1997 neon acr. Lapis blue. Challenge and life after/long term ownership.
So, art (my bodyman friend) bailed on helping me this time.
Which means im going at it solo. Well, my wife and daughter will help, but im generally on my own.
The guy that owes me a favor is coming next week to do the media blasting of the jambs and engine bay and such. And then hes leaving.
Thats where my fun starts. Im guessing that with the clearcoat failure i need to go down to bare metal on everything. Right? Or just the hood where the paint is peeling off?
Ive been told that epoxy primer is what to spray over the bare metal. Any version better than others? I was just going to grab it from either o'Reilly auto or napa. With the final color being blurple, do i want black or gray or does it not matter?
Car is amazingly straight. I done see any dents. Just ripples. A few coats of high build and a crap ton of blocking, right? Any product recommendations there? Remember, im trading parts to professor brap for my supplies. Bang for the buck is KEY.
im hoping to be able to borrow a booth to spray the base clear, but i got a long way to go before I think about that.
wake74
New Reader
4/24/20 7:17 p.m.
I'm going through this now on my TR6 frame-off. It's a long process, you'll take a trip to sanding hell, and then just camp there indefinitely :-)
A few lessons learned.
You'll think the panel is "amazingly straight" until you take a long block and some guide coat. And then you'll be like, where did all the waves come from. Guide coats sole purpose in life is to tell you that you suck.
If I was to do it again (and hopefully it will be awhile), I would have used black DTM primer for the first layer. I found it very difficult to visualize the grey DTM doing onto freshly blasted metal. Its a very similar color. Plus with black DTM, and grey high build, you will have the contrast again for coverage. And you'll be able to better gauge when you've sanded all the way through the high build before you go to bare metal again.
I personally don't think the manufacturer of your DTM will matter all that much. I used PPG Omni, followed by Evercoat high build.
Get acquainted with your local paint shop. I've found their pricing not far off on-line, and they certainly are more helpful with advice. My only issue with going to the local shop is the package quantity for wet / dry. I'll have enough for multiple lifetimes.
And whatever time / materials you think you'll need double it. It will be obviously once you start blocking that sharp paper is way better than dull paper, and you'll go through lots of it.
Sprayed the first area of BC / CC this afternoon on the bottom of the tub. It came out okay. A fair amount of orange peel, but that's why I started on the bottom. I'll sand / polish all the visible panels to get rid of the orange peel. Yeah, more sanding!
