Your thoughts before shooting primer on my dart

[stansblue72]

I'm in the process of doing the body work on my dart and thought of something I should probably ask a question about.

The front fenders and hood are off of a car that was base coat clear coated, the rest of the car is factory paint from 1974.
What I was wondering is if I should strip the whole thing or is it okay to sand it down some and shoot primer?

If you want to see my project it's the link below.

Thanks

 

[Tincup]

Stan, It all depends on what you have in mind. If you want a show car, I would recommend stripping to bare metal and building up from there. But if you just want a nice driver, painting over factory paint is OK. You do not have to prime anything if the surface is good, just sand with 400 seal & paint. Anywhere you have bare metal or body work should be primed and blocked. Put on 1 coat of sealer to make the color uniform then paint. Good luck...

 

[stansblue72]

Thanks Tincup, it's all pretty straight so I didn't want to strip it unless I had to. No show cars here I plan on driving it.

 

[Forrest]

Agree with Tincup. When you have deadlines and a million dollars like those guys on TV you take it down to bare metal, otherwise you do what the rest of us do. My body man is using a DA sander to remove the old paint and get down to the primer. He is also filling all trim and emblem holes, fixing some bad body work, removing all dings and dents, and then blocking the car and giving the original lines some extra "edge". And then it will be primed, sealed, and painted with a two stage paint, color sanded, and buffed.

 

[95teetee]

Put on 1 coat of sealer to make the color uniform then paint.

I would say this is the key- the difference between the factory paint and the base/clear, as far as going over it, is negated by a good seal coat...

edit- terrible sentence structure, but hopefully the idea got through

 

[stansblue72]

Great to hear, I not to crazy about stripping paint anyway.

Thanks Guys!