Soda Blasted Corvette

AcadiaS

New member
Hi guys,

I'm new to the forums and haven't done body work/paint in over 20 years.

Well a couple of months ago I had my 76 Corvette soda blasted. The person who did claimed to have done a couple of Vette's before. I was not home at the time and my wife sent me some pictures of the job after he was done. Well he went all the way down to bare fiber, you can feel the fibers all over the body of the car. I soaked the car in vinegar and washed it several times to neutralize the vinegar.

I bought some EuroFill (PPG) and was told that if I sprayed 5 coats and followed by blocking the car, then spray 5 more coats again followed by blocking I should be good to go with paint. This is from local painter shop owner who has been working in the biz for over 40 years.

I am about to start repairing some of the previous repair work that was crap at best (see attached pics). I went over the car and enlarged the pin holes and cracks so that I start repairing them. I noticed that both sides of the car near the end of front fenders both had some repair work done to it. I also noticed that the rear driver's side bonding strip between the cap and fender had separated slightly and was visible under the paint (not original), at first I though someone had keyed the car (before blasting). I enlarged the split so that I could fill it with Kevlar filler.
 

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TAZ

Administrator
Staff member
Welcome to the forum.

Yes, you will have quite a bit of work ahead of you.
Any bad spots like in the pic on the right, I would grind the heck out of that area, take come wax paper, lay some fiberglass matting down, coat it with resin ( of course with hardener). Then flop the wax paper over onto the area and leave it there until it hardened or close to it.
Then sand down, duraglass, sand, bondo, prime.

Anxious to see your project during the process.
 

AcadiaS

New member
im currently offshore but should be back home to get some more pictures and of course do some work on those bad areas. I was hoping to use only filler to repair those areas, we'll have to see about that.

Should I consider glassing the whole car? And if so what would the best product be to use on it?
 

TAZ

Administrator
Staff member
You might want to just put bondo on the bad areas, but do the fiberglass patching I mentioned above on the cracked areas.
 

AcadiaS

New member
I will give it a try, what more can it hurt. the car looked "good" when i got it, but pictures can be deceiving. Rock chips, cracks in the paint and scratches were all over. I don't care for the extra work, it's the end result that I care about it. 76 Stingray.jpg76 Stingray during blasting..jpg
 

wayneh

New member
Welcome to the forum.

Yes, you will have quite a bit of work ahead of you.
Any bad spots like in the pic on the right, I would grind the heck out of that area, take come wax paper, lay some fiberglass matting down, coat it with resin ( of course with hardener). Then flop the wax paper over onto the area and leave it there until it hardened or close to it.
Then sand down, duraglass, sand, bondo, prime.

Anxious to see your project during the process.

Ahh the old wax paper trick. Haven't heard of that one in years, used to do it all the time. Leaves a nice smooth repair to work with. I would have to agree with Taz, any areas that are cracked should be matted before any filler or the filler will crack down the road. A lot of work yes, but the end results are worth the extra effort. Good luck with the restoration.
 

AcadiaS

New member
My main worry isn't the minor body repair, it's the bare glass. Any comments on the 5 coats of primer, then blocking, then spraying 5 more coats of primer then sanding. Sounds like allot of primer.
 

wayneh

New member
Your right that should be a concern. I can think of a number of options, Taz your probably more up to date on this than I. Option one would be to coat the areas that have bare fiber with resin. Brush it on and than layer a sheet of wax paper over it to leave a smooth finish. Follow up with body filler as needed. Option two as Taz mentioned above, a coat of body filler over the bad areas. Option three would be to 3 coats of epoxy primer followed up with glazing putty. Myself I think I'd opt for the first option, helps to restore the strength of the glass, just my 2 cents worth.
 

AcadiaS

New member
my head is pounding, and my pocket book is running down the freaking hall.. more options please that won't cost me a wife, the house and kids.
 

TAZ

Administrator
Staff member
We've both mentioned coating bondo on the areas that have the fiberglass strands exposed. You really don't have too many options here.
The bondo will run about $25-$45 for a gallon. All the options mentioned above run less than $75. That is pretty reasonable.
The BIG money comes when you buy your basecoat, clearcoat and reducer (if you buy a good quality). You may want to start shopping colors here to find out pricing.
Good paint can run you $400+ a gallon plus the clear, hardener, reducer, buff materials...

You could always just go single stage paint, but this won't last or look good.

If you were looking to save money, you probably should have stripped this by using a 'big wheel' (basically a buffer with a sanding disc setup).
This would have saved you money in the long run.
I just did a Vette about 3 weeks ago in which I stripped all the top surfaces and some of the side. I did get into some of the strands, so I had to bondo.

Yes, you will need to use hi-build primer on this. This will run you about $140-$225 for the primer, hardener and reducer.
 

AcadiaS

New member
Ok here is a list of the products recommended by a local body shop paint supply store. I think they steered me in the right direction, but please comment.

Evercoat - Everglass p/n 100632 short strand fiber glass body filler w/cream hardener
Evercoat - URO-Fill p/n 102224 4.8 VOC compliant acrylic urethane primer surfacer (1 gal)
Evercoat - URO-Fill Activator p/n 102233 (32 oz)
What reducer would I need for this primer? They didn't mention that.
 

fiftyfourd

New member
All the evercoat primer/surface I've ever used doesn't have a reducer. We use their Featherfill at our shop, and the 'activator' is pretty thin so I think they use an activator/reducer all together, usually a 4:1 mix.
 

bondofreak

New member
I say matte the cracks after feathering out the area very well. Roll gel coat on the exposed strands over the whole car if need be. Let it cure out in the sun a few days. Then block it some with 80 staying off the lines. Scuff the lows, and blow it off. Follow with 2 coats epoxy let it sit over nite. Follow with the high build. JMO. Great advice you been getting.
 
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Ferg

New member
I feel your pain! I did a '75 Vette for a customer that sounds like the same blind guy soda blasted his too. All the advice I've seen so far is spot on.
From the nightmare that I restored, I went with resin and mat over the loose strands where holes were blown out by over blasting. The entire car was stripped of gelcoat, leaving nothing but exposed strands of raw glass and even had to replace the hood, l/f door and l/ T-Top. I found the easiest way was to coat the entire car in an initial layer of duraglass to lock in the raw glass, and to gain some resemblance to panel gaps and overall thickness of each panel. From there I went with evercoat body filler and smoothed everything out to make it all level and smooth. Few heavy coats of feather fill and a TON of blocksanding later, it looked like a Vette again. Plan on using plenty of elbow grease to block it all out. Unlike a steel body where when filling lows, you can only sand as far down as the metal. When basically reshaping a damaged fiberglass body there is nothing to stop you from sanding too deep. You are basically sculpting your own vehicle with no guide line or reference point other than the feel and sight to ensure a smooth, straight panel. It's been 5 years since I restored it for him and it still looks great so I must have done something right. Good luck with it.
 
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