Just a calm before the storm post.  Getting close to a full re-paint on my 80.  Two words for anyone thinking of doing this job....' Block Sanding'.  Lots and lots of block sanding, from 80 grit up to 600 before final paint.  Paint quotes for a full job were pretty darn high, and even had a corvette shop in Socal say to me, "man you have done all the body work, you should paint it yourself".  Ok then.  Getting closer to that point, and wanted to see if anyone that has accomplished this at home has any last minute words of wisdom?  Or, any good tips?

Got all the paint, House of Kolor, Sealer, base, clear. An inflatable booth with extra exhaust fans, cleaners, prep rags, tack rags, good compressor with filters, DV1 paint gun, tape, proper masking paper and plastic, safety equipment.

Read up as much as possible and hours of videos.  I have painted smaller items before (airplane parts), but a full car, not so much.  I know this topic comes up every so often, but I figure it can't hurt to check one more time for any new words of wisdom.  Hopefully I will get this done so my car can see the roads again!  Thanks

I painted my '75 (twice -- wife didn't like the first color combo.)  Over the past 50 years I've painted maybe a dozen cars, each one gets a bit better.  One thing I found with the Corvette's fiberglass body is that it's not as easy to keep waves out of the finish.  I should have been more careful with the prep -- I had bought guide coat paint but decided (unfortunately) not to use it.  The body has almost no flat surfaces so a long flat sanding bar couldn't be used.

One thing that helped greatly the last time was that I finally bought a HVLP paint gun.  I had always used a Binks siphon gun in the past.

There are some good videos online on automotive painting that provide tips, including on where to start and then flow around the rest of the car so you are always painting from a recent wet surface.

It sounds like you have a great start with your preparation -- which is 80% of any paint job.

My '75 needs to be "cut & buffed" to get a mirror smooth surface, but I'm going to leave that to a body painter friend of mine (been waiting over a year for him to get to it).

Oh, one thing I noticed -- you said you sanded up to 600 grit; I had been told that 320 grit should be the final on primer in order to provide a good tooth for the finish to bind well.

I did not have any type of paint booth, I just painted in my workshop bay.  A booth would have kept overspray off of everything in my shop, but most of it is just dust at that point anyway.

Thanks!  Yes, Guide coat is the best way to go.  It's amazing what you find as you sand off the guide coat.  I used it at each step of sanding from 320 to 600.  I have a good quality HVLP gun, just hope the operator can live up to its capabilities.  Cut and Buff, I'm sure that's in my future, but if I can get a finish that can be finished with that process and not re-shoots, I will be a happy camper!

Yes, I was a bit concerned about losing the mechanical grip of the paint.  I thought 400 grit was like glass when finished, but according to the paint guys, and paint supplier (House of Kolor) metallic paints will show in 400 grit scratches. It's hard to fathom, but online videos seem to confirm this.  I am painting a Metallic, so 600.  I am laying down a couple coats of a sealer that matches the base coat first.  From what I am told, the sealer will adhere to the 600, and then from then on the subsequent coats are a chemical bond, assuming they are shot in the correct time frame.  And please if this sounds off, let me know.  That's why I posted, I know many of you have either taken on this task, or have had your rides painted and gained valuable info along the way.  Hopefully I will learn along this path and be able to post info or helps others!

Totally agree. I regret losing patience as I got close to the finish line with my bodywork, because I can see every place I didn’t spend enough time blocking now that paint is on. 

My plan was to do all the repairs and mudding, sand it down, prime it then have a shop spray it to save $$. Great in theory if I had just put in another 40-80 hours on guide coat and blocking. 

Good luck, and when you think you’re done… go back in and sand some more lol. 

I hope you stripped it down to factory primer before you started your body prep. Even though everyone I talked to advised me to do that when I did mine, I decided to let it go and just prep the existing body with the factory paint on it and then put a sealer on. After about 10 years I discovered why you don't do that.

1973 L-82 4 spd

That's great info, and luckily for me, I did sand it all the way down.  I might have skipped that step, but as I started the work, I found some hidden repairs, cracks, and some spider webbing.  Under the color coat was a ton of high build primer.  Took a lot to remove it and get to the factory primer.  For those doing this, you can end up with lots of little divots in the body while aggressively sanding.  I'm sure a pro would not have those issues, but after some sealer, high build primer and lots of guide coat and block sanding, I think I have the panels straight, or as straight as you can on a C3 Body!  I've tried to read many of the paint threads, as well as many articles regarding corvette fiberglass.  Lots of good info out there. One thing I can say, you definitely want to do as you mentioned, strip down to the factory primer.  There are lots of hidden problems under old paint, some by age, some by novice mistakes, and probably some by someone trying to make a buck.  No matter which, anything you can do to mitigate issues showing through the new paint is going to be worth the work. 

Here is just one little Gem hiding fwd of the RH Headlight.  Wasn't at all visible in the paint (yet), but was not repaired correctly, mostly was bondo.  All good now!

One "gem" I found when doing mine -- the passenger side hood hinge had broken loose from the fiberglass, some idiot tried to fix it with bondo!

I did take mine down to the original primer, and though I did not find any huge problems, there were quite a few places where the fiberglass had cracked.  It was easy at that point to fiberglass a patch (after widening the crack to insure there was a good bond) then finish over it.

Something else that the friend helping me suggested and it was a good idea which was to set the car up about 6"-8" off the floor.  Also set up some 4' tube fluorescent lites on end on both sides of the car while we painted it.  

1973 L-82 4 spd

Thanks, that's some good info.  I will definitely raise up the car and skirt it down to the floor.  I also will set up some lights.  I also have a an LED light that attaches to my paint gun's cup.  It really helps to see how the paint is laying down and the overlap on each pass.