I’ve read through a ton of past posts and learned a lot but still have a few questions.
I have a 70 SS that has been at least 3 colors. Build sheet says white, car is now silver and while doing some rear quarter work there is also some brown (primer?). I know there is a crap load of filler in some spots and I want to take it all the way down so I know what I’m working with. My questions are:

I have a dog and a 7 month old boy - Probably wishful thinking but…. Is there a safe nontoxic stripper that will remove old paint, primer & possibly body filler?
What is the best way to get a car down to metal W/O sandblasting?
Thanks

70 nialator-i don't think that there is a stripper that is as safe as you would like it to be....it wouldn't take off the filler anyways, just the paint. if you have quite a bit of time i would d/a the whole thing....can get a little bit dusty and messy though so be careful. good luck
-Jay

I don't know of a chemical stripper made that will remove the factory primer (the brown stuff), let alone non-toxic. I had to sand, and sand,......and sand. I've heard people talk (or type) about the 3M stripping disks. They are grey or red I think, and connect to a standard drill or grinder. Haven't used them myself.

The least toxic way is bust out the grinder, stripper discs, and a respirator and clean up good after each session.

Keep the kids and dogs away when in progress of course.

when you get it clean metal, spreay it with Oxisolv or Picklex to keep it clean and rustfree while you move on. Just dont leave it in the weather or those things wash off.

You could use chem stripper, just be REALLY anal about cleanup and storage and you're fine. Theres lots of household stuff thats really nasty, just gotta take the right steps to prevent accidents.

Good Luck! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I used an angle grinder with those 3M paint stripper pads - looks like a purple hamburger. they are kind of expensive - I bought them at Lowes.... Each one lasts about a 1/4 panel.

It was faster than most everything else I tried. There's some Pics of the results on my webpage.

A repsirator mask is a must for your protection.

aight i know u want somthing non toxic but this if a very fast way to get that stuff off tho......goto walmart and get some aircraft remover that stuff is MEAN!!!! very MEAN but it works like a charm it may take a few cans but its fast and easy but keep the dog and boy away from it......all u do is spray it on let it set about 5 mins or so and spray it off with a pressure washer....... you can see it start working instantly....... we sprayed some powdercoated wheels that had some rust on them and stuff with it and shot off the paint with the pressure washer and then painted em so if itll work on powder coat im sure itll take off what ever u want......... :D :rolleyes:

There are many ways to strip a car... I have done all of them listed below, each have problems and the result's vary. I'm giving you a general overview, if you want more specific it might be a few day's before I can get back to this msg, because I'm doing 12-hr day's on a 70 Monte an hour from home.

Send it out and get it soda/plastic/walnut shell blasted (nice clean steel) no filler's left, lead work intact, no major mess to cleanup after wards. All chrome, rubber and bits need to be off. Mid $$$ range

Send it out for general blasting. Great for underside, frame etc... Body skins can't be done this way so you still have to do the skins. $$

Send it out to chemical strip. Probably the best but there is a chance that some chem's will remain in nooks & crannies even after neutralizing so potential of problems, but EVERYTHING is clean. Everything has to be off the car just metal only! EXPENSIVE $$$$

Do At Home:
Blast underneath, frame, door jambs etc... Need a big compressor, lots'a media (I use Black Beauty 40 grit), major pain to cleanup. Just put it all on a really big tarp if you want to save your yard... Dusty too so the neighbours should be considered too.

Chemical. Aircraft stripper is the only way to go (Tried POR Strip once, never again). The body should be disassembled, remove rubber, seperate parts to get access to all the areas. VERY TOXIC so do it outside or with a lot of fresh air moving. You have to cover all the ground surfaces with THICK plastic for the stuff to drip on. FOLLOW instructions to the letter! Note, if you want it to get right into the paint, give the paint a quick scuff with 36/40 grit so the stripper can get into it past the hard paint shell. It will remove filler's etc... but may require 2 coats of stripper. Usually one gallon will do 1 coat of the outter body. You will have to sand it with 80 grit using a DA or electric orbital. Make sure it's neutralized before doing work on it. Then you still have to mechanically strip some outter areas and then there's the floor, frame etc....

Last method at home...
Mechanical strip with 7" grinder, 36/40 grit for initial cut (just getting to see metal) then grit to get to metal. DANGEROUS work and you have to be VERY gentle & quick otherwise you'll get to China the hard way or warp everything. Use 3M Strip wheel in nooks & crannies and twisted wire brushes in curved areas and over body crowns. NOTE: Before grinding etc... put at least 3 layers 3/4" masking tape over crown's & edges to prevent damaging the lines. You can substitute 2 layer's of cheapo duct tape if you want. You can recycle the 7" disks to 4" after they have been used for doing smaller areas. Allways use a "cooling" backing pad on the grinder and when stripping get's slow, change the disk because it's now generating heat! Disks are cheaper than warped metal is to fix.

Hope it Helps.

80 grit on a DA sander does wonders. I also used a wire wheel on a grinder to remove all the bondo on my cars.