The Lotus Grand Tourers

I was dreaming about next years Excel project when I realised that whilst im fairly handy with paintwork I know zero about finishing GRP cars. My excel still has 99% of its paint but it has worn through in places.
On the roof especially the weave of the glass fibre is very noticable too.
I guess when ive thoroughly filled and rubbed down I will need to cover bare areas of GRP with gel coat-otherwise the paint wont adhere? Anyone gone through this process and have any tips or know of any pitfalls?
Cheers, and merry Christmas, Jimmy

My '82 Excel has less than 30,000 miles from new, but paint is flatter than a frat, I'm toying with idea of vinyl wrapping it, grey bumpers/sills and lots of separate flattish panels, how hard can it be, right? Anyone out there tried this yet? Jeff.

Interesting idea though the prep would still have to be good- hiding all the edges would take time. Im not convinced vinyl would last very long its resistance to UV is doubtful - still at least there wouldn't be rust lurking underneath!
Jimmy

Ive lots of experience in grp work now after years of prep/repairs on my excel.
any where you break through the gel coat will need more resin/matt,if its impact damage you will need to take it back to sound clean body then build up layers of resin and course strand matting avoiding trapping air betwwen layers,for finishing and finer detail like you mention on roof you can use a much finer tissue type matting.
all will takes hours of work flating back best sanded dry on bare grp.
lots of guide coats of a 2 pack hi build primer will help to lose the grp ripples in time.
Star crazing in grp can be removed my scoring along the cracks cleaning with acetone then filing up with resin and maybe a bit of fine tissue and more resin/flatting back.

Terry

this is a 1983 excel with a respray:





it has 4 layers of red paint, because otherwise it will start to getting purple or orange.. (my dads his esprit se is also calypso red.. and that one getting purple..)

That red Excel is stunning

Well done! Looks lovely, mine is calypso red too. Lotusbits do many of the decals if you're looking for them, Jimmy