I just bought a 1989 IROC-Z Convertable. The nose is in horrible shape it was spray painted instead of the money spent on putting a good paint job on the car. The paint on the rest of the car isn't to shabby but if I'm gonna fix the nose I want to paint the whole car. My question is basically in a few steps.

We've already started to dissasemble parts of the car. One question is does the convertable 3 piece spoiler come off easily and is easy to be put back on? It doesn't look like its bolted onto the car more like glued or something similar.

1. The first step is to sand down the body correct? Well is there a easy way to take off the paint so you don't have to rough sand it off? Paint Thinner?

2. Primer correct? How much? What type? How many coats? Once you coat it with primer do you have to wetsand or rough sand it?

3. Actually painting the car I am thinking about clearing it also unlike we did when we painted my buddys dads 68 camaro. What steps do I need to take to clear coat it?

 

On a thirdgen convertible (note spelling, its "i" not "a") the center section of spoiler comes off pretty easily. There are 4 nuts with an integral washer under black caps that pop off. There may be two screws that retain the spoiler to L-shaped brackets that slip into a bracket that is pop-riveted to the decklid. The started adding these clips after 1988 model year. I recommend against trying to remove the side pieces.

Lon

 

Well I've started disassembling the car already. I just want to know what steps to start taking? I'm assuming the first step should be to remove the paint and sand everything smooth but to what grit something low like 600? Should I just start sanding or use paint thinner or some sort of aircraft paint remover to get the paint off first? Once I'm done sanding it smooth again then what? Primer?

 

I'm copying this over to the Convertible Board.

 

If the rest of the paint is sound like you say, then you don't need to strip it all the way off. Probably just scuff it or at least take the top layer off. Then you'll want to use a sealer so that the new paint doesn't attack the old paint and cause problems.

As for the front fascia, if it has rattle can paint on it (aerosol), then you'll need to remove ALL of it. You can use aircraft paint stripper to remove it. Note that paint stripper will cause urethane bumpers to warp, but they usually go back to there original shape in a few days. Just don't paint it until its back to normal.

Unless you get a run or dirt in the paint, you don't need to sand between coats.

Painting clear is just like painting the basecoats, but you MUST follow the instructions/tech sheets EXACTLY! To little time between coats will cause solvent pop and to long between coats will cause lifting. You also have to adjust your times according to weather.

 

The front and parts of the front side panels are that way. Mostly the driver side front is rattle canned and kinda bumpy. The rest of the body is very straight except for few spots that have paint chipped or what not. I wanted to start painting on the parts that I can take off the car that way I can practice on one spot and if I mess it up restart. I'll get some pictures of what I'm talking about so you can give me a exact idea of what to start doing.