VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood First resto, need guidance!

Ok. So after 4 years I'm FINALLY getting around to starting my '41 chevy resto. Please note, this is my FIRST resto so sorry for this rookie question....

So the body "appears" to be mostly solid, with some holes at the toe kick area. But as everyone knows, cars come back from media blasting like swiss cheese sometimes, so as I have a budget I thought I would see how it came out before I went to far with it. The media blaster I have selected primes after blasting with a PPG primer-sealer. I figured once I got it primed and back home, I could take my time and find a shop willing to pull the dents out, and weld in repairs and eventually do final paint. But it seems a lot of shops won't touch it if they didn't put the primer on, or if they don't use the same brands as PPG. Most would have me believe I need to go straight from stipping in bare steel, to the body shop.

I don't have the budget for this...it was supposed to be do a little, save a little, do a little more, etc.

Anyone else have this experience? How did you work around it? I'm a mechanical guy, so I planned on doing all mechanical and assembly myself and let pros do the welding and repairs (so I know it will last)...Is there a defined process, do I really have to be prepared to shell out for a whole body job before really knowing if its even worth it?

I have been doing on my 41 what you are proposing for the past ten years. My theory has been take on projects one at a time over the winter so I can drive the car in the summer. Please give me a call 989-832-7634. Leave a message if I am not home or answering the phone. I would be glad to discuss your project. I have over 20 DVD recordings documenting my repairs. For body work I have repaired areas of my trunk, the whole passenger side rocker panel, front passenger side floor, front cowl, and the legs on my fire wall. I have also gone through all the mechanical areas. Good luck, Mike

P.S. I am going to be out of town July 8th to the 16th.

Hey Mike! Thanks for the reply. Not sure if you remember me but I'm the fella who bought your NOS rear fender...

I'll give you a call next week. Great to hear from you, thanks!

Matt

The reason paint shops don't like to see primer is because some primers can absorb the solvents from top coats and and lift. Using a catalyzed epoxy or catalyzed urethane primer is a better choice as the top coat solvents will not lift the primer. A good paint shop should be able to deal with this if they know the exact type of catalyzed primer used. See if your media blaster can apply a catalyzed (2K) primer for you. The 2K primers will also not swell from fillers and will resist sanding swell. Also using a catalyzed all metal type filler will also yield superior results that will not swell or crack. It's a harder material when dry so it needs more careful application to be able to work to proper contour, but well worth the extra effort.

The body shop that did the work on my '38 had the media blaster come to their location to do the blasting. Once the blasting was done the body shop did the priming. Would that work for you? The reason a shop won't spray over someone else's primer is all of their work could fail, leaving them on the hook, if the primer shot by someone else fails.

That just happens to someone here. The owner of a 1960 Impala asked to only scuff, flatten and respray. Everything went well until the painter put a coat of his own primer down to get it ready for paint. After a few hours the whole thing started bubbling and wrinkling. They ended up having to strip to bare metal and start again. The price went up too.