Well, sometime in the near future, I plan on doing some body work to my 91 Camaro. The one thing is, I know next to nothing about body work, I'm a newbie (I do know auto tech, though). My plans are to put on new front ground effects and prep the <A TITLE="Click for more information about car" STYLE="text-decoration: none; border-bottom: medium solid green;" HREF="http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977|1||||cars|AA1VDw">car</A> for paint. I just have a few questions about prepping the car for paint.


1.) The previous owner got the car painted at Maaco. They just painted over the factory paint (it was blue, it's now purple). They told him that they couldn't take off the factory paint because it would cause some kind of problem with the metal or something crazy like that. It sounds like to me but is this in any way true?


2.) What all does it take to prep a car for paint? I think you just take off all the old paint, but with what (just sandpaper or can you use a belt sander, or chemicals)? Then you fix any damage to the body (there is any now). And then last you primer the car (is there such a thing as spray can primer?).


3.) Or, does anyone know of any good books on the basics of auto body work?

Thanks in advance for all of the help. Like I said before, I am a newbie to body work. I'm just trying to do as much to my car as I possibly can by myself.