body work over old paint?

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swifty

swifty

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I know this is not a mopar but with all your knowledge I know I will get good advice. I have a 49 Chevy Fleetline that was my grampa's car. The paint is original and there is very little chipping. We don't plan on making a show car out of it just something that looks good driving down the street and something my dad can drive in the local parade.

I was planning on getting it blasted but all the mess and work I'm wondering about using the original paint as a base. Also what about where body work is needed? Should it be taken down to bare metal and if so should the whole panel be stripped? I have very little body work experience. The front fenders are getting blasted because I have replacements. The hood and roof are in very good shape and make up alot of the car. The passenger side is good and needs very little body work. The passenger side need most of the work and both rear wheel wells need some patch work. But overall it has little rust for being 65 years old. It was stored inside since 1973. I can post pics when I get a chance.
 
Generally you should take down to bare metal any of the areas that will need to be straightened or filled. And as long as the vehicle hasn't been re-painted before you're usually safe not stripping the whole thing. USUALLY is the key word. There is no uniform guarantee that old paint won't lift. - And the old paint can be hiding a lot of whatever might be underneath it. The surest bet is to know for sure what you're dealing with. If there are any indications of problems with the adhesion of the current paint, I'd strip it. If everything seems OK (no adhesion issues, not too many coats of paint already on the car, excessive chalking, etc...) then it comes down to trying to balance out the time/expense with just how nice you want the results to be. For a daily driver that's going to be used in winter, on gravel or as a hauler/grocery getter I'd probably not strip.
 
Been away from this project for a while but getting back to it. I really want to get this car painted by august so my dad can drive it in the local parade and I can devote all my time to my mopar.

I got the fenders blasted and they did not clean up as well as i hoped. They was alot of surface rust, sorry i forgot to take pictures before i dropped them off. Here are some pictures, you can't see much but there is pitting. Wondering where to go from here. The second picture kind of shows the worst of the body damage.

One good thing is my buddy that does body work is getting tired of me buggin him with questions so he maybe able to help me next week. Sorry I still don't have any pictures of car. Every time I go to work on it i forget my camera. I still only have a dumb phone, which I hate to carry, it makes hiding out alot harder. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
 

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65 year old paint is not a good base to work from. Strip it down to bare metal, remove all the rust you can & encapsulate what's left in the surface piholes. Coat it with epoxy primer. you can apply your body fillers right over the properly prepped epoxy primer. That will give you a much better base to work from & prevent rust much better.
The original paint was lacquer & is known for shrinking, cracking & crazing. Putting anything directly over it is asking for it to look bad.
 
Thanks Lonewolf what you said makes sense. I have some u-tech epoxy primer and it says not to put filler over it. Is this just this product and what epoxy primer should I use?
 
65 year old paint is not a good base to work from. Strip it down to bare metal, remove all the rust you can & encapsulate what's left in the surface piholes. Coat it with epoxy primer. you can apply your body fillers right over the properly prepped epoxy primer. That will give you a much better base to work from & prevent rust much better.
The original paint was lacquer & is known for shrinking, cracking & crazing. Putting anything directly over it is asking for it to look bad.
Click to expand...

I agree. Engine heat, and hot summer days will cause the lacquer to expand at a much different rate than a new water based paint and clear. Blast (aluminum oxide or some material that won't generate heat and warp your panels) and prime. A good autobody supply should be able to give you some good advice, but I really liked a PPG DTM (direct to metal) epoxy. It's tough to get here in Canada because of VOC laws, but I think it's still available in the states. Give it a bit of a scuff and do your body work right over it. It's been a long time, but we also used a product called "Spritz" and "featherfill". They were a spray on fillers that went on over etch primers (after all the metal work and body fillers) that we would cut with 180 and 220 before adding high solids. The result was super straight panels. Because the industry changes quickly, I'd get advice from an autobody supply shop or a rep from PPG, sikkens, or something.
 
I can't say why u-tech says not to apply filler over it, so if they say not to I'd find another brand. I know most major brands say it's ok to do it.
 
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