Painting experts please

Since you plan to do a frame-off down the road.
Save all the stripping for then.

Do you have access to compressed air?
If so use a DA sander with a soft pad and P320 grit and sand it dry.
I generally do not recommend any kind of air sander on a Vette body
but in your case just dull the paint DO NOT try to perform body repairs
with it. A novice will usually end up doing more harm than good on a
Fiberglass Body.

If not use P400 wet n dry paper and wet sand it. (400 wet is equal to
240 dry) I think the 240 wet would be to aggressive and the sand scratches
will "really" show through your primer.

PPG makes a "DP" epoxy primer (DP90 is the Black your looking for).
You can choose between two different activators. One will give you
a pot life of a couple of hours the other will give you a couple of days.....
depends on how fast a worker you are.
Can be found at an Autobody Paint supply store that sells the PPG brand.

The DP primer will seal the car. But exposed to prolonged sun light will
cause it to eventually brake down, (Like ALL primers it is meant to be
top coated.) Seal: means impurities are unlikely to pass through it.
(Also primers are not Top-Coats so dirt will stick a little easier),
If the car is going to be garage kept till the frame-off you will be fine.
The reason I would not bother to strip now is it will be easier to remove
the Epoxy primer later if the paint under it is already susceptible to pealing.
Two quarts should be more than enough for the results your looking for.

:thumbsup:

An air tool requires a lot more air than a paint gun.
More in volume-of-air than pressure. Typically 80psi
is what it takes for an air tool. So if you have a small compressor
you may find it "running" quite a bit trying to keep up.

On a DA (palm) sander I would recommend using a soft pad
(preferably Velcro II) with a sponge pad between that
and your paper. The Body shop supply guy should know what
I'm talking about. You will also have to buy the Velcro II paper
for this. This route should get the paint sanded with out worry
of digging up the body or flatting any body lines.

Before you start take some straight comet and a plastic scrub pad and
scrub the car with it. This will help insure you don't sand any unwanted
BS into the surface that might be a problem down the road.
If you have a Harbor Freight Tools in your area or equivalent
a gravity feed gun with work fine for the DP primer.
Follow the directions on the can or ask your jobber.
I wouldn't sand the DP90. Leave it as is.
(you'll be stripping it all down the road anyhow)

The garage with plastic and a fan will be just fine for this job.

I prefer to use a Down Draft Booth, but I painted this car in the garage
you see...........so it can be done.:cheers:

Considering that you are looking for the line of least resistance, at
this stage of the game what I recommended will make your car look
OK at 50 feet away and at least it won't be PINK.

This method is not going to hide all your flaws so I wouldn't worry
about that till your in a position to do the car "RIGHT". DP epoxy
primers are meant for "sealing" and you can put body filler on
top of it. It IS NOT a filler primer meant for blocking
so expect to see flaws if they are already there and possibly some
light sand scratches. The difference is this stuff will not soak up
the moisture and road grime near as quick as the others.

Remember: 50 feet...............:thumbsup: You'll be fine.

PS..When you are ready to do the restoration be sure to use
the best Paint Materials. Don't cut corners in this area, you will
be kicking yourself down the road if you do. It will cost you twice
as much to do it "Right" the second time. PPG, Dupont, Sikkens, Glasurit,
all have Good products on the high end, they also have their Generic
lines.....avoid the generic lines.