Do I have the order of events right?

[Sofia74]

I’ve been reading a lot of posts but I’m still not quite clear on the order of events for prep and painting. This may be somewhat repetitive so please be patient.

Where I am now: The car was media blasted, rust repaired and primed. Sat for months while I worked on the mechanicals. Getting back to the body.

I am starting with the hood, trunk and doors off the car but the I intend to use the same order for each section.

1. Scuff the primed panels and body with 80 grit on a random orbital sander
2. Filler, block and sanding up to 180 (?)
3. When happy with that spray epoxy primer / sealer
4. Reinstall hood, trunk and doors
5. Scuff with ____ grit or scotchbrite pad (?)
6. Spray high build primer
7. Block sand up to 400 (higher?) grit
8. Base coats
9. Clear coats

The car will sit for weeks between some steps but I will always try to leave it protected with primer during those times.

Also assuming good degreasing before each spray

Obviously this is my first attempt at this. Does this make sense so far?

[Onceler]

I usually apply guide coat after step 6. I like the dry stuff it goes a long way. U may have to bounce around between 6 and 7 with guide coat in-between. Also, I’ve shot reduced epoxy before base as a sealer on my ghia, just because i had issues before.
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1972 Karmann Ghia

[EmpiGT]

Why would you start with 80 grit. That is pretty course for a body already blasted and primed. That is really to take a lot of paint off quickly to get to metal. I think with what's already done start with 150 or 180 on the d.a. sander. You will want to scuff only the areas you need filler with a course grit but not the entire body. You will want good "tooth" for the filler to stick well.

[Onceler]

Good point. I usually do the filler work on bare steel after 36grit on a rotary style tool like a 90 degree die grinder. 36 on a da is too smooth, due to the da action
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1972 Karmann Ghia

[Sofia74]

Onceler – makes sense. But why reduced epoxy before base as a sealer? Not looking at the can now but I think my epoxy primer says it’s a sealer too. I wasn’t thinking of a sealer as an extra step…

EmpiGT – The primer is pretty thick but really no reason to start with 80. I’ll switch to 150 or 180 and see how that goes.

No one has said I am completely off target. I’ll take that as good news. Thanks for your help.

[Onceler]

Sofia74- I’ve painted cars in the past without using a sealer and never had a problem. Until i painted a bug about 10 years ago. I used a polyester primer and sanded through it in several spots down to the epoxy. I thought, no big deal, done it before and paint turned out fine. However, after final paint, All those spots had a ring around them that was visible in the final finish. If i had gone back and touched up those spots with the polyester primer it might have been ok, but not sure. So the last couple paint jobs I’ve done, i just spray sealer to be safe, and I don’t use polyester primer. The good thing is the epoxy sealer I’ve used can be applied wet on wet, so no sanding.
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1972 Karmann Ghia

[jspbtown]

Epoxy can be used as a sealer when you thin it down per the instructions on the can.

Remember....when painting there are two basic forms of adhesion..mechanical and chemical. If you are waiting between coats you need to have a mechanical bond for the next coat.

If you are using non-metallic then 400 grit is fine after the high build. 600 grit if a metallic.

The sealer, put on after the high build, allows for a nice chemical bond for the base/clear