I’m in the late stages of a body-off restoration on a 71 convertible. I just put the body back on the frame and got everything mechanically ready to go.  

Unfortunately, the body needs some work on the rear section and it was bead blasted to the bare fiberglass years ago.   What is the best way to get a smooth finish back on the car so I can get it painted? Nobody wants to touch it because it’s stripped to the fiberglass and needs a lot of prep work.

 

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.     Thanks!

 

 

Two trains of thought on this.  One method is to put a gel coat on, which is a pain and the cars did not come with gel coat originally.  Second method is to apply DP40 Expoxy Primer and then build from there.  The epoxy primer will seal the fibers, but not as good as a gel coat.

I'm sure there are some others out there that know more about this!

Mark

Do you mean that the individual strands in the glass mat are exposed or do you mean that the blasting is through the old paint and primer. If the matting is exposed it will need to be sealed with a resin. Otherwise texture of the matting will eventually show through any amount of primer and paint you put on the car. Still I can't imagine why a reputable body shop wouldn't want to do the job.
Scott

Thanks Mark and Scott.

You can see the fibers in the body. The gelcoat is gone on most of the car. I've had two estimates that would cost as much $$$ as I have in the car and take several months... Not an option! I'm lucky I've gotten this far without a divorce. I tried mixing and testing some resin but don't want to make it worse. Thought I better get some ideas first. Thought there may be some other options.