Repainting a roller, degree of difficulty?

[ChrisBennet]

Hi,
I've got a line on a 930 roller and I've been tinkering with the idea of building up another car with motor and transmission from my wrecked car. The roller came out of the paint shop and is partially reassembled. The trouble is, the car is red and I'm not a red car person (anymore). The car was painted red over the original brown. The interior is shot.

Question: What's involved in changing the paint color again? I'm thinking a white or possibly Mexico Blue IROC look. Am I looking at lots of sanding or can the car be stripped somehow?
thanks,
Chris

[Series900]

media blast in Hillsboro NH, clean to steel, no warp, Call Longwoods
Damon @ SERIES 900

[Harlan Chinn]

Yup, media blasted and or chemically stripped. Chemical stripping is cleaner as you don't get media falling out from hidden nooks and crannies

[Series900]

I would not bother with a total chemical strip, the nooks and crannies will get the stripper residue. If you need to strip a hood, tape off the edges, strip away, and take a big hit of the stripper, and then read the label "methylethylclhloride" or some bad, and then realize your arm is burning. Yeah I will still strip a single panel, but a whole body? After a complete 2nd generation paint job? Try sanding it and you will create a miserable mess in the shop, clog up a ton of sandpaper. Razor blading gives great results on removal of repaints or clearcoats. But back to the matter on hand, a recent repaint to strip. Tape all the seams off and $450 gives you back a nice bare steel shell, finish the dissasemble, finish the paint removal on the edges, epoxy, hi-fill,block,hi-fill, epoxy, paint, wet sand and buff. But I doubt the body will need "no bodywork" or additional sandblasting to remove rust. Media blast will not remove rust.
Damon @ SERIES 900
Sunapee NH
67S
67 912
69 coupe
69 s/w Targa for sale
93 RSA
2 Celette benches with all the PORSCHE jigs

[ChrisBennet]

Doh! I forgot about media blasting. I used a guy in Concord for an engine fan and housing just last year. To do it "right" would I remove the front fenders? Can sunroofs be welded up?
-Chris

[Series900]

Sure unbolt the fenders and find any dirty little secrets, pop the door hinge pins, unbolt the lids, remove every nut bolt and screw.....Oh gettin carried away, I have edgars S and another early car from VT in progress, both are pretty well down to shells. Yeah a 77 has seen some time, do it right, pull it apart, clean to steel, and you will know what is going on with the body. Sunroofs pose several possibilities, steel skin replace, steel patch, glass roof skin replace W/ Roll cage install!!!

New poll "does Chris need a roll cage?"....

Damon @SERIES 900
Sunapee NH
67S
67 912
69 coupe
69 s/w Targa for sale
93 RSA #92 "experienced" with roll cage that prevented the ghost of the NY thruway from becoming the headless horseman

[ChrisBennet]

Cage, hmmmm. (<- sound Homer Simpson makes when thinking of donuts). I should start another thread for this but here's what I'm thinking:
(A) A cage introduces hard pipes right close to your head, which is fine it you are wearing a helmet but on the street, is padding enough?
(B) Some Ruf cars came with rollcage nicely integrated. They must have come up with a safe way to do this.
So I'm torn, can a cage be tucked close enough to the body to be safe?
-Chris

[magilla]

Maybe you should just wear a helmet on the street.
Problem solved.

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by magilla
Maybe you should just wear a helmet on the street.
Problem solved.

It's not so much for me (my head isn't what you'd call a "vital area") but I'm bound to have passengers with brains to protect.
-Chris

[POVI]

Hi Chris ,

Another option for you would be to just find a nice 911sc in the color you want already , you should be able to find a real nice CLEAN sc for say 15k in white or blue if you prefer then ....

take out and sell stuff you dont need ... like

car cost $15,000

sell
motor 4,000
trans 1000
seats 500
and anything else you dont need or are removing
for example the net cost of the car will be 9,500 and you can start
putting your stuff in that nice shell , by the time you strip and paint that car, you would be better off doing the "buy nice car and rape parts" action
as you can r+r the motor + trans quicker than even just preping car for stripping !

Joe

[ChrisBennet]

Joe,
Thanks. How cheap does a roller have to be for it to be cost effective? Would a $3K roller "work"?
I saw an '86 Carrera for sale for $15K the other day. I may just buy that and be done with it.
-Chris

[POVI]

Hi Chris

I have done about 10 .. 911 / 930 rebuilds so i can tell you first hand ..

the cheapest you can possibly get a 911 painted for is about
3,000, and thats doing the stripping and dis assemby yourself
lots of hrs !!! ,then you would want to buy all new seals
and install windows ect ... so say 4k by the time your done

so ...
cheap roller 3,000
new paint and seals ect 4000 ( plus your hrs in labor)
so your into the car with a nice paint job for 7000
now im sure that 3000 roller didnt have a mint interior
so add seats,carpet door panels headlighner dash pad
, and then a set of wheels and tires $$

So my feeling is get a mint car , and strip the pig !

UNLESS .. you are building something you cant find like a rs clone or a 934 or modified turbo body ..then its better to build one from a good shell

Joe

[BGCarrera32]

So my feeling is get a mint car , and strip the pig !

I agree. I am a relatively new owner (a little over a year) and can't tell you how many hours I burned wet sanding/doing final prep on a poorly done repaint, not to mention I stripped and resprayed the front valance and bumper myself. It gets to the point where neighbors forget that you own one because it never leaves the garage.

On the other hand, finding a "mint" example of cars from our vintage gets to be a trick. So it really boils down to wether you have more time or money...if you don't mind missing all or part of next season, I'd say go the roller route and build yourself something special, but if you want back on the track right away next spring...you might wanna find the best car you can and do mechanical swaps.

-BG

[jluetjen]

can a cage be tucked close enough to the body to be safe?

Actually Chris, the closer the cage is to the body the better. The reality is that you just can't get as close as is ideal with an off-the-shelf bolt in style cage. This is where a really good cage welder comes in. Basically you take the roof sheet metal off (you can close up the sunroof hole at the same time) which gives access to the inside of the car for putting the cage really tight to the car's chassis. Some strategic gusseting can be added at this time also. Once the cage is done the roof sheet metal is welded back in and the car goes out to be painted.

If you do it right when you are done you have a chassis that is really stiff torsionally. Take a look at some of the SpeedVision Cup or Super Touring cars from a few years ago and you will be amazed at how tight the cages are to the body.