Looking at stripping the car myself

[g356gear]

I wanted to be a bit more involved in the bodywork side of my color change so I am looking at stripping the car prepping the metal myself. Wondering what the standard process is for strippng the paint with a wheel. Stepped grit wheels to keep from scratching the panels. 180 grit to start? Is it better to use a flapper style wheel or a flat disc for this sort of thing? Thanks.

[scherp69]

Think it will depend on how many layers of paint there are. Mine only had one layer so came off easy. Over the past couple weeks, I've been stripping my car. I've been using 80 grit paper on a dual action air sander. Just buy a big roll and change paper often. You could also get some 50 grit to cut through the paint and primer quicker, then switch out to 80 when closer to the metal. I was surprised, it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would to get to bare metal. For the tighter spots and places I don't want to use the sander, I've been using a 3M Scotch-Brite clean and strip roloc pads. I usually use the purple ones, but also have some of the black ones as they were out of the purple ones. I found the purple ones lasted longer. These things last quite a while and go a long ways for stripping. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...beRJ5GMFSMV0gl



The other thing I'm using is a Nyalox wire brush. Both the 3M and the Nyalox fit onto my air die grinders so are easy to use. http://www.summitracing.com/search/b.../?autoview=SKU

This one's warn down some already



There are several ways to strip the car. I found this has worked well for me doing it in my garage at home.

[g356gear]

Thanks for the input. I want to control the paint removal process a little better than the media blaster would be able to do. I have used the nylon brush wheels on suspension parts before and they last quite awhile. Chemical stripping is not an option for me so I think this may be the way to go. It takes time but if I can save a little cash by doing the work myself I will have extra for the metal work that I am sure I will be needing to pay for. Body shop had $1700 for media blast plus a bunch of hours to do the detail work the media guys could not do.

[scherp69]

Yeah with this route you definitely have control and is quite cheap. You'll be surprised at how quick it goes though. I have lots of pics in my build thread of my progress if you want to see.

[ProdigyCustoms]

We still strip our cars the old fashion way with Aircraft stripper and sandblasting compound edges, jams, rusty areas..

Put Plastic on the floor to cacth the residue. If you let the stripped paint dry out, proper disposal is in the garbage.

Once you get a part naked, scrub the part real good with a scotch bright pad and water to neutralize the stripper.

Then DA sand the metal with 180 grit to get the paint residue off.

If you have any concerns of rust or rust pimples you can use Ospho with a scotch brite pad and scrub the panel or the bad spots.

Then scrub the part real good with a scotch bright pad and water to neutralize the Ospho. NOTE: It is CRITICAL to make sure the ospho is 100% gone or it can react with your self etch or epoxy. So we sand it all off 100% after a water wash

Then polish the metal up goodwith 180 on a DA and get it in epoxy right away.

I suggest not stripping and polishing more panels then you can prime at the end of the day.

[speedshftr]

i used heavy body paint striper and scraped it with a platic putty knife.some areas several times.then used laquer thiner on scothbright to get the metal down to its bare finish.the hardest to remove was the redish factory?primer.it turned out real nice.it was crazy when i found the extra quarter modled onto the damaged one.early body hack.a call to belair bob fixed all my sheetmetal probs.it can get messy so try to cleanup as you go.wear gloves if you can cause that stripper can burn you.good luck.tape or remove as much of the bolt ons that you can

[speedshftr]

g356
let me know what kinda stripper you want ill hook you up with a few gallons of freebies to get you started,let me know if your interested.im in delaware and ship some things to you to get you started.it does take time but well worth the effort