Ron Earp
Admin
Okay, you body guys, please educate the uninformed neophyte.
I've got the Lola body off the car, and, it fit pretty well on the car. Naturally one of the things I need to do is get the car prepped for paint work. I spoke with Al, admin here on the forum a long time fiberglass guy with Corvettes, to help me through the body prep before painting the car. He gave me some things to do and then I'd check back in with him when he was back from vacation to get further directions. Problem is, I'm not sure I'm on the right track.
Basically, what I did was clean the body using a dewaxer cleaning agent to make sure the gelcoat was free of release agents and other assorted things. Then, I sprayed the body with a grey sandable primer making sure I covered the gelcoat entirely.
Next step was to sand the primer, hoping that I'd remove primer on high spots and it'd lie in the low spots indicating where I might need to build the body up somewhat.
The problem is I'm not sure if I'm on the right track.
Jeff and I sanded the body, the front clip, for a good hour with very little progress. Using 220 grit sandpaper on blocks not a heck of a lot happened. I got out an electric orbital 6" sander and used it some, with 220 grit, with somewhat better effect but still not a lot of progress. Yes, the primer gets smooth but it takes a long time to get down to the blue gelcoat again. I didn't put the primer on extra heavy or anything, but just made sure that it covered the body as uniformly as possible.
At this rate, it'd estimate about 80 hours to get this first stage of body work done - and then I suppose there is a lot more I need to do.
So, am I doing something wrong? Is there something I am missing? Do I need better tools to accomplish the job, or, did I screw the process up? The paper appears to get loaded up with primer and stops working pretty quickly. For a short time it cuts and removes material, but the effectiveness really drops off and at that rate I'll be an old man when done.
Thanks much,
Ron
I've got the Lola body off the car, and, it fit pretty well on the car. Naturally one of the things I need to do is get the car prepped for paint work. I spoke with Al, admin here on the forum a long time fiberglass guy with Corvettes, to help me through the body prep before painting the car. He gave me some things to do and then I'd check back in with him when he was back from vacation to get further directions. Problem is, I'm not sure I'm on the right track.
Basically, what I did was clean the body using a dewaxer cleaning agent to make sure the gelcoat was free of release agents and other assorted things. Then, I sprayed the body with a grey sandable primer making sure I covered the gelcoat entirely.
Next step was to sand the primer, hoping that I'd remove primer on high spots and it'd lie in the low spots indicating where I might need to build the body up somewhat.
The problem is I'm not sure if I'm on the right track.
Jeff and I sanded the body, the front clip, for a good hour with very little progress. Using 220 grit sandpaper on blocks not a heck of a lot happened. I got out an electric orbital 6" sander and used it some, with 220 grit, with somewhat better effect but still not a lot of progress. Yes, the primer gets smooth but it takes a long time to get down to the blue gelcoat again. I didn't put the primer on extra heavy or anything, but just made sure that it covered the body as uniformly as possible.
At this rate, it'd estimate about 80 hours to get this first stage of body work done - and then I suppose there is a lot more I need to do.
So, am I doing something wrong? Is there something I am missing? Do I need better tools to accomplish the job, or, did I screw the process up? The paper appears to get loaded up with primer and stops working pretty quickly. For a short time it cuts and removes material, but the effectiveness really drops off and at that rate I'll be an old man when done.
Thanks much,
Ron