metal flake looks a bit uneven? I'm sure you see much more of the imperfections and are more critical than most people would be as you are intimately farmiliar with the car.
My brother in law painted his 71 Vette last year and when I first looked at it I thought it looked great. Then he started to point out some of the imperfections he was not happy with. They only became apparant after they were pointed out and I still did not think they were significant. I know you are concerned about judging but I would guess that there are very few judged cars that have perfect paint. And some may be too perfect. Some of the cars I have had painted in the past seemed to look better after the paint had aged for 6 months to a year. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Dave65]

When you speak of "moulted" do you mean "mottled" where areas of the metal flake looks a bit uneven?

Yes, that is what I was trying to say. There are a few flaws in it but you need to look a certain way in a certain light. I could probably work most of them out but I do not want to take a chance on making things worse.

The kid actually did a nice job of painting it. It is just we vette owners are very particular...

Dave

 

[studiog]

Yes, that is what I was trying to say. There are a few flaws in it but you need to look a certain way in a certain light. I could probably work most of them out but I do not want to take a chance on making things worse.

The kid actually did a nice job of painting it. It is just we vette owners are very particular...

Dave

I wouldn't try to compound or buff the finish, I have tried this with metalflake before and like you said it makes things worse.

 

[berky2500]

Sorry, I'm just reading this so I'm steering this back to the original question.
I haven't let anyone touch mine yet. I'm thinking that the transmission rebuild may be more than I want to tackle. I love tearing things apart that I've never touched before. So far it has mostly been interior work, but I've done an '85, '90, and this past winter a '73. It is a great reason to buy more and better tools.
While it is often aggravating, working on vettes is one of the most satisfying activities I've found.

 

[Tripleblack51]

Sorry, I'm just reading this so I'm steering this back to the original question.
I haven't let anyone touch mine yet. I'm thinking that the transmission rebuild may be more than I want to tackle. I love tearing things apart that I've never touched before. So far it has mostly been interior work, but I've done an '85, '90, and this past winter a '73. It is a great reason to buy more and better tools.
While it is often aggravating, working on vettes is one of the most satisfying activities I've found.

Hi Berky,

Thanks for your comment.
Looks like my thread got hi-jacked.

I agree with you...it is satisfying.
I wish I had the savy/tools/time to do more on my mid-year.



Regards,
Pedro