Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

any suggestions for painting? I have a typical late 60's Fiberglass hard top.

black on the outside, white on the inside.

Hot pink with blue stripes?

spl310 wrote:Hot pink with blue stripes?

I was thinking more like black

Not sure what you mean. Are you looking for color suggestions, how to, type or brand of paint or????
Dan

greydog wrote:Not sure what you mean. Are you looking for color suggestions, how to, type or brand of paint or????
Dan

ah Dan, sometimes my brain and my hands don't work in conjunction.


I want to know how to paint the top.. how to prep, what brand and type of paint to use..

Ok, now we're getting somewhere.
Still a big area so let's narrow it down some....
You want the outside black and the inside white, right?
Is the top in good shape (no cracks, hunks missing, holes to fill, etc)?
What equipment do you already have? For instance, do you have a compressor and, if so, how large? Do you have other spray equipment and a place to do the painting? Any previous painting experience?
Why are you painting the top and how long do you expect the paint job to last?
What sort of budget do you have?
Patience, we'll get you there. It's a big question, just need to narrow it down to provide meaningful information.
Dan

Before I threw away my hated hardtop it responded well to cleaning/polishing products designed for restoring fiberglass, but it has been long enough that I have no other info (like particular product names)... sorry!

I used an armorall type product on mine. It made the black look nice for a while, but wore off pretty quickly.

Gregs672000 wrote:Before I threw away my hated hardtop it responded well to cleaning/polishing products designed for restoring fiberglass, but it has been long enough that I have no other info (like particular product names)... sorry!

I was reading some google search results, most were Jeep hardtops.. there seems to be a marine product called Pentetrol(sp) that refurbs fiberglass.. I might take a trip to west marine and ask them

This may sound crazy, but years ago my Sister had a 68 Impala with a black vinyl top. It was faded and starting to loose the vinyl. My father, seemingly just for the hell of it, tried old fashioned liquid floor wax, like you would use on a Linoleum floor. I think it was the "Future" brand, It filled in the worn lighter spots, gave it a sheen like armor all and dried hard as a rock. Lasted the year and a half we had the car, still looking great. I have a top that the vinyl is in the same condition, will try it before replacing the vinyl.

Ran into this while searching for an image..scroll to the bottom
http://www.rc-airplane-advisor.com/airbrush-paint.html

No matter what... the prep is the longest part of any paint job and will determine how long the job lasts. If you need to strip off old paint... the lightest version of paint stripper will do just fine (most hardware stores carry some brand). Be ABSOLUTELY sure top is cleaned of all stripper before continuing. Soap and water will do fine. Any fiberglas repairs should be done prior to primer painting. Kits are available for this from several
places but marine oriented ones have the most choices. PRIMER paint is different than most paint due to the "glue" it contains to make adhesion to the surface better and leave a rough surface for the paint to stick to better. If you use spray paint it will give a more even look but several ..thin coats are better than one heavy one. Allow for complete drying AND curing time between coats. Just because it's dry to the touch doesn't necessarily mean it's cured enough to allow a second coat of paint to be a good one! Other than that, blue painter's tape leave little or no residue when asking off portions to not be painted. There's a new green version that adheres to difficult areas/materials VERY well! Oh yeah... don't forget to do this in a well ventilated area or use a fume mask. There's a reason painters tend to die young!! Or at least have a lousy sense of smell!

The fiberglass tends to flex a lot so I wouldn't put a lot of stock into a repaint though. I think the original is a gelcoat which is some kind of polyesther resin.

James

My 70 hard top was originally all white inside and out. A good cleaning with lots of soap and water and a pretty abrasive green scrubby was done. I used an abrasive scrubby to get deep into the pebble texture and for the alternate purpose of getting some "tooth" onto the gel coat.

I then taped it all off and sprayed it with Rustoleum semi-gloss spray paint. I just followed the directions and got a good cover of about 4 to 5 coats. I figured if the stuff was good enough for exterior wrought iron, it would be good enough for a top.
I was right........it held up perfectly and looked good for the 5 years I owned the top. ( I sold it) Who knows It may still look good today.

no problem with the flex issue... car bumpers are really flexible, and are painted all the time. You must use a flexilizer (check with your local paint supply) and an adhesion promoter (sp?). Prep all your surfaces to get them flat, then finish off with a 320 -400 grit paper until all of the deeper scratches are gone. Prime with sanding/surfacing primer, sand wet with 600 grit and a block, wash with water, tack cloth, grease wax and silicone remover, seal with an epoxy sealer, then paint/clear. Greydog is right... having the right equipment is pretty important. you need to have air, a decent gun, regulators, air dryers etc to get a nice paint job. You can get a harbor freight type gun, but just plan on throwing it away after you use it.... clear requires a different air tip than color, so plan on purchasing more than one. cleaning a gun requires spraying type laquer thinner, if you clean with cheap thinner, the next spray job will fish eye, as there are oils in the non spraying type of laquer thinner. Painting a removeable part like a top would probably be reasonably cheap at Maaco, or Earl Scheib if you were willing to do the prep work. they do put a decent finish on someone elses's prep work.

as a side note, using a stripper on fiberglass is probably a bad Idea... the chemical reaction between the stripper and the underlying resin will soften things up. It creates a good deal more work in the end and you stand a good chance of ruining your top. it's a pretty small surface area, so use a long board, or a DA or a panel sander. you'll get there, it just takes time. stripping metal parts is no problem unless you want to keep the old body filler.