Marine Blue

Russ are you removing and replacing trim or leaving it in place?

Fabio421

This is a little OT but how are those side pipes constructed? It looks like you have some custom made headers that come out to the side pipe. Is this just a faux look or is it truly a custom made piece?

largecar379

Trim will is/will be removed as I have some that needs replacing anyway......

most of it has been removed already.

--Russ

largecar379

Fab--


the pipes are Hooker Header units from Summit racing.

3 tubes on each collector are blocked, the main 4 inch tube is remove-able for taking the mufflers out for track use.

further plans include adding MSDS headers, cutting off the header collector leaving just the primaries, opening the three sidepipe tubes, and connecting all of them up. full functioning header sidepipes.

all of this to happen after I build my hybrid motor.

--Russ

JHowell37

It's imperative that whoever strips the bumpers removes all of the paint. It is also imperative that the painter uses an adhesion promoter and a flex additive when painting the bumpers. Insist on it if you have to. The argument that modern paints will stick to that material without adhesion promoter and flex additive is invalid. The material is simply too soft.

The primer with "galvanizing" in it is chromated. You can buy both etching primer or epoxy with chromate. You can even get lacquer based primer with chromate. It will have a greenish color.

largecar379

Thanks J,

as usual, I'm taking notes.

--Russ

Fabio421

I think J. Howwell should post some before and after pics of his car. That will give you some encouragement Russ.

largecar379

yep, his suggestions have been very, very helpful, as have everyone else's.

it is coming along better than I anticipated, just need to finish up with a few minor things today.....

--Russ

JHowell37

Here are two threads on the subject. For some reason, I thought I had a couple more threads with pictures from the day I painted it. I also thought I had one that showed when I replaced the quarter panel.

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ight=JHowell37

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ight=JHowell37

I went back and re-read some of the things I had stated in those posts and have to say that there are some things I'd like to retract. I'm mainly referring to the use of urethane based 2K surfacer. Previous experience with the stuff left me dissatisfied with it. But that was from using it over ten years ago. For this job I had to use it on the bumpers with a lot of flex additive and it worked out well plus it is easy to sand.

In addition, I have a few paint chips on my hood and on top of my fenders at this point. I don't have any on the bumpers however. I'm contemplating whether to respray the car when it gets warm so I can correct some things I'm unhappy with. If I do, I'll use urethane surfacer on the car, but I'm not going to sand down to metal again as there is simply no point. What I'm also going to try is to add some flex additive to the surfacer and clear coat. I'll only go about 10% on the flex additive. It will keep things just soft enough so it should add an extra measure of chip resistance. We'll see. I'll post some pictures from the day I painted it later on.

largecar379

all I can say is "WOW"......

man, that's an incredible job.

hope mine turns out half as nice......!

Again--thanks for the tips and help!!!

--Russ

BC

Isn't the flex additive temporary? Thats why I had to use actual bumper primer and surfacer on the bumpers for my 78.

JHowell37

Some will argue that it's temporary. I've got a chunk of primer about an inch thick sitting in my garage from last summer. It had flex additive mixed in. It's still flexible. On mine I followed the Glasurit procedure which called for adhesion promoter and then 2-3 coats of 2K surfacer with flex mixed in. After that, sealing was optional. I didn't do it because the recipe for sealing was heavily reduced surfacer with flex additive. So i just applied the basecoat and then the clear with more flex additive.

A lot of people make a big deal out of using the stuff (flex additive) and I'm not sure why. The only conclusion I can come to is either lazy or cheap. Maybe a combination of both things. What I know is that whether you use DuPont, PPG, BASF/Glasurit, or any of their other respective product lines, almost all have specific procedures for refinishing plastic. It's especially important when painting older plastics such as those used on these cars because it was these older plastic bumpers that proved so difficult to repaint in the past. The various guidelines and additives exist for a reason.

One more thing, the headlight covers should be prepped and refinished the same as the bumpers.

BC

Because no matter what I put on the bumpers, the color has still cracked just from sitting in the garage being moves around - at the top corner of the rear bumper where it has to curve around the car.

largecar379

Damn...I hope I don't have that going on when I get mine done....

I am no painter, but my resto guy has the expertese to do them.

out of town in the AM, so the car will have to go to Paul's shop next week for an assessment of my work. Then....?

---Russ

JHowell37

I vaguely recall you saying that PPG products were used on your car. IIRC PPG has a massive catalog and they're not very forthcoming about info. You basically have to be in the business to figure out what's what. I can't even begin to speculate on what the problem was, but what I do know is that something clearly wasn't done right. My guess would be either an adhesion promoter, or flex agent were left out. But as I said, I really can't tell.