1986 Iroc Z Camaro Restoration

[Danspeed1]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and in the process of restoring/repainting my 1986 Camaro Iroc Z. I will post some pictures of the progress tomorrow. I was an automotive technician till a recent career change; and have a few months of body shop experience when I worked part time for one for a short while back in 2005. When I began the paint work I was under the misconception that I actually remembered enough to get by... but I don't. That's where you guys come in, hopefully you all will be able to give me some constructive advice.

The car overall was in very good condition considering... it was repainted 10 years ago by the previous owner. Apparently the previous owner sanded the car to bare metal, laid one coat of primer, one coat of base one coat of clear and was done with it, because after sanding the car for just 2-3 hours with 80 grit and a DA it was down to metal once more. It went down without a fight. The car has little dings all over and I have never worked with a hammer or dolly... don't even own one (may have to get one), hopefully will be able to get by with filler. Otherwise the car is in exceptional shape. There is NO rust! After the car was in a very minor collision over the winter I decided to replace the hood, fenders and I am deciding what to do with the warped bumper. Overall it is coming along well but I am at the point where I am in need of advice.

This is the car...

[Danspeed1]

As I mentioned in my first post I recently replaced the fenders and hood. The body was stripped down to bare metal. There is no rust. I am not sure how to proceed. There are many dings but they are all very minimal. The biggest problem I have to contend with is the lack of flatness in the panels. When the car had paint on it, the doors looked very wavy. Not wavy enough that it could be felt with your hands but the metal is very rippled. I have been told I to coat the whole door in a very light skim coat of filler and block it down, lay down a epoxy primer/primer surfacer and then block it down once more, but I am concerned skim coating the whole panel in filler will just create a mess. Can anyone recommend a process to get this all very straight and flat? I am thinking of using a high build primer and blocking that down with my dura blocks. Any tips, tricks, or advice would be greatly appreciated on how you would proceed.

The car is being painted PPG Jet Black (or GM #99K) Urethane BC/CC. Its very important I get it straight and flat.

Pictures of progress to follow tomorrow.

DG

[Len]

If a panel is wavy you can apply a filler over the entire panel but you should use a more liquid filler than your standard body filler. Something like Quantum 1 would do a nice job. You should also use a Dry Guide Coat after the filler hardens so that you can SEE when you get it level. If you want to remove minor dings you can also use the Q1 for that purpose. On the wavy panels you should use a long block and on the dings use a small block. I would sand the Q1 with 80 grit to level it then with 180 before applying an epoxy primer and a filler primer then guide coat the primer and block sand with 400 to 600 grit wet sandpaper.

Q1 Link



Dry Guide Coat Link

[Danspeed1]

Update:

Well I got the car down to metal. 80 grit on a DA got the job done pretty quick. The whole car is pretty much disassembled with exception of the passenger door which I will be replacing with one I found for $50. The passenger door is bondo from one end to the next and of course its right down the body line so there is no hope of ever getting it to look right. The drives door has little dings all over it so I am going to finish sanding the door down to metal with 80 grit on a DA, coat that door in evercoat quantum 1 large panel repair putty and and then block it down. The only other panel I will do that to is the trunk lid as it has a lot of dings too. Then I will hit the car with some PPG Epoxy primer, Either feather fill or one of the other high fill primer fillers, and then block the whole car down. That should be enough to get it flat the first time???? I can only hope. The hood and fenders (which are not pictured) are replacements from another car... all original GM parts.






DG

[Danspeed1]

Here is a couple more pictures...

[Len]

Just make sure you use "guide coat" at every stage of the filling process. When we have large areas of filler we usually use a bondo-type filler like Rage Gold and after it's level we use a thin coat of Quantum 1 then a coat of Slick Sand before we seal and paint.

[Flyin-Bryan]

Painted yet?