No Gel Coat?

[Dale Pearman]

USE GEL COAT

Block sand. Use more gel coat. Block sand. Prime. Block sand. Seal. Block sand. Get the surface as straight and smooth as possible. Apply base coat, then clear coat. Make it look perfectly smooth and wet and hard as all hell.

Tee Hee Snicker yuk yuk. You've just DESTROYED another Corvette! That means my Corvettes just incrementally increased in value! Soon I'll be the only one with Corvettes that look like Corvettes! Hee-Hee, then I'll sell you one for $350,000.00! When you destroy that one my others will increase in value!

There's absolutely no reason to do things like Chevrolet did when we can IMPROVE on so many things. Thanks to Summit and Jegs, we've made what used to be a Corvette into a KIT CAR!

Do Ya Get My Drift?

Dale.

[Gary S.]

Re: USE GEL COAT

Thanks to all of your for sharing your information, your thoughts, and (some of you - Rev ) your humor.

We have a lot to think about here, but it sounds like Slicksand, or its equivalent, is the way to go. I have also read threads that say to stick with one painting system. That is, don't mix one brand of primer with another company's paint. I would assume that each paint company will have something similar to Slicksand and we shouldn't mix, say, a Dupont lacquer with Slicksand?

Thanks to you. Love this board. Gary 21316

[Gary S.]

Re: No Gel Coat?

THANK YOU, John. What a great description and I love the "I was there" approach. I hope that more folks out there will relate there experiences with companies and suppliers of Corvette parts and equipment. I had a similar experience with the Corvette Forum and a problem I posted about my key buzzer elicited a response from a Forum member who worked for the Saginaw Steering division. From that post I got a parts breakdown and a troubleshooting guide for the tilt/tele steering. Problem solved.

[Bob Lanham]

Your logic is flawed

If everyone else makes their Vette perfect with no waves, no strands showing and great paint no one will believe that yours are original. They'll just think you have some substandard examples that you're trying to pawn off as correct and original. It boils down to the loss of the knowledge base. If it weren't for NCRS I would guess that almost every Vette that got repainted would get the waves straightened and a real nice clear coat to protect that beautiful glossy paint job. Don't get me wrong a correctly restored or better yet original Vette gets my saliva glands going. A Vette that is in the shape it was created in is kind of like time traveling to me. There is just something that defies description about how those cars make you feel. I'm all for correct restos, but I want it to last as long as possible.

This concludes my editorial for today.

[George Daina]

What they mean......

don't mix one manufacturer's base coat with another's clear coat. It does not apply to primer.

[George Daina]

Good point Bob.....

but don't stand too close to the guy next to you, he just may ralph up his lunch looking at that same Vette that you're drooling over.

[Dale Pearman]

It's already happened

Our knowledge base has all but disappeared. Just watch the judging at Bloomington in the straight axle division. The "Judging Standard" is, "If the judge has restored the car, which is often the case, then what he did is original". Also, "produce the $ and get a GOLD". Too bad because knowledgable people are becoming less and less enchanted with Bloomington awards.

Yes the AURA of bumpy, wavey, saggy top, wrinkled dash pad, smelly old 1962 with high compression and a tank full of 100 octane is unforgettable. So is the history of 1962 Corvettes blowing the doors off EVERY production sports car in the WORLD within it's class. 1962 gave us SCCA championships galore. It was THE year for THE Corvette. In 1963 with the Sting Ray, our performance profile started to disappear, sadly. (How bout those C5R's and ZO6's?)

Dale.

[Chuck S.]

Re: No Gel Coat?

Rev,

Actually, I have a hard time believeing that the mold release agent survived on the surface of the part even until it was shipped. The very process of cleaning and scuffing described by John#29964 sounds like an effort to ELIMINATE the release agent; after all, if you didn't clean off the release agent, how could you expect paint to stick to the parts. By definition, a mold release agent would be temporary in nature and easy to clean out of the mold and off the part. It is doubtful that any release agent could also be expected to bond to the part such that it was integral with the fiberglass.

I AGREE with you, however, in that gelcoat was not used and that we are not looking at GELCOAT on the surface of original factory fiberglass. I believe what we are seeing is actually the polyester resin that has soaked through the glass mat, come into intimate contact with the mold surface, and formed a thin surface layer of resin with a very thin layer of release agent in between the resin and the mold surface.

This would explain why some parts have more fibers showing than others; if the guy with the coffee can, as John#29964 described, wasn't getting his can quite full each dip, you could end up with less than the ideal volume of resin in the mold, leading to surface roughness and exposed glass fibers.

As far as Corvettes go, I believe gelcoat was always an aftermarket, work intensive solution to problems encountered in the Corvette body repair and refinishing businesses. I am coming around to the position that the problems can be solved with modern, less work-intensive products, but the factory didn't use SlickSand back then either did they?

JMHO.

Chuck Sangerhausen

[Bill W.]

Re: What they mean......

I disagree . ask any paint manufacture what warranty you will have if you use someone elses primer under there paint . 0.

[George Daina]

Quallifying statement,,,,

Apply slick sand, sand, then if it makes one feel more secure apply thin coat of paint mfg's primer.

[John H.]

Even More Weird Corvette Paint History....

When I was at St. Louis in '67 launching '68 Corvette tooling, I remember George Barlos showing me pictures of the "putty rub" operation in the paint shop on the '54-'55 Corvettes. The panel surfaces were pretty poor (even by old Corvette standards), and if the normal pre-prime sanding didn't make it acceptable, they slathered big gobs of "putty rub" on the panel, squeegeed off the excess, and sanded some more after it set up. George said the "putty rub" came in 5-gallon cans that weighed about 100 pounds (they put them on little pallets with casters so they could move them around), and the guys in the paint shop called it "liquid lead". If you've ever seen a '54-'55 that's had the paint stripped, you've probably seen the evidence of "putty rub" from all the really dark spots against the light-colored fiberglass substrate. Technology marches on....

[George J.]

The Stranger is Unmasked!!!! *NM* *NM*