hey guys when I bought this bird it was painted what the previous owner called black cherry. this color is way too brown and really dosent do anything for me. what I was wondering is where I would find a list of factory colors and is it a big resto no-no to paint a non factory color on these cars? the original color was this aqua marine color that to me was awful looking on this type of car, I was graduating to painting the car either silver metallic or maybe some type of blue or even a dark yellow. how much trouble is it going to be to go from the dark black cherry to a lighter color? will I have to go down to bare metal or would a wet sanding and coat of grey primer kill the old color and keep it from bleeding out?
"Camaros...A dime a dozen and boring, sit behind the wheel of a real performance car and wield the power of the GM Gods"
As far as what color, that is up to your personal taste. Originality is nice but the only person you have to please is yourself. If you like silver and want to use an original color, paint code "P" is Ditzler #32603 Silverglaze Poly, which is a color used in '67 only. Take a look at the online car show on this site and see what the rest of the members have.
I dont think its a problem covering the black cherry paint. The REAL problem to any car painter is going to be........what is under that coat of paint ? Do some detective work. Find out who painted it. Did they sandblast and seal the car ? At least get rid of the rust ? If you plan on owning the car for more than a few years, because if theres moisture or rust under that coat of paint, thats all it will last you. Ray 7eglfly@comcast.net
so is it a lot of trouble to sandblast the car to the bare metal? what would I use as a sealer? would primer work or is there a special chemical for that? I do plan on being the last owner of this car so I do want it to be right and last me another 50 or so years hehehe "crosses fingers".
"Camaros...A dime a dozen and boring, sit behind the wheel of a real performance car and wield the power of the GM Gods"
if you're going to blast, and you probably already know this, but, make sure it is completely disassembled and be sure to blow out all the sand or whatever when you are done, then when you're sure the sand is all gone, blow it all out again.
i sanblasted around my front and rear windscreens several years ago, thinking i had the interior completely sealed and protected. i am still getting sand out occasionally. i even drove it around for a few years with open windows and no headliner, and put a new one in a couple years ago. there are little piles of sand by my quarter window corners right now. for a while, i'd go over a big bump and have a dash shaped line of sand on my carpet.
just trying to save you from this fate. actually, i'm alot happier with the sand than i was with the rust.
you know I have the same problem with little sand piles under the dash. maybe this car was blasted already? as far as alluminum oxide being the second hardest blasting media goes, I dont think thats right. reason I say is thats what I use when re-finishing firearms and cleaning rust off of small parts. I was told that the A/O is pretty soft and not to use anything else on areas where the metal is to be exposed and subject to visual inspection. I may be wrong but I don't think its that harsh. I'll gho look it up and see though.
"Camaros...A dime a dozen and boring, sit behind the wheel of a real performance car and wield the power of the GM Gods"
Alumina as a polishing compound can be pretty fine so it won't put big scratched in stuff, but the individual particals are harder than hell. Got this off the web (diamond is 10 on the hardness scale):
RUBY, the red variety of corundum
VARIETY INFORMATION: VARIETY OF: Corundum , Al2O3 . USES: Gemstone. BIRTHSTONE FOR: July COLOR: various shades of red. INDEX OF REFRACTION: 1.76 - 1.78 BIREFRINGENCE: 0.009 HARDNESS: 9 CLEAVAGE: none, although there is a rhombic parting CRYSTAL SYSTEM: trigonal PLEOCHROIC: strongly SPECIMENS Ruby is the red variety of corundum, the second hardest natural mineral known to mankind.
Silicon Carbide is the hardest sandblast media available. Aluminum oxide comes right after it. There are different grits of aluminum oxide and the number follows the same system as sandpaper. Most sandblast shops use 16 because it lasts longer. If I were do blast a frame or other substantive part I would use nothing courser than 80. I would never blast a whole car. Even sandblasting trouble spots like door bottoms will leave so much residual sand in the car, not to mention in the window mechanism, dash assembly etc.. that you will regret it for the life of the car.
If you really want to strip the car, use a chemical stripper on the large surfaces, but be careful not to get it into any seems. Near your panel edges and seems use a dual action sander to finish up the job. There are a lot of people that have used a DA to do the whole car. Use an open coat 80 grit paper and you won't do any damage.
I ran a body shop at one time so I speak with a little bit of experience on this.
and....both times I did total repaint , I myself sanded entire car down to metal, no chemicals , no strippers...just sandpaper...
also heard horror stories of chemicals being used and not gotten 'cleaned out' later....whole car "rotted out" a year or so later, from the chemical residue...
I don't have any experience with the polymer beads but know that they are 2-3 times more expensive than aluminum oxide and don't last near as long. 50lb of aluminum oxide will run you about $20 - $25 now so it's not a cheap prospect.
Walnut shells are good for hard plastic and durable plastic parts like kick panels. They're also good for cleaning but not necessarily stripping soft aluminum parts that have a nice finish-like a manifold or a PMD timing chain cover. For rough cast aluminum you might as well use glass beads.
The problem you mentioned with stripper is exactly why you don't want to get it into any seams or crevices. I've never been a big fan of strippers because they're so messy and I don't believe that there is much to be gained in time savings.
In case anybody cares (probably not), Hammered was right on the money. I looked up abrasives in a materials handbook and it ranked hardness: diamond, cubic boron nitride, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide. But aluminum oxide is the second hardest "natural" substance after diamond.
