daveb12 said: As far as chem strippers, I use them all the time. They are messy, but work well for me. It can weaken bare glass, but with care, it really never has been an issue. I'd recommend stripping down to the primer, then block sand from there. It's not necessary to get all the old primer off either.

what kind of stripper do you use..

while at the paint store earlier saw some "klean strip" fiberglass stripper.. any good ?

cthulhu said:   daveb12 said: As far as chem strippers, I use them all the time. They are messy, but work well for me. It can weaken bare glass, but with care, it really never has been an issue. I'd recommend stripping down to the primer, then block sand from there. It's not necessary to get all the old primer off either.   what kind of stripper do you use.. while at the paint store earlier saw some "klean strip" fiberglass stripper.. any good ?

I use srip ease, it's a hardware store variety, just don't let it set too long, any of the strippers will soften the resin in the body, once you start seeing primer, stop with the stripper and you'll be fine. Thoroughly flush the stripper off and it won't give you problems later. You may want to mask off small crevices to keep the stripper from getting into places you can't get it off.
I'd stay away from aircraft strippers, they are a bit too strong. Coarse steel wool works pretty good for scrubbing the old paint off once it's wetted out.
Another trick, on larger flat areas, wet the surface out with stripper and cover it with a sheet of plastic, that will keep the stripper wetter longer.

ok i fixed his reply...

here it is

Daveb12 said:   cthulhu said: I have a dupont shop here locally thats about 3 blocks from my office.. do they make the polyester primer ? i guess ill do what you did with the polyester high fill and then urethane primer.. how much paint is required per coat for the body.. how many primer coats will I need.. and then is it triple paint and triple clear or just one or the other   DuPont should have everything you need. I bought a gallon of each clear and base, it was enough. A minimum of 3 coats of clear, that should give you enough to wet sand and buff. Primers, the poly fill primer goes on pretty heavy, I think I used 3 quarts on mine, the color build, a gallon to start with, but when wet sanding it, I cut through it in a couple of places and had to re-coat. The first coats of primer will show you places on the body work that need more attention. One thing I do on heavily worked areas is to shoot the area with a cheap primer to get it all one color, it helps me see what isn't right. For that, I use a cheap laquer based primer )it all ends up getting sanded off) It's better than wasting expensive primer. A plus, it will give you some practice time with the gun before you move to the poly primer. You also asked about number of coats for the base, no magic number here, enough to get consistent color, A gallon will be plenty though. The darker you go with the color(nice choice by the way) the better your bodywork needs to be. Darker colors are very unforgiving. Invest in a variety of sanding blocks, you can get thin flexible blocks for the smaller areas.

Thanks Ben! Now tell me what I did to make it do that.
Btw, I hope I answered your questions.

I like the Impala's color, I've seen one painted exactly like it in WNY. It was gorgeous and called Dark Cherry. I also saw a 74 Vette painted the same Dark Cherry at The Corvette Barn here in CNY. Absolutely gorgeous!

|UPDATED|1/4/2005 7:16:38 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

As an afterthought, consider using a black primer last. 2 reasons, black will let you see imperfections in the bodywork and also make a good base for a dark final color.

Forgive me, but I'm still thinking here, Be sure to read all the data on the primers, the poly primer requires a fairly coarse prep for it to bond to the glass. If you use too fine of a sandpaper, it simply won't stick to the work. I used Evercoat, it's a good product and will fill sanding scratches. Your DuPont store will have it and the tech sheets for proper use.
Take care of yourself........Ventilation and respiration!

daveb12 said: Forgive me, but I'm still thinking here, Be sure to read all the data on the primers, the poly primer requires a fairly coarse prep for it to bond to the glass. If you use too fine of a sandpaper, it simply won't stick to the work. I used Evercoat, it's a good product and will fill sanding scratches. Your DuPont store will have it and the tech sheets for proper use. Take care of yourself........Ventilation and respiration!

im doing the primer out side.. the body.. probably will be rough enough for the poly to bond.. if not.. some 40 grit solves that problem.. i just want this to be the last paint job i di for a long time..

this thing has at least 4 different coats over the original burgundy.. looks like burgundy, green, yellow, black, burgundy.

im doing it outside.. so ventilation should be good.

Still be sure to use a good quality paint mask. Not just a particle mask. The fumes can still hurt you. Can't have that, we're just getting used to you

I hope you're joking about the 40 grit!