[vanessa]

primer help for a beginner

I have a 67 cougar and would like to do as much of the work as I can on my own. But, I am new at this so I was hoping for some help. HERE IS THE QUESTION: I want to prep my car for paint (smooth out body and prevent any rusting) and then leave it primered while I complete the restoration of the engine and interior. Where do I start and what do I do? I know this involves sandpaper, wetsanding, etc. but.....Can anyone help with the details? Thanks!

 

[wvcat]

It sounds like a good plan. The condition of your existing paint and amount of rust will dictate how you prep your car. If your paint is just dull it really doesn't even need primered unless you sand thru the paint. On all of those areas a good wetsanding will take care of the prep work. Now depending on what paint you are using you may need to use 600 grit paper or 320 grit. 320 will sand the car faster but if you paint with acrylic enamal you may be able to see scratch marks thru the new paint if there is not atleast 3 coats of paint. Base coat clear coat will hide the scratches but will probably cost you more to get painted because its like painting the car twice for materials and labor. Probably the best thing for a beginer to do is have a bodyman look at the car to give advice.
Good Luck
Joh

 

[sixt9coug]

cracks my back and streches to prep for a long answer.......

hi! and welcome to the boards here. you will find it most useful, and as you are about to find out, i can be long winded when it comes to body and paint. he he he. well, lets start off here, if the body is straight, i wouldnt bother primering the areas. just some sanding with 400 wet paper would be the best before paint. if you have dents in the area repair them then primer them up with a good primer. i would stay away from any laquer primers or any primer in a spray can ( well, that is ok for temporary use only, like for a week then you are gonna sand it off again ). Preferably, id use a catalized primer for this job. PCL has one called Polyprimer thats pretty cheap and works well for this. its about $55 for a gallon or so. Money no object id go with Valspar's 21N primer. its VERY nice, but also alot of money. about $45..... for one quart. quite a difference eh? if you want to sand the paint all the way to metal, you can, i dont reccomend it inless its really necessary. by necessary, i mean like cracked paint, too many paint jobs or whatnot. if you do do that however, get an etching primer over the metal before you put the other primer over it. it will help it adhere better and provide a bit of insurance agains corrosion. you can leave the primer on there like that for a while while you do the rest of the car as long as you dont sand it and break through. if you do that it will start to absorb water and begin to rust underneath the paint. thats not fun .there is alot to paint and body and i have fun with it. give it a shot and i think youll find it fun too. at times discouraging, but theres no more fun that people asking you who painted your car and saying " i did " . that and saving alot of cash. i did mine for about $500. multiply that about 4 or 5 times for what a shop would have charged me. and iff you look at the pics in the signature just below this, they wouldnt have disassembled it like that either have fun with it! thats what its meant for.