OK, I've got a fiberglass early Cobra body and I've got all the seams smoothed and filled as needed. Any special primer needed to prep this for paint? What do you all use in a similar situation? Yeah, I know its not a steel body, but fiberglass cars have been around since the early vettes. Lets not turn this into a " fiberglass aint traditional " post. I'm inquiring about primer and prep, OK?
Use the normal quality stuff you are familiar with would be my guess. Thats all we ever did on Semi hoods and sleepers.
Polyester based primers are usually reccommended for fiberglass cars. Evercoat has some of the best, but there are many other good polyester resin based primers. The thought being is that fiberglass cars are polyester resin based and a polyester resin based primer will expand and contract at a similar rate. Fiberglass bodies are notorious for shrinking and moving no matter how well you think you have the seams filled and blocked. Most polyester primers will need to have a sealer between primer and color, probably a nonsanding sealer compatible to the topcoat system you will use. Many years ago when I did a lot of Corvettes, we used Evercoat's Featherfill and Morton's Eliminator high build polyester primers. 2 to 3 coats and you have 15 to 20 mils to block sand on. I know Sikkens has a good polyester primer in their line, as well as most of the other European based paint systems. Watch the temperature you spray polyester primers at. They will not cure below 64 degrees and will cure too fast to keep up (spraying) with at the 85-90 degrees and up temps. overspray
Hey, How old is this fibreglass casting? If it's new and has never been painted, I'd start by washing it with strong detergent, plenty of hot water and than a wipe down with grease and wax remover and lots of clean rags. I would than set the body in the sun for as long as possible. Let it ''heat cycle" a few days, expand and contract, heat up and cool down. I'd follow this with another grease and wax remover wipe down before any primering. A polyester primer, sealed over with a top grade epoxy primer has worked out well, for me. Swankey Devils C.C. "Spending A Nation Into Generational Debt Is Not An Act Of Compassion!"
Cobras are aluminum, not fiberglass; it's a kit car no matter the age. course, you might be into kit cars.. im not but everyone is alowed their own opinions, im not insulting it, im just saying it's not an original.
Was that really neccesary? He's said in his original post he knows its not the real deal and would just like some help/advise on paint and prep .
don't get your panties in a wad, as i said im not meaning to insult. course.. everyone is going to take it as one.. should have forseen the thin skinedness of some of the jummpy people here. now go ahead prove me right. .. well.. come on.. who's a good doggy!?
Talking about kit cars, a GT40 pulled up at the service station next to me today. Really good looking one, the guy must have been a stickler for making it look like a real one. Even had pin drive spindle mounts! The more I looked the more this thing looked like a real one. The fiberglass was even really thin and and aluminium colour. Fuck. It IS a real one! I didn't even know there was one in Australia! I think I offended the owner though, apparently he didn't like me dry humping his leg. Doc.
Yeah, I'm not touchy about working on a fiberglass " kit car " They're every bit as fast as the aluminum ones and dont ding up as easy. Bigblock225slant6 can bring over HIS aluminum cobra anytime and we'll "ooh" and "Ahhh" over it for him. Or better yet that awesome slant six. Geez!
Chaz I wouldn't sweat it, its not like you have a glass 28 Roadster. I don't get buying glass for something like that when there is still plenty of steel lying around. Problem with cars like the Cobra/Daytona Coupe/GT40, there just isn't quite the project material out there. When it is found even the cheap project cars sell in the high hundred thousands and up. Hell, check out the 'lost' Daytona coupe 5mill+ Id be happy with a glass replica of any of the three. But then again I'm a FREAK for the Daytona Coupe. There is a guy, Rob Darnell here in Oz that builds replica Cobras. They are some of the best there are, carbon fiber bodies, space frames etc. Not cheap but awesome cars. He is a friend of the family, my father designed the cooling systems for the cars. Show us some pics, maybe PM them if you want? Doc.
Well,. lets see, they never made fiberglass reproductions of,...... (A) 1926 vw bug on 38's with a honda 440cui V5 (B) 69 road runner (C) 46 chevy (D) 48 willis pickup I'll give you three guesses why,....... I love the guys that say "My car is ALL STEEL" none of that fake fiberglass stuff for me !,.... of course my car is a 1949 Hudson 4 Door. Check out this guys profile,..... and you'll see where he's coming from,... He litterally is one of "the drooling morons"
Paul Harvey.............standby. Do you have a short ant problem? Have you been plagued with short ants for years? Well the makers of "Taller Ants" has come to the rescue with a great product to cure your short ant problem. "Taller Ants" comes in a convenient spray bottle for easy application. Just spay on and wipe off and almost instantly, no more short ants. That's unless short ants has been a life long issue then repeated applications maybe required. Pick up a couple of bottles of "Taller Ants" today and get rid of that pesky short ant problem.........................Good Day
I always looked at kit cars as a kid . It seemed like a easy/ cheap way to have a cool looking car. The truth is most kit cars were never finished because they took so much time and talent to complete. Kit cars got and deserved a bad reputation because they were poorly designed and engineered. Here I am, 60 years old, and a FFR kit cobra ends up in our shop. I gotta tell you I'm impressed. Its a well engineered car, and we are having a blast working on it. There have been over 7000 of these Cobras produced and while the instructions are poorly done. a fairly astute car guy can build one of these and have a SCREAMER and a LOOKER for 25K or so. Yeah, a true Cobra would be nice, but I'd be worn out from placing "DO NOT TOUCH" signs all over it. This car is a serious machine for a reasonable price. Thank you guys for the info on primer for fiberglass. I just wasn't sure if it needed to be something really special. The car has had over a year to offgass or air out. Now bring on that fiberglass Cheetah!
short ants - "uncool" tall ants - "cool" (pinching my nose closed to talk in my best Ernestine the Operator voice): "I'm sorry sir, your call cannot be connected at this time. Try again later when I care, and have a nice day."
taller ants = tolerance I'm a FNG so I have little or no right to open my yap and was trying to say the below without coming right on out and saying it but........... I get so very tired reading these threads where a guy heads off in a different direction, or likes or enjoys something other than the "norm" and KAPOW, the guy gets nailed right between the running lights! I don't like a lot of projects or ideas posted but who gives a FF. The guy or gal posting or in this case asking does. As long as it's safe, as long as someone isn't whacking up a historically significant automobile, WTF, there is room for everybod with all their different taste and ideas. Fifty, sixty years ago taking a perfectly good car and making a hot rod out of it was heresy, now it's excepted because guys bucked normalcy.
You will have to excuse my naivety. Im new. If you were in my position you might understand my confusion. I read a post with what appears to be a straightforward question about painting techniques. Ah! I think I will learn something new here. And as it turns out I do, but not what I expect. For example, a diverting amount of information about breast implants, theoretical issues of authenticity and a sub-plot about ants that I got the gist of but Im sure Im missing half of it. Oh, and a really informative post on how to paint grp bodies as well. My education has just begun thank you. Probably best that I leave that question about billet independent rear suspension for another time
I use to do custom boats at a little shop we just used cheap primer. But wipe that thing down with about a gallon of thinner you cant imagine how much wax we use on them molds. Other than that treat it like any other car.
To get this half back on track.... When sorting fiberglass car and painting info from the web realize post 71ish vettes are actually sheet moulded composite or SMC for short. There's a little bit of variation with how that's treated versus a body that's manually laid up. And a lot of fiberglass repair/painting/compatability info is vette-centric. Good luck
Chuck- shoot me an email at home. My buddy Mike did one of these for a doctor a few years ago & i'll hit him up for some pointers.
You think this was bad? Dude, you need to go back to the rated G version of the internet and leave the rest to the grown ups. A joke (or jokes) were added as the flow of the conversation ebbed and flowed. While they indeed had little to do with paint, they were entertaining at the very least. Nothing was said, asides from the "drooling moron" faction, that was negative towards the posting parties original question. (don't worry though, I'm not one of those people who'll tell you to read the "read this before you post" post that tells you to do an introduction before commenting on other threads. Those guys'd tear you a new asshole and teach it how to bark on command)
Ok then how about AC Cobras aint traditional hot rods. Sorry I just couldn't resist. Use the same stuff as if it was steel except you shouldn't need to pickle it or use etching primer.
.......as Overspray and pimpin paint point out, get all of the mold release agents off before applying ANYTHING. Then most any good primer will do, with primer campatibility with subsequent painting coats being most important.
The Jalopy Journal
