Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

[Keith B.]

66 Vert , T.F. No-Hit body, 42,000 org miles, one re-paint since factory. This forum and fellow members have helped walk me thru my L-36 rebuild last spring, and numerous other restoration tips. I must ask for some paint and body advice. My midyear is factory Silver Pearl that I want to re-paint. I have been on a 5 yr waiting list by a longtime Corvette painter who still shoots lacquer, and although I could go BC/CC I think I will stay with PPG lacquer in Silver Pearl. Although I know Silver Pearl is a difficult color to work with.........

Although all bonding strips are in place from 66 and a No-hit body the wheel wheel lips have been shaved back. At the NW NCRS Regional it did not receive a very big deduct so I'm not sure to what extent I should re-pair them. My painter/body worker is suggesting he has to cut out part of the wheel lip area and F/glass in 4 new pieces with proper lip width.

Is this the proper way to repair these wheel lips or should I leave them alone given the integrity of the car??

I'm going to re/re all the necessary parts off the car to keep in my garage prior to going to the painters. Is there any tips here that I should be aware of ??

I'm also considering stripping my lacquer via chemical stripper myself in order to save labor, as the car will be painted body on and my engine bay and interior is mint, mint, so i want to minimize clean up and not have soda throughout the car. If it was a body off I would likely go soda blast. Any tips here ????

What is the best NCRS book to purchase that illustrates how to prep, paint a NCRS car to factory standards?? Any advice in this area is sincerely appreciated........

[Mike M.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

Hi Keith
I remember your car, very nice. With all the work an expence you are putting into the car I would recommend your completing the project fully and correctly. With that said.....
Regarding your wheel opening inner lips, you might look around for a body man who is experienced in fiberglass work.
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT allow anyone to cut-in replacement sections.
That repair will become visually obvious at some point.
This is not high tech. I have restored many cars with the wheel wells cut out.
In the late '60's, I simple made relief cuts in one side of a yardstick to allow bending to the correct profile, clamped into position on the effected panel and re-inforced the stick with fiberglass , like an I-beam to retail shape. Then applied resin and fiberglass mat into this form/mold in enough subsequent layers to replicate the panel thickness.
With a little patience, then shape by grinding, filing, sanding then fill, prime and paint. They cannot be detected from the outside, lip included.
I received a tip from another member on how to better deal with the inside surface to blend into the original surface. This would probably require to much work, unnecessarily for most people, but then, I am cursed with the "Perfectionist Gene".
I still have the forms (1 front, 1 rear) and have re-used them many times.
Stripping the paint with a Fiberglass specific stripper makes sense in your case. Check for several fairly recent threads in the archives on how to best perfrom that process.
HaND

[Jim T.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

Keith I stripped my 1968 and 1970 with Captain Lee's SPRA-STRIP. This was used in the mid and late 80's. It removed the color coat original lacquer on my cars only down to the primer. I then wet sanded the factory primer off to bare fiberglass using a sandpaper that was not abrasive enough to harm the fiberglass. Captian Lee's contact numbers 800 421-9498 615 883-5707.
Everyone has a preference. In 1996 I had my 1985 painted by a respectable local body shop. I did not search for a shop that specialized in Corvettes. I disassembled my 85 in order for it to be painted much like it was painted at the factory removing front and rear facias, lower body panels and headlight covers. The painter did a really good job. The owner was nice, but told me not to send him any Corvette people to get their car painted expecting the price I paid for mine. He loaned me his new pick up to transport my newly painted facias and other parts home. My 85 is a two tone color silver and gray.

[Jim M.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

I used Captain Lee's spray strip on my 69 and it worked great. I had two re-sprays plus the original paint to take off. The spray strip worked great and it took it right down to the primer. I don't feel there's any need to take the primer off unless you want to. Just my two cents on that.

[Keith B.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Repair wheel Lip

Thanks guys for all the best advice.......

Any other tips from F/glass experts on the proper method to repair or re-extend wheel lips that have been shaved off years ago and return to factory standards.........

[Bernie M.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

Hi Keith
I remember your car, very nice. With all the work an expence you are putting into the car I would recommend your completing the project fully and correctly. With that said.....
Regarding your wheel opening inner lips, you might look around for a body man who is experienced in fiberglass work.
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT allow anyone to cut-in replacement sections.
That repair will become visually obvious at some point.
This is not high tech. I have restored many cars with the wheel wells cut out.
In the late '60's, I simple made relief cuts in one side of a yardstick to allow bending to the correct profile, clamped into position on the effected panel and re-inforced the stick with fiberglass , like an I-beam to retail shape. Then applied resin and fiberglass mat into this form/mold in enough subsequent layers to replicate the panel thickness.
With a little patience, then shape by grinding, filing, sanding then fill, prime and paint. They cannot be detected from the outside, lip included.
I received a tip from another member on how to better deal with the inside surface to blend into the original surface. This would probably require to much work, unnecessarily for most people, but then, I am cursed with the "Perfectionist Gene".
I still have the forms (1 front, 1 rear) and have re-used them many times.
Stripping the paint with a Fiberglass specific stripper makes sense in your case. Check for several fairly recent threads in the archives on how to best perfrom that process.
HaND

need more information on repairing lips thanks bernie

[Rich P.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

Corvettes are wonderful cars. There is absolutly no need to cut and replace sections of a wheel lip to get the proper lip width back. I have done too many wheel lips to count...almost every car has had some problem in the wheel lip area, I spend many hours on each car I paint to prep the inner wheel wells so you can run your fingers on the entire circumfrencees of the weel lips and not feel any irregularities. And also get a uniform correct width to the flange.

Rich

[Rich P.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

Here are some pictures of a lip repair. Although these are not pictures of wheel lips, they are of the hood surround lips. These usually also ge sanded down over the years. The same principal applys..you don't need to cut it out to repair. I'll see if I have saved any wheel lip repair photos.

Rich

[Keith B.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

Rich: thank-you very very much. Can you elaborate on the actual process with repairing the wheel lips and is this still possible with the body on the frame, i gather one would just remove the wheels and work the glass template into place .......

[Mike M.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

See my earlier entry above, it really is just that simple, Body on, wheel off.
HaND

[Chuck S.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

...My painter/body worker is suggesting he has to cut out part of the wheel lip area and F/glass in 4 new pieces with proper lip width...

Ohhhhhh...You're talking about the narrow flange inside the wheel well...I thought you were talking about real fender modifications.

No, as Mike and Rich have said, forget what your body man said. Rebuilding those narrow reinforcing flanges used on the fenders and front and rear fasicas can be very tedious, but it is preferable to making visible repairs on the outside surface of the fender. My experience is that it will take multiple applications to get a nice uniform thickness and width. Your body man wants to skip the tedium...he wants to turn this little tedious job into a big non-tedious job.

I would start with resin and mat application (3-4 layers) to the inside of the fender above the flange (not too high, 1"-2") and the top of the flange stub. Prep the inside of the fender by cleaning it thoroughly with lacquer thinner to remove everything that's not virgin fiberglass. Rough up the inside surface of the fender just above the flange stub, and the top surface of the flange stub. Use 80 grit paper, and pay particular attention to the corner where the fender and flange meet. When you do your lamination, you want to try and keep the mat back in that corner...it will want to resist being conformed into the tight radius.

As Mike said, you just need a "form" that will conform to the shape to the wheel well. For building up broken flanges, I like to use roll aluminum flashing from HD cut in strips and bent into an "L" shape lengthwise. About a 3" wide strip, bent into a 1.5" X 1.5" angle, should work to give you a nice wide form for the flange. Make cuts in the outside leg to allow the form surface to conform closely to the wheel well shape. IMPORTANT: Apply paste floor wax to the uncut leg and a little way up the outside leg side...the wax will keep the resin from bonding the form to your fender. Secure it on the outside of the fender with green masking tape.

Keep in mind that your form doesn't have to be perfect...you just want something that will support the lamination until it cures, and there's not a lot of weight there. The closer the form fits to the wheel well shape, the less work to blend the new work into the fender. The form surface also has to be pretty much horizontal inside for the flange...if it isn't, you're going to lose a lot of your fiberglass when you start grinding the flange to be horizontal.

Once the lamination cures, you can work it with Dremel cutoff wheel and sandpaper block to create a new "flange" that is straight, with uniform thickness and width. To conceal the repair, the inside surface of the fender above the flange can be sanded smooth. You may find the edge of the flange will be too thin after just one application...the tedious part is continuing to add laminations until you get full thickness.

Edit: You'll want to use tinted resin to match your fiberglass, and heavy random fiber mat, not fiberglass cloth. Check out The Corvette Image for tinted resin, or find tint for the clear resin.

[Keith B.]

Re: Paint/body - Lacquer -Silver Pearl

Chuck, Mike, Rich: I sincerely appreciate your wealth of experience in this area, thank-you very much !! I have learned so much about these cars in the past 6 yrs, from egnine rebuild, susp rebuild, carb tweaks, spring restorations, etc, etc but this paint, prep and repair stuff is foreign to me.

I can say that this old time Corvette painter does maybe 4- 6 C1 to C3's per year in his barn shooting good old lacquer. Over the past several yrs 6 C2's have T.F. and two PV'd. At a recent Natl convention the ext judges asked who painted their cars , as it was the best paint work that best replicated the factory that they had seen in years. As for repair work I required this info so I could make sure he did the job properly.

Chuck, I think I understand your process, not that I would try it but I will share accordingly and demand it be done right.

My apologies for not being clear on the location, the Org owner, who I bought the car from had it for 38 yrs, running over sized tires. He obviously shaved the inner fender wheel flanges back a good 1/2"-3/4" inches per wheel well and I want to do the job correctly and get it back close to the way it should be.

Gentlemen, again- THANK-YOU !!.