stripping

[BMB]

i have 76 911S targa.the color is baby **** brown. it is all orange peel and alligatored. i want to get it painted. i can save a bundle if i strip it and prime it myself(says the paint shop).i have all the equipement to do this. what i don't have is the knowledge of stripping.what chemicals to use,what instruments to use on body,and any secrets i should know about. your input is appreciated. thanx

[pbs911]

Personally, I would not use a chemical stripper to remove paint. Especially if it is the original paint. The original paint provides an excellent base for paint. The PO of my my car used a chemical stripper and failed to neutralize it. The result was lifting and peeling paint. I don't think your car has the galvanized steel so you don't have to worry about removing that protective coating. I would just sand, sand, sand until you get a really good base for the primer. Spray the primer, sand, spray more primer block sand and the take it in to have it painted. Good luck.
------------------
Paul
78SC Targa

[Superman]

The technique Paul describes certainly has many advantages. For excample, it would be much easier to just sand and paint.

Another school of thought would have you remove all old paint, or as much as possible. I don't know how much several coats of paint weigh but this method also eliminates the problem of painting over paint that already has problems. For example paint can develop cracks, and painting over those cracks will not last.

Quite a bit of work, though. And I can tell you this: It is no wonder the paint guys told you it would have money if you prepped it yourself. This is where all the work is, and this is what makes all the difference.

Anybody can shoot paint on a car (well, not everybody, but it's not a rare skill). It takes just a few minutes to shoot paint on a car. It takes many, many hours getting it ready. ALL the imperfections will be exposed by the shiny new paint. To do a really good paint job takes many hours of stripping, sanding, repairing, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, painting....

------------------
'83 SC

[campbellcj]

Originally posted by Superman:
To do a really good paint job takes many hours of stripping, sanding, repairing, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, painting....

You got that right brudda...FWIW my 911 was in the body/paint shop for 3 months and they worked on it at least a little bit just about every day. It was sprayed over a 2 day period about a week before I picked it up. The remaining few days were color sanding, polishing and detailing.

[adgx]

I stripped all the paint off my 70 with chemical paint stripper. I used a couple of different brands. Clean Strip seemed best. I've heard of people using aircraft stripper, but have not tried it.
Yes it took me about 4 weekends to get everything clean. I also ate into some thin bondo on the doors. It was quite a job getting that straight again. I cleaned it all up with soap and water. Not with the hose, but a bucket and rags. I disassembled the fenders, decks, and bumpers to get every nook and cranny. I used a sharpened putty knife and a pocket knife. I sanded everything down with 80 grit dry, then 100 grit dry, then 240 wet. Makes a smooth surface. Get a light you can hold at various angles to the body and it will show shadows where there might be a depression or dent. I filled all this stuff with either bondo or body putty. Be shure to have some primer that compliments your final paint to spray on the bare metal Use "primer sealer". If you have deeper scratches or imperfections, "primer surfacer" will fill them slightly. I like to sand it smoother and use the sealer as it seals everything up tight. I'm using premium acrylic enamel with reducer and "wet look" additive. The enamel is not "metallic". If I get a run or something I can wet sand it out without it showing. The paint is so hard with the additive that it can be buffed to a brilliant shine with no clearcoat. If you want metallic paint better get base coat-clear coat, though the acrylic enamels include that too and they also can be clearcoated.
It's true that a previous paint job can act as a good primer, but you will see any imperfections. The orange peel and other stuff would have to be removed and it's void filled with body putty or filler. You'd prime it and look at it really good. If your top coat is chipping off easily (or any previous coat) you'll need to strip it anyway because nothing's gonna stay on.
Hope that helps a little. Oh- Sanding's the hard way to go. You'll have to do a lot of that anyway, but sanding through a factory paint job will make the karate kid out of you.

[GT911]

Superman hit the nail on the head when he said the difference in a good paint job is the preparation, not spraying the paint. If you have crap, and you put the best paint money can buy on it you will have beautiful crap, of course you don't need a lecture, because your question is how to do it right.

I have an old BMW I hope to be painting this weekend in the garage. I started last weekend taking the bad paint off. Now I am not going to the metal. I just want to get a ten year old paint job off.

Now don't laugh, because I have done this 8 or 10 times and it really does work well, especially in your case where you have all the paint build up. But you can strip the paint with a razor blade.

Take a brand new single edge razor blade in a scraper, place it against a flat panel and pull it back a few inches while applying pressure. You want to curve or bend the very edge of the blade. It is very slight and probably won't even be able to see it, but if you don't the blade will dig in to the paint and not want to slide. It will probably take 15 or 20 blades for the car.

Once the blade is curved it is ready. Start by pushing the blade and work it down under the surface of the paint and start pushing it along. I have been able to push a blade along the whole length of a door and the paint just peels off like plowing snow.

This will save a lot of time getting you down through all the old paint. You will still need to sand the bottom most layers and the contoured areas, but you can save hours trying to sand through paint that can be peeled off.

One other tip: It is very hard to feel imperfections with your bare hand. If you put a clean rag on your hand as you wipe the car you will feel any waves, dents, dings, etc. A brand new pair of those brown Jersey cloth gloves works perfect for this.

This is one of thos things that is easy to demonstrate but difficult to explain.

Hope this helps.


------------------
GT911
GordonTaylor@ev1.net
'81 911 SC very very fun
'84 BMW 318i very very economical

[MikeRJ]

I just did it to mine about two months ago. What a mess, I would never do it again. I finished up the hard to reach parts with a $79 dollar sand blaster from harbor freight. The sand blaster worked great, I would recomend it over stripping any day, and no I didn't warp anything with the sand blaster. The chemical I used used was JASCO, can be bought at the local ACE hardware store for $23 a gallon (took me about 1 1/4 GL for the entire job). Make sure you wear long sleeves or you'll be running for the water hose fast, that stuff burns like four letter words. If you do use the chemical and run into bondo, that bondo must come off, no way around it. If you don't you'll run into problems later. the only reason I stripped my car was the two coats of paint looked like it was a quarter inch thick and it was way to much sanding for me and I didn't have a sand blaster yet. When you get it down to bare metal go over everything with 180, wipe it off and get it primed with a good PPG primer, and then start your body work, this way you won't have to fight rust. If you want pictures of mine stripped down and then up to date progress I'll send it to you. Mine is almost ready to have the second coat of sealer put on it this weekend. Then another ten days later it will be ready for color all around!!!!!!! I will tell you again that I wouldn't do the chemical strip, I would get someone with a sand blaster to do it for you and then do the primer and body work. Good Luck!!!!

[troy]

The best $300 I ever spent was to have my car plastic media blasted. Left all of the galvanization on the car and took off every spec of paint W/no chemical residue. All '76s are completely galvanized with the possible exception of the roof, so don't go bananas with 80 grit sandpaper or you'll remove all your rust prevention.