LeMans Pete

Am I just trying to remove the paint or am I trying to remove another layer? I'm not very familiar with these paint jobs, but after scraping off the paint, there's a grey layer that looks (but doesnt feel) pitted. Am I supposed to remove that grey layer as well down to the fiberglass?

Picture Below

Corvette ED

The gray could be primer or sealer. Take some lacquer thinner and a clean white rag and rub it into the gray. If it comes off on the rag then its primer or sealer.

LeMans Pete

Did they prime these cars? Its the original paint, so whatever it is, it came from the factory. I know there's a few of you who know alot about this, I just can't remember your IDs. Who's the guy that does painting in Mich, I believe, he's got, what looks to me, a '69 race car.

A C

Does it look like this?



That is for sure the original primer on my 69.

LeMans Pete

This is what it looks like:


Red paint, then the very uniform primer (which I can scrape off, but didn't just for this photo), then the stuff I'm talking about, which is very pitted looking. I think I've read before that this is some other protective layer that you don't want to remove entirely, or I'm hoping anyway. Can anyone assure me this?

h2ohouse

That would be Mass. and it is road-race vette...I beleive you are speaking about.

LeMans Pete

yep, thats exactly who it is, maybe I can hunt him down. Thanks!

nutsy

the other layer he may be refering to might be the gelcoat.

LeMans Pete

Eh, I've read that they didn't do gelcoats on C3s. Epoxy primer?

0Road-Race Vette

Are you planning on stripping this car down to bare glass?? After you are done with the razor blade, are you going to sand the rest off with a sander?

What I am trying to say is what is your game plan?

A better understanding of that will allow us to give you some helpful advice. I got your PM. If you want PM me your plans for the car ,then we can go from there

Stan

LeMans Pete

Well what are the benefits of going down to bare glass? Honestly, thats what I was planning on doing. In the picture above, am I not down to glass? I was planning on sanding with grit and sanding blocks as I'm not very skilled with a DA.

0Road-Race Vette

Depending on the condition of the old paint and primer, you can make a decision on how much to take off. The proper and advisable way to do it is to remove all paint and primer, reseal the glass and then start from there.

Looking at your paint(very deeply checked),I feel it is nececarry to take it all off. The fact that you arent using power tools does make the job more time consuming but not impossible if you have the patience.

After you razor blade off the paint and primer, use a sanding block with 80 grit paper to sand the rest of the car. Hard block the big surfaces and soft block the curves. When you have the whole car stripped of all its material, you can procced.

427V8

I think the pitted stuff is the fiberglass.

I took my 69 down to the glass because the paint was bubbleing and I didn't trust the primer.
I put on a coat of epoxy, the sandable primer, color coat to come when it warms up.



Keith

LeMans Pete

Its not really pitted, just pitted looking. If you close your eyes and run your hand over it, you won't feel it. I've been moving very slowly, last thing I want to do is gouge.

LeMans Pete

Am I correct that the pitted looking material is the fiberglass? It doesn't quite look like anyone elses stripped down bodies. Is it primer partially removed? Is this what I should be removing with sanding?

0Road-Race Vette

When you get down to the glass you will be able to see fine fibers in the SMC. Pick a spot sand till you get to that point and that is the fiberglass. I cant really tell from the pics. Dont worry about over sanding one little spot. when you seal it with epoxy afterwards it will be fine.

eastltd

Here is an alternative to the razor blade. We chem stripped the car one panel at a time, washed thoroughly then blocked with 80 & 180.

LeMans Pete

Your floor is yellow!!! Ya, I did alot of research into Captain Lees and the citrus stuff, but I've heard alot of paint guys say that it could cause problems later on. Granted it sounds like the cases are few and far between, ad they could've done something wrong, it still makes me nervous.

We'll see how long I last though with the razor blades. It took me two hours and 4 razorblades to only get about 1/3 of the rear deck off. I have the patience, but I can barely type today my hands and fore-arms are so sore.

eastltd

I'm amazed you lasted that long! Keep going if that's your thing. Just remember, every gouge you make with the blade has to be fixed.

2000FRCZ19

i had mine media blasted after i started out using a razor blade. for about $800 you cant beat the results and it was in and out of the blaster in 2 days. i am going to be spraying the car with spi epoxy sealer tomorrow. i will post some before and after pics after it is done.