"Barn Find" '91 C4 ZR1 on Ebay

Chevrolet

CCCUK Member
See that Llewelyn & Chris have 19.2k YouTube subscribers. Episode #1 had 53k views and 3.2k likes. When are you giving up the "day jobs" guys? To be full-time car finders/restorers and YouTubers? ;)
 

Llewelyn

CCCUK Member
See that Llewelyn & Chris have 19.2k YouTube subscribers. Episode #1 had 53k views and 3.2k likes. When are you giving up the "day jobs" guys? To be full-time car finders/restorers and YouTubers? ;)
If only eh! Sadly we don't earn much at all from Youtube (works out to a few quid per video)! You'd need to be on something like 500k views per month all in consistently to go full time (and that's with only one person to pay)... I would like to do more though and would love to do it full time. If I had some capital to get me started I'd probably give it a go but unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) the day job pays well so there would be a rather large void to fill if I suddenly quit.
 

Llewelyn

CCCUK Member
Nice one guys. Happy to be corrected but pretty sure all C4s are base and clear coat paint, not solid 2K.
Hard to say - It looks like solid colour to me but I'm not an expert... I know Porsche in period painted base and clear unless it was a solid colour like black, white, guards red etc in which case they didn't clear coat. Not sure if GM did the same.
 

Chevrolet

CCCUK Member
Hard to say - It looks like solid colour to me but I'm not an expert... I know Porsche in period painted base and clear unless it was a solid colour like black, white, guards red etc in which case they didn't clear coat. Not sure if GM did the same.
Llewelyn, Saying on here that they are "all" clear coated inc black. Someone else saying that if you are polishing a car that is not clearcoated, you will get some colour coming off it. If it is clearcoated, you wont. Guess you know that already? Regards/Peter
 

Llewelyn

CCCUK Member
Llewelyn, Saying on here that they are "all" clear coated inc black. Someone else saying that if you are polishing a car that is not clearcoated, you will get some colour coming off it. If it is clearcoated, you wont. Guess you know that already? Regards/Peter
Actually I have previously answered my own question - Polishing doesn't leave black residue so it must have clear!
 

Chevrolet

CCCUK Member
Was watching your latest video the other night with "bated breath," wonderering how much he was going to quote you for the repaint? :giggle: Top class one can cost a "fortune," per not too old discussion on here:
 
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teamzr1

Supporting vendor
On the subject of vehicle paints
Here is a very interesting paint website I have used.
You enter your vehicle and color, and it will tell you what the nameplates paint codes are and also the codes of other paint suppliers

Lots of detail, so look carefully for what to click on
This website goes back to 1908 and also covers all Corvette years from 1953 to present
As example, I picked a 1992 C4 with black paint
Paintref.jpg

Here is another website I have used for a long time
You enter your vehicle, and it will show what primer, base and clearcoat as to GM codes
They mix new paint to what you want
They sell from small paint pens and small bottles for doing touchups, to spray cans to gallons


Restore Your 1992 Chevrolet Corvette Finish In Two Steps​

AutomotiveTouchup paint products are custom mixed to perfectly match the color of your 1992 Chevrolet Corvette using a basecoat/clearcoat system just like factory specs. To insure a proper match, you’ll need to know your vehicle’s color code, so you can find it on the chart below.
The color code will be located on a sticker named Parts Identification.
The code can start with BC/CC followed by a U, or a WA with a four-digit number/letter combination. We use the WA format for simplicity, your code may have a U. WA8555 is the same as U8555. Click here for Chevy paint code location chart and paint code label examples.
 

Llewelyn

CCCUK Member
On the subject of vehicle paints
Here is a very interesting paint website I have used.
You enter your vehicle and color, and it will tell you what the nameplates paint codes are and also the codes of other paint suppliers

Lots of detail, so look carefully for what to click on
This website goes back to 1908 and also covers all Corvette years from 1953 to present
As example, I picked a 1992 C4 with black paint
View attachment 27910

Here is another website I have used for a long time
You enter your vehicle, and it will show what primer, base and clearcoat as to GM codes
They mix new paint to what you want
They sell from small paint pens and small bottles for doing touchups, to spray cans to gallons


Restore Your 1992 Chevrolet Corvette Finish In Two Steps​

AutomotiveTouchup paint products are custom mixed to perfectly match the color of your 1992 Chevrolet Corvette using a basecoat/clearcoat system just like factory specs. To insure a proper match, you’ll need to know your vehicle’s color code, so you can find it on the chart below.
The color code will be located on a sticker named Parts Identification.
The code can start with BC/CC followed by a U, or a WA with a four-digit number/letter combination. We use the WA format for simplicity, your code may have a U. WA8555 is the same as U8555. Click here for Chevy paint code location chart and paint code label examples.
Hi JR!

Really interesting :) Thanks for posting those links! We will go with a Sikkens or Glasurit I reckon.... I've had Porsches painted using those brands in the past and they seem to be really good... Factory colour of course!!
 

Llewelyn

CCCUK Member
Was watching your latest video the other night with "bated breath," wonderering how much he was going to quote you for the repaint? :giggle: Top class one can cost a "fortune," per not too old discussion on here:
Ha! Terrifying isn't it! We think it would be somewhere in the region of £5-6k with Chris and I doing the rebuilt, Marcus doing the prep and then a very good painter we know doing the painting itself... We will film most of it where possible!

I am very fussy about paint and will go above and beyond to ensure nothing is "masked" and every edge has just as much coverage as the panels... I'd also replace every clip, screw, seal, trim with new when it's built back up....

Here's the last car I painted (I stripped and delivered the car as a bare shell to the body shop)
1726153084322.png

1726152820876.png

1726152858931.png
1726152892804.png

And finished...


1726153423011.png

1726153447485.png

^ That's ultimately how clean I'd like the ZR-1 to end up!
 

johng

CCCUK Member
I don't know if a C4 is the same, but my C3 urethane front bumper took a lot of stretching pushing and pulling to get in place properly. Hence I decided to re-fit it for painting, but loosened off so you could still paint around the edges to avoid damaging the paint when re-fitting.
 

Llewelyn

CCCUK Member
I don't know if a C4 is the same, but my C3 urethane front bumper took a lot of stretching pushing and pulling to get in place properly. Hence I decided to re-fit it for painting, but loosened off so you could still paint around the edges to avoid damaging the paint when re-fitting.
Not 100% sure but I'd imagine they are fairly rigid, especially the front bumper... ! We will have to make a judgement call when it's off :)
 

johng

CCCUK Member
There's a load of plastic and steel behind a 78 C3 bumper which is indeed pretty rigid, but the urethane skin is quite flexible. As you say, make your decision when it's off.
 

Last triumph

Well-known user
Hard to say - It looks like solid colour to me but I'm not an expert... I know Porsche in period painted base and clear unless it was a solid colour like black, white, guards red etc in which case they didn't clear coat. Not sure if GM did the same.
GM switched to a base / clear coat paint system in 1981 when they moved production from St. Louis to their new state of the art production facility at Bowling Green. This applied to all colours and finishes without exception. GM then switched from a solvent to a water based base coat for the C5 in 1997.

No C4 was ever painted with a solid single stage paint system.

Love the videos and progress - really entertaining.
 

Llewelyn

CCCUK Member
GM switched to a base / clear coat paint system in 1981 when they moved production from St. Louis to their new state of the art production facility at Bowling Green. This applied to all colours and finishes without exception. GM then switched from a solvent to a water based base coat for the C5 in 1997.

No C4 was ever painted with a solid single stage paint system.

Love the videos and progress - really entertaining.
Cheers for the info :) Glad you like the videos, there isn't much UK Corvette stuff on YT which is a shame!
 
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