Ive tried everything to get my car to bare metal, aircraft stripper, hand sanding, scrapers and nothing is working i think my paint is just laughing at me. What happened is someone originally paint my car blue then decided they wanted to go to green, then again painted it black with many coats. So my question for you guys is how can i get the remaining paint off it took my a month to get it off my trunk alone, i purchased a home sandblaster and guess what the paint laughed at it and it didnt even scratch my paint so much for the myth about it denting metal..

You may want to try a stripping disc.... I use the large purple ones on a makita gv 5000. Seems to work great most of the time, and wont hurt the metal. Be careful with that sandblaster, you wont dent the metal, but it does create alot of heat which will warp a panel in no time. I strongly advise against it. The prefered blasting method on the body is usually baking soda or walnut shell. What part of the body are you trying to strip? Sandpaper is useless? Or does it just load up. It might be an epoxy primer or something that your trying to break through. I'm sure someone will have another suggestion.

Good Luck,
Brandon

I've been having a hell of a good time stripping the old paint off mine. (4 different colors, all with primer in between)
The paint seems to be 1/16" thick! Aircraft paint stripper wouldn't touch it!
I use an electric drill with a 5" hook and loop pad on it. Slap on a 60 grit sanding disc an go to town on it.
It works really well on the newer (10yr old)paint and old filler. It just gets loaded up a little on the original laquer paint. I make sure not to get it too hot, keeping the drill spinning on the slow side.

------------------
Don
1969 Chevelle 2dr. project in progress.

Guys, I have never seen a paint that Jasco or Aircraft stripper hasn't taken off. I have a feeling you are not using it correctly. I have striped a number of cars (will never do it again, I have them plastic media blasted now) in one day down to a shiney bare metal.

The hardest I ever saw was a new Toyota hood I stripped so we could punch louvers in it. I applied the Jasco and stood there looking at it waiting. It did NOTHING for about fifteen minutes, NOTHING. It looked like I put grease on the darn thing. Then it took off like a bat out of hell. It litterally made noise as the paint was bubbling up in long strip patterns. It was the darnest thing I have ever seen this stuff do.

Anyway, here are some tips on making it work.

LET ME START WITH THIS: DO NOT DO MORE THAN ONE PANEL AT A TIME. DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE PROTECTED WITH THINK RUBBER GLOVES AND HAVE EYE PROTECTION ON. DO HAVE A DISPOSABLE TARP ON THE GROUND UNDER THE PROJECT. DON'T LET THE STRIPPER GET INTO NOOKS AND CRANNIES, PROTECT THEM WITH DUCT TAPE http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

Gloves, eye protection? What a wimp you say? I had a buddy REMOVE his finger prints doing this! And he started with gloves on, but they got screwed up by the stripper (gee wasn't that a clue as to what they would do to your hands?) and he took them off, just to "finish it up". His hands were SCREWED for weeks. Your eye protection? I was stripping a Peterbuilt truck one time in the hot sun. I had a complete suit on including gloves, I was well protected right? Well, I had a little sweat running in my eye, you guessed it, I wiped the sweat. Luckly I didn't get it right in the eye but my face was BURNING BIG TIME. You don't use stuff this dangerous all the time, you forget, you have reflexes like wiping sweat out of your eye. PROTECT YOURSELF.

1. Take a piece of course sand paper like 40 or 36 and scratch the living crap out of the paint. It gives "access" for the stripper to get underneath the paint.

2. DON'T brush the stuff back and forth like you are white washing the fence. Pour it on and then SPREAD it with a brush ONE direction and let it set. If you brush it back and forth you let the gases out, the gases are what does the work in stripping.

3. Apply it thick, if it is too thin it starts to dry out and will do nothing.

4. After it has broken up the paint scrape with a metal putty knife. If the paint is not too thick, use course steel wool like number 4 or so.

5. DO NOT RINSE IT OFF until you are done. DO NOT LET IT DRY before you are done.

6. Scrape or steel wool the loose paint off getting as much of the goop off the panel and then apply stripper to get the rest of the paint off just like you did at the begining.



------------------
1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Sounds like a multi-layer lacquer job. Remember those old Car Craft and Hot Rod magazine articles? "The finish is 45 coats of hand rubbed candy apple red lacquer.................."
You may be up against a car that was painted back when lacquer was still the finish of choice.
This may be a dumb question, but when you hand sanded, did you wet sand or dry sand? It's a ton of work, but I've always been able to sand down to bare metal using 180 wet-or-dry paper and a constant stream of water from a water hose. I also know of a place in Arlington that can strip it down for you. I'm sure I'll remember the name in a few minutes.

A wire brush in a grinder works well and it doesn't really have much effect on the metal. Just make sure to continually move around so you don't overheat the panel you're working on. It goes a little slower than a sanding disk but you have much more control of where you brush so you can keep it away from bare metal more.

Peter

Also don't do it in the sunlight. Put it on thick, brushing in one direction and let it do the work.

As always...all great advice.

I only have the roof left to strip now, and I'm going to use MARTINSR's stripper technique this time.

It would be a real nasty job to do with the drill anyway...reaching over the hood was bad enough.

Thanks all!

------------------
Don
1969 Chevelle 2dr. project in progress.

Thanks for the advice, im considering tanking the trunk, doors, hood and any other parts off the car and having them media blasted. The aircraft stripper i went by what the paint store dude said and by what was written on the back of the car, it bubble of the paint acting like it did its job i waited from anywhere from 40 mins to few hours and then scrapped and only in certain areas did it effect others i swear paint looked brand new still. The only real parts that ill have a problem with is the roof which has tons of paint and maybe the back quarters which im thinking about replacing. i saw on ebay 190 bucks for brand new quarters each? sound god or bad heres the link http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34204&item=1876512124.

Anyway thanks for the advice and any other advice u can give would be great. The sandblaster sucks i think so much for heat or anyhting it did not even scratch the paint http://www.chevelles.com/forum/frown.gif

Media Blast it, or have it dipped and spend the extra time on something else.

And yes, you can get all of the media out of the nooks and cracks. When they did ours, we had them take the media gun and run only the air thru it.

"Presto"

No media anywhere.


------------------
Team Members Forever #341

Richard, Judy, MAXX2

'69 Elke (Frame Off); GM HO 350/330-Mildly Ported Vortec Heads-Manley Severe Duty SS 2.02/1.60 Valves, Comp Cams Full Roller Package (Magnum)-Custom Grind CS 3315/3316 HR112-.510/.520 Lift, Edelbrock Air-Gap W/750 Performer Manual Choke-Performer 100 HP NOS, March Pulleys, 4L60 (Non Computer) W/Lokar Shifter, 12 Bolt Posi., Full Aluminum Bed With Full Tubs, Aluminum Firewall, Custom Aluminum Dash/Gauge Bezel.