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what is the sequence and color of factory paint application of my 1983 s?
see pic below, but it appears to have a dark gray layer applied to the metal, followed by a very light gray, followed by a medium gray, then the base color (in this case kiln red).
which layer yer do I want to “keep” when sanding Down for paint prep?
i honestly thought the car had been resprayed at some point, and my plan was to take off all of the respray, but that could just be certain panels and not the entire car. I have only test sanded that sunroof panel.
there are definitely not two different base (red) layers on the car.
i do suppose the car could originally have been gray (the “third” layer up), but that would mean under hood, door jambs, etc would all have been painted.
i have no options sticker or door jamb paint sticker to verify factory color.
Mine is an early '83, so when Rob ran the VIN for me there is no color information. I may try to go through the local dealer and see what kind of response I can get. My car only has one "strange" option
I will take a look at some other panels this weekend and sand a bit off just to see if I can find the suspect "two layers of kiln red".
Will report back. I am still unsure why I have three distinct shades of gray on that sunroof panel underneath the kiln red basecoat.
If you want to geek out on the primers, fillers and paint used in period, here's a PDF of the factory guide on materials for repairing damaged paint, from the Morehouse CD's. Published in 1983, appropriately:
So I did a little sanding on the driver's side tonight to see what I could find. Pics below.
The B-pillar panel looks like it is still factory - although I had to go pretty far down to get to the white (can't find other layers though).
The door tells the story of the repaint. I finally found a second layer of red underneath. Still kind of odd, but looks like there is a sealer/primer on under the top color coat, then the original red followed by the same sequence I see on the sunroof panel.
This also might explain the subtle difference in hardware I found on the inside of the door panel on dissassembly. On the passenger side door, the round "lock-unlock" dial is held down by a nut on a threaded rod. On the driver's side, the dial is held in by a philips-head machine screw. Any way to reconcile the difference? I assume that means the door could have been replaced at some point in the car's life, but interesting that they were able to get a door (if that's what happened) in the same color or close to it.
Any other thoughts?
B-pillar - that white spot is awful soft in the middle - bondo perhaps? coincidental that I randomly chose that spot to test sand
Re the doors - are the speaker depressions the same on the doors? The hollow on the left door looks to be in a different location to that on my 83(jan) car.
jp 83 Euro S AT 57k
01-10-2018, 07:28 PM
Factory paint question
