More progress pics on BABY

[BarryK]

Hi all!

good news today. I stopped by the shop and the doors are almost finished being fitted. The gaps are starting to look a LOT better. In a few places where it was the worst he actually fiberglassed completely over the gaps making the door fiberglassed together with the body and than he will cut through that new fiberglass and shave it down to achieve the proper amount of gap space. other areas he is building up the glass for the same reason.
He also put a layer of filler material on the body and is sanding that down (in a few of the pics you can really see all the sanding dust sitting on the car from it.
By tomorrow he will be working on the fit of the windshield and rear window moldings so they fit perfect and flush (again, that will take some building up of the 'glass in a few corners because of previous repair work where they sanded it down too low.

Another interesting find over the last few days.......the hood on the car is not the original one. You can see on one of the hood pics that it has the holes in the front of it for the hood emblem used only in '66 and the holes had been filled in. So far we have discovered all fours fenders, the hood, and the rear taillight panel are all replacement body parts but the hood surround, doors, and the roof is still original.

He is now actually running a bit ahead of schedule!

He thinks by the end of this week he will have all the rest of the fiberglass work and sanding completed and by Monday the glue applied. By midweek next week he should have the sealer on the car and than it's time for primer and color.

My wife and I are going on a cruise from Feb 6 - Feb 12 and he said by the time we return from the cruise the car should be in color and clearcoat and all that would be left is final sanding and polishing. Than reassembly and i get to take her home!
Oh man, it's getting close now and I can't wait to see her with the fresh new paint on her!
:cool

I hope you are ready for a bunch of new pics today.....here they are:

 

[BarryK]

more pics

 

[BarryK]

more......

 

[Subfixer]

Geez, thats a lot of work. Your body guy sure is thorough. Glad to see he's making progress. Hope it turns out better than you imagined.

 

[BarryK]

Geez, thats a lot of work. Your body guy sure is thorough. Glad to see he's making progress. Hope it turns out better than you imagined.

he is already doing a LOT more than I had planned on so I have no doubt at all that it's going to turn out to be a lot better than i could have ever hoped or planned for.
Once she is back home i may never want to have her out of my sight. I think my wife is already planning on hiding the blankets and pillows so that I can't sleep in the car when she gets back here to her own garage

 

[kev]

Thats a great idea on the door gap fix ! Looks wounderful , I can't wait to see more.

Kevin

 

[BarryK]

Thats a great idea on the door gap fix ! Looks wounderful , I can't wait to see more.

Kevin

do you mean how he is 'glassing over the gap itself and than cutting thru it again? yep, that's pretty cool actually.
I hope to have more pics next week and by than it may be into the sealer.

 

[studiog]

Looks great Barry. Really like the technique for fixing the door gaps.

 

[Fuelie]

Your car is going to look great Barry!

I have used that "glass it shut" technique many times....then you just cut a new door gap and sand to fit.....works great

 

[BarryK]

Looks great Barry. Really like the technique for fixing the door gaps.

so far everyone seems to like this method so I guess he has the right idea. He has been doing Vettes as a specialty for so long that i'm sure he knows most of the good tricks

 

[BarryK]

Your car is going to look great Barry!

I have used that "glass it shut" technique many times....then you just cut a new door gap and sand to fit.....works great

I wasn't sure what to think when he first told me about doing that but seeing it in person makes it seems so reasonable of a solution

And from everyone elses comments on here so far it seems to be a pretty good idea and method of working.

 

[Wilkinshc]

Barry,

If you don't mine saying, about how much is the body work and painting costing? I am getting ready to do mine and was wondering what I needed to pay. I realize it might be more or less but it will give me an idea.

Thanks
Chuck

 

[BarryK]

Hi Chuck

i'm sending you a PM regarding your question.

Barry

 

[Wilkinshc]

I really appreciate it.

Thanks
Chuck

 

[paul67]

Barry,
I have followed your project with great interest. And wish to learn from your mistakes with the painter, if any. I will be getting an estimate next Wednesday for a February start date. Did you have a check list when dealing with those folks? If yes, how did you work them in the contract?

 

[BarryK]

Barry,
I have followed your project with great interest. And wish to learn from your mistakes with the painter, if any. I will be getting an estimate next Wednesday for a February start date. Did you have a check list when dealing with those folks? If yes, how did you work them in the contract?

Paul

I didn't have a real checklist to start with. Actually, I started with only planning on repairing a small part of the hood that had blistered in the sun and afdter reviewing options with the shop he gave me a price to go over the body with a fine-tooth comb and repair pretty much everything he finds than paint the car. As you can see from the various pics, he is being extremely through and is doing a lot more than i actually expected. Of course, never having had sent in a car for a new paint job like this i guess I really didn't know what to expect.

First of all, I chose the shop after looking around for a bit and decided on this guy to do the work because he came highly recommended from a lot of other Vette owners AND he specializes in older Vettes, AND he also gave me the best price BY FAR. It wasn't until afterwards tha I realized why he was so highly recommended and the level of nationally known cars that he has worked on.

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't have a "real" contract with him for the work, just an agreed price for the job. After I dropped my car off I decided it was best to draw up some papers myself to keep us both straight with each other on what was agredd to be done on the job and I had us both sign 2 copies and we both kept a copy. I than also came up with a payment plan that worked for both of us. (I did all this paperwork myself because although this guy is a great artist when it comes to bodywork and paint on vettes he isn't the best businessman).
I decided on "stages" of progress on the car and I pay him a portion of the total bill when each stage is complete.
I chose the following as stages:
1. deposit to get started
2. completion of stripping the car to the bare fiberglass
3. completion of all bodywork / fiberglass work
4. completion of all paint work, reassembly, and end of job

by doing it this way he knows he only gets paid as long as progress on the car is being made and it gives him some cash flow so he doesn't have to keep bringing in other jobs to work on for immediate cash taking away from time he could be spending working on my car. He already has many other cars in his shop he is splitting his time with so new jobs coming in takes away from all current jobs already inhouse - including Baby. Yoo many jobs inhouse at one time is a major reason why the first 2 months were really wasted as he couldn't get to my car. That is when I worked up the "payment schedule" with him.

as for the actually paint work on your car, my unsolicited advice is make sure when you get your car done that they strip it completely down to the bare fiberglass. some places may only want to try stripping it down to the primer or even just rough up and sand the existing paint and paint over it but don't let them. You definately want it taken down all the way to the bare fiberglass. also, I would strongly suggest using chemical strippers to remove the existing paint and primer layers. many shops may want to tell you that it will be faster and less labor (therefore less expensive) to have the car media blasted to remove the existing paint but i would stronly recommend against having the car body media blasted. Media blasting the body rounds off the sharp creases and lines of the body and to get them back again they have to be rebuilt up very skillfully by fiberglass - this actually creates more work and labor in the long run. Some shops may try to media blast the body and not rebuild the lines and than the body is not as good as before.

also, make sure they don't get "cheap" on the actual painting.
We decided to go from the lacquer my car had on it to BC/CC. After all the fiberglass work and sanding he is going to put down 2 layers of primer than 4 coats of color. He than wetsands to get rid of inperfections and orange peel (this will effectively bring the paint down to approx 2 layers out of the 4), than he is putting down 2 more layers of color before wetsanding again than 2 coats of clear.
Good quality paint is surprisingly expensive (at least it was a surprise for me) so some shops are going to try to get away with less coats of paint to make the job less expensive or to pocket more profit. I would consider the 6 coats (after wetsanding it's really effectively only 4 coats) of color and 2 coats of clear to be the minimum. An extra coat or two of color never hurts anyone...LOL

If you are having your car started on in Feb plan on being without it for a while for a really good paint job. If you do go with chemical strippers for stripping the paint the shop needs to allow time for the car to just sit for preferably at least 2 weeks (or longer) for all the solvents to evaporate out of the fiberglass before putting on the sealer and primer or it will eventually cause the new paint to bubble up. I've learned that you can't rush these things if you want a nice job. If you want it in a rush and cheap than just take it for a basic $199 Maaco paint job (oh god, the idea of that on a Vette just pains me to even think about it).

I hope this helps you a little bit.

Barry

 

[67HEAVEN]

I hope this helps you a little bit.

Barry

Barry,

I'd bet this helps a lot.

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

I'd bet this helps a lot.

well i hope so anyway. i've gotten so much good advice and info from this forum that if i can finally help someone else out even a small bit I'm more than glad to help.

 

[paul67]

Barry,
That reply is very, very informative! Thank you. The person I am dealing with is the painter (now shop Manager at another firm) who took care of the paint on my 1979 in the year 2000 (see pic). That car was painted with DuPont Chroma Premier and still looks lovely to this day. I have toured his facilities and met and spoken with the body fellow and the actual painter. That was last December in the context of just painting the BB/427 hood that will be installed. I asked a number of questions and they had the right answers. While not a paint expert, I have driven Corvettes for 20 years and know many of the quirks of these cars. For example, they will paint just the hood and feather into the top of the front fenders but cannot guarantee a colour/tone match. They cannot get lacquer owing to our environmental laws and will be attempting to meld base/clear with the lacquer. They advised against it. I tend to agree. All that to say that they seem to have the expertise.

My 1967 is in dead commercial storage and that is where he will have a close look next Wednesday. He has seen my pics and has a good idea what to expect. The paint is from 1988 and very solid, albeit faded in spots and with the usual stone chips in front. It is a fine, 10-foot vehicle but I'm going for broke. Not show but a dazzling driver. There is one stress crack at the front valence joint on the driver's side front fender. No bubbles. So it's a pretty good base on which to build.

He will use (as with your car), two primer, four colour, and two clear. That sounds fine but he swears by Sherwin-Williams paint (I have posted on this before). I am betwixt-and-between on this and will discuss it with him further. He says he has had some bad experiences with DuPont, including a paint job on his own classic: a 1966 Charger. I am getting out of my realm of expertise (paint brands) so I am not sure what to conclude at this point.

The tricky part is whether to strip as the current paint is so solid. I suspect he will give me a range of estimates and options (and costs) and I will have to decide. The 1979 was not stripped and came with a 3-year guarantee. And as noted above that car still looks like it just came out of the shop. That's my call....

So decisions, decisions, decisions. As to cost, probably in the range $3,500-$5,000US (sounds low I know but our labour rate is ~$35/hour). Schedule is late February start with a road debut late April-early May when the first spring rains have flushed away the winter salt.

Thanks again for your very thorough reply.

This is where I am heading but with an "incorrect" black stinger. The stencil arrived yesterday from Phoenix Graphics in Arizona.

 

[BarryK]

Hi Paul

I'm no paint expert either! This is the first time I've sent a car in for a total paint job and also my first vette paint job so it's all new to me and i'm just trying to learn from what my guy tells me and recommends. I have no knowlege at all between the various paint brands but I THINK my guy uses PPG paints mainly but i'm not really 100% sure. Honestly, this guy comes so highly recommended that i'm just trusting him do do it right and make it good - hopefully my trust is well placed.............

I can tell you that initally my car was only going to have a small blistered area on the hood repaired and one of the reasons we decided on a total paint job instead was the same thing you mentioned of the problem that when they repainted the hood they would have to feather it into the tops of the front fenders but even using lacquer paints he couldn't garuantee it would match. Because of that and a few other areas on the car I decided I wanted fixed up better we went with the "full job".

As far as whether or not to strip your car down to the bare 'glass or to keep your existing paint in place isn't something I can really help with. As I mentioned, I would suggest stripping it all the way down but on my car it was required to do so for the body/fiberglass repairs anyway. Perhaps if your body doesn't need any work at all they can get away without doing it. I can tell you that the chemical stripping is a long, tedious, labor intensive, dirty, nasty job that I'm SO glad I didn't do myself! LOL
Perhaps if your car has no major paint cracks, chips, spidering, etc they can just lay new color and clear on top of the existing paint but i'm not sure how mixing BC/CC over top of your existing lacquer will hold up. Was your '79 lacquer underneath?
Sorry, I really don't have the expertise to help you in that decision. Maybe John McGraw or Paintdaddy will chime in and help out on that question.

I love your idea of adding the Stinger hood on your car. I wanted to do that with mine also (yes, I know mine is a '65 and a SB so it would be wrong to have the BB stinger hood on the car but i always loved the looks of that hood!) but buying the hood just wasn't in the budget at the moment.

BTW, my goal is the same as yours. I wasn't looking for a concours show paint job fit only for a trailer queen show car, but rather just a dazzling drivers car. When he is done the body and the paint should as good or better than the rest of the car which had a complete body-off restoration finished just last year (except they didn't do the paint and body at the time. I would rate the body and paint when i got it at about a 7/10)

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Barry