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Paint Prep

BuckeyeCuda

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I am getting ready to start on my Challenger's body. Prior owner was racing it and needed to have a 71 for his class and changed the quarter, front and rear panels, fenders, etc to 71 with new panels and then decided to change to a Dart for weight savings, as the E-body can't match the A-body weight. I got the car without the 440 and am adding my own fresh 440 for power. I just freshened up the brakes, wheel and tires, and am moving along to the body.

It is an original B5 blue, but painted Plum Crazy. I plan to go back to B5 (B2 is my second choice). The current paint is decent, but worn and faded, with painted-on stripes. I really don't want to strip off all of the purple paint (the original paint is underneath), but want to have a good surface for the new paint.

My plan is to rough up the current paint with 120 grit and then cover it all with self-etching primer prior to going to color.

Thoughts?
 

MerlinsMopars

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You should really only use etcher on bare metal. I would run 180 grit, then 320 and use a good sealer. If that scuffs out nice with a scotch pad then you could just paint it or after the sealer, I good primer. Scuff that and paint.
 

Adam

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Like Merlins said, definitely use a sealer so you won’t have compatibility issues. Some top coats will react with some older paints. Also, the primer sealer will influence the color of the top coat, with B-5 blue, use a gray primer sealer. 120 is way too coarse! I disagree on using 180 & 320, I think the 180 scratches will take a lot of sanding with 320 to remove, and I also think scratches coarser than 400 will not cover with sealer. Try it on something to be sure. If the body is not perfect you could/should use a high fill polyester primer on the problem areas and wet sand the primer with a flexible sanding block 320, then 400, then primer sealer.

In fact I would wet sand the whole car 320, 400, then primer/sealer.
 
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