FC7 Plum Crazy Purple paint question

[Oldmanmopar]

I've been taking my FC7 '70 Swinger down to bare metal for 3 months now due to it having multiple paint jobs. As you can see the first layer is definitely red oxide.

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I never sand a car down to bare metal do to heat and not being able to see what was sanded or fixed before. I always used paint stripper and a razor scraper on exterior metal. Once down to the red oxide then put a coat of paint stripper on it and steel wool it the rest of the way.. Always tape the gaps so the paint stripper does not go into the jams unless your painting them. Then you only have to sand the edges. Using this method you can see all the original untouched metal. Yes the stripper removes body work too. I then use fine Crushed glass to do from the doors down and the front clip.

 

[70SwingerGuy]

hey so quick question and not to sidetrack but do you guys block sand the sealer?

Yes and no, you only block sand fully cured primer, a sealer coat is used as an optional first coat when painting to fix minor imperfections that may have been missed during prepwork, and to make the car one consistent color so that transparent or semi-transparent topcoats cover evenly or quicker; technically, sealer is a thinner version of primer/surfacer. That being said, when I was painting a complete high end job, after I was satisfied that my primer was blocked and finished to perfection, I would spray a coat or two of sealer over the entire car to make it a consistent color, fix any minor burn throughs etc. and let it dry. Then I would wet sand the entire car(using a soft block) with 600 wet. I was taught(and fully believe) that if you prep your surface properly, you do not need a sealer coat before starting to lay down your color coats, and in a wet on wet paint application(ie every paint job) the less coats you put on the better your overall final finish will be, the nicer the metallics will lay, and the smoother the clear will lay down also.
This was just my way of painting, by no means do I say that its the only way, I just found that this way gave me the best results, especially when spraying candies.
So I guess if you do it my way, you do actually block sand the sealer

 

[str12-340]

back to the original question: I have a Plum Crazy Dart. After a few years of driving, I wish that I had requested the darkest color primer available. The paint shop, which produced stunning results, use a very light gray primer. even tiny paint chips are exceptionally evident due to the contrast between the light primer and the dark paint. If it had been very dark grey or black they would be unnoticeable.

 

[70SwingerGuy]

back to the original question: I have a Plum Crazy Dart. After a few years of driving, I wish that I had requested the darkest color primer available. The paint shop, which produced stunning results, use a very light gray primer. even tiny paint chips are exceptionally evident due to the contrast between the light primer and the dark paint. If it had been very dark grey or black they would be unnoticeable.

That is a very good point, sometimes its not about color coverage

 

[Dartswinger70]

That's like a Harley though if you ride it the paint wont stay perfect...there are guys who don't ride them and just sit in the garage polishing them all the time...my "repaint" ended up becoming a restoration and I sometimes wished i would have just drove the car old and in primer like it was back in the 2000s

 

[barbee6043]

A good rule of thumb... old cars... get them running and driving and THEN worry about paint!!!!
When a guys does it the other way around,,,,,, well many times it will never get to the running/driving stage, for many various reasons, thus just a garage ornament, till the wife says "please get rid of that old car!"

 

[DartManPlum340]

I never sand a car down to bare metal do to heat and not being able to see what was sanded or fixed before. I always used paint stripper and a razor scraper on exterior metal. Once down to the red oxide then put a coat of paint stripper on it and steel wool it the rest of the way.. Always tape the gaps so the paint stripper does not go into the jams unless your painting them. Then you only have to sand the edges. Using this method you can see all the original untouched metal. Yes the stripper removes body work too. I then use fine Crushed glass to do from the doors down and the front clip.

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I used to use aircraft paint stripper a lot, until methylene chloride was banned by the EPA a few years ago. There was never a dusty mess with that! After that I could never find an acceptable stripper. What brand are you using? Thanks!

 

[Dartswinger70]

A good rule of thumb... old cars... get them running and driving and THEN worry about paint!!!!
When a guys does it the other way around,,,,,, well many times it will never get to the running/driving stage, for many various reasons, thus just a garage ornament, till the wife says "please get rid of that old car!"

I hear ya Im am almost done but dont ask how many years and $$$ was spent plus what they dont tell ya is ya get older and slower LOL!
actually my wife has been like "I sure miss riding in it..." in my case career sucked up alot of time but hey I needed the $$$ to buy parts and supplies

what nobody tells you is, every nut bolt weatherstrip clip and washer kit ,it all costs $$$ yes you can use used bolts and soak in evaporust do you have time? or do you want to cut in the fenders and doors and bolt them on? all of it costs now ...I've spent more time collecting parts and that time factors in, in the old days it was attending swap meets and combing the yards now it s go online and pay shipping but it costs.

Take YT I know a guy is full of it when they say "were going to have this car ready for power tour" and Power tour is 9 months out and the car is a complete heap...yeah click bait wrenching skills aside you need a big purse to pull it off in 9 months.

 

[1MeanA]

I used to use aircraft paint stripper a lot, until methylene chloride was banned by the EPA a few years ago. There was never a dusty mess with that! After that I could never find an acceptable stripper. What brand are you using? Thanks!

I found that crap stripper didn't work on factory paint. I really like the 3M Strip N Clean XT discs but its dusty. Some people like the 36 grit discs but they are brutal on metal.

https://www.3mcanada.ca/3M/en_CA/p/d/b5005028017/

 

[DartManPlum340]

I found that crap stripper didn't work on factory paint. I really like the 3M Strip N Clean XT discs but its dusty. Some people like the 36 grit discs but they are brutal on metal.

http://[URL]https://www.3mcanada.ca/3M/en_CA/p/d/b5005028017/

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I've been using a similar product on the Dart. It works great, but it sure sends purple dust everywhere. If it's warm enough outside I open the doors and turn on a big fan to blow the dust out as I'm stripping.

 

[rslscobra]

I was told to use white primer and white sealer will make the purple pop more.

 

[barbee6043]

In SPI old site, it offers like 4 colors of single stage or was it base? like maybe black, white, orange, blue... but it also gives recommendation as to what color primer to use. I don't see that info in their new website.