[davis95]

My 66 has 17 year-old enamel paint which is still very presentable, but through the years the body work on the passenger's door and rear quarter have began to show their age and with a black car old bodywork is usually unforgiving after this long. My question to you body afficioanados is, can I shoot my car with a heavy filling primer directly over the existing enamel and rework it without having to strip it down completely again? When it was done 17 years ago the process was done as follows: Rust was stripped to bare metal, the rest of the car was sanded down to a workable platform. The entire car was shot with a heavy coat of DP 40 epoxy primer. Then it was shot with a heavy coat of K200 surfacing primer. After blocking out the body it was then shot with black enamel which is still what it has. It's not show quality now but I would like to know if I can shoot a few more coats of K200 (sanding inbetween coats of course) until I get it back to where I want it and then reshoot another enamel or BC CC topcoat? Is this normal procedure or what?

 

[davis95]

Does this sound like a good way to do this?

 

[rac]

I have been told that the enamel is ok, if you used hardener.
Of course I sanded the entire car with 120 & built back-up with epoxy primer...etc.
Good Luck

 

[davis95]

I have been told that the enamel is ok, if you used hardener.
Of course I sanded the entire car with 120 & built back-up with epoxy primer...etc.
Good Luck

The topcoat isn't my issue right now. I just need to know if it's okay to go with a surfacing primer directly over enamel.

 

[f14tomcat]

After you sand the enamel down enough to give it some "tooth", 120grit DA, spray one coat of epoxy primer sealer (usually takes an hour for the epoxy to dry), followed by two medium coats of 2k sandable primer, and then block it down, and shoot it with a good quality BC/CC and then clear.
You will be OK.
You don't have to take the car back down to the metal.

 

[davis95]

After you sand the enamel down enough to give it some "tooth", 120grit DA, spray one coat of epoxy primer sealer (usually takes an hour for the epoxy to dry), followed by two medium coats of 2k sandable primer, and then block it down, and shoot it with a good quality BC/CC and then clear.
You will be OK.
You don't have to take the car back down to the metal.

Cool! That's the answer I was looking for. Thanks.

 

[Brucebodyman]

so your saying the enamel job is on top of the original lacquer? if so I would not load it with a filler primer & then repaint. Thats way to much product on car. Remember the top coat is only as good as whats underneath. Orignal lacquer is proned to crack. If it does it WILL show through what's on top of it. It's your car but if you do what I think your going to do you will be unhappy in a short time.

 

[davis95]

so your saying the enamel job is on top of the original lacquer? if so I would not load it with a filler primer & then repaint. Thats way to much product on car. Remember the top coat is only as good as whats underneath. Orignal lacquer is proned to crack. If it does it WILL show through what's on top of it. It's your car but if you do what I think your going to do you will be unhappy in a short time.

The curent enamel is on top of K200 which is on top of Dp 40 which was all done very correctly 17 years ago. My car is still very straight and all I want to do is cherry it back out again without doing another complete strip job.