Rather than pay someone else to strip my car, is there any way to do this without heating up the sheet metal to much. I'd rather use my own elbow grease and save the cash to pay for top of the line bodywork.
Thank you.

Use an aircraft type heavy gel paint stripper. About 20$ a gallon. I did a 70 chevelle with about a gallon. Put it on with a wood handled hair bristled brush about a 3 inch size and put it on thick enough not to run. Let it set and then scrape off. You may have to apply several times between paint coats to completely strip car. Some primers are a bi@#$ to get off. So you might need to sand. I use a DA sander with 80 grit paper for the tough areas. Stripping is not hard but it does take some time to do. So do it yourself and save a couple hundred bucks.

Lou, If what you say is true about the original red laquer still being there, you could sand it and prime over it. My general rule of thumb is that any paint that's less than 3 mls thick, has been on a car for more than 5 years and dosn't show any signs of lifting, cracking or distress of any kind,is a good 'base' to prime over after a good sanding with a D.A. As you may know, the factory used an electrostatic application method for primers. Bodies were negetively charged and the paint was positively charged to create an 'electrical' bond between paint and steel. If you have suspect areas, by all means strip them to bare metal as instructed in the above post with stripper for a large area. You can sand down the smaller areas with 80 grit paper and a D.A. If the rest of paint looks OK, then I say D.A. sand it and use a quality urethane primer/filler to cover it. Keep in mind, when you have bare metal, use an self-etching primer before applying the urethane primer-surfacer. If you choose to go this route, you have to address the rot/rust next. We'll help you AMAP along the way.

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Triple Black 69 SS 396

If you do chemical strip the car, be sure to duct tape the door and trunk seams and anywhere else you wouldn't want stipper. If it gets down in the seams you will REALLY be sorry. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T

Lou, if you chemically strip your car you'll really be sorry any way. I did mine and it's a long (weeks), miserable, messy job. And you still have to sand it with a DA since you can't completely get all the residue off before it dries. And if you leave any in seams, etc., it will lift the new paint. Get it (plastic) bead blasted. It will be well worth the cost, trust me.

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von '69 300 Dlx SS TC #15 ACES #1575

No chemicals. I have heard of guys using a razor blade to stip them, never tried myself. Dont skimp here, if you havent blasted a car before dont even try it. I know somebody on here has, and now needs a roof and some other stuff it seemed like from this kind of deal. Find a media blaster and have it done in plastic.

Paint stripping with any kind of chemical stripper, airplane-type or whatever, is the nastiest job I have ever had to do. Once I started it (on a 1947 Stinson airplane fuselage and control surfaces, 20 years ago) I had to finish it. I didn't learn my lesson good enough then, and did an old wooden double-hung window last summer. Never ever again.

My $0.02

Stripped my '71 with razor blades. I had 4 of my family helping me with it and we got the job completed in about 3 hours. That included removing chrome trim and insignia as well.

O.k. I think that I'll learn by the mistakes of others and forget chemical stripping. But what about this razor blade technique? If you would, could you expand more on this option. Thanks for all your replies.
Lou

I just stripped my deck lid today with aircraft stripper and thought it was a piece of cake! Two applications and all the paint is gone. I let it sit for an hour or so and just scooped the paint and stripper off with a plastic putty spreader and slopped it into and old cardboard box. Then I wiped it down with laquer thinner. NASTY fumes though! Definitely an outside job! Try the trunk lid and see how it goes.

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72 SS coupe clone & 68 ragtop, 69 ragtop. www.NoNecksChevelle.com (http://www.NoNecksChevelle.com)

Back when I was painting a few years ago, I always striped my jobs with a 9" DA and 36 grit sticky back disks. That would cut the surface like nothing, and finish with a 6" DA and 80 grit. Smooth for sure and clean, it would take me 8 hours to finish. Can you say dusty and sore? I did try the chem strip a couple of times, and it is more trouble than it was worth. But if you do have the money, media blasting is even better. Good luck with whatever you go with, all do work.

About a year and a half ago, I used chemical stripper on my Chevelle. It took me about 3 days, in July no less, to strip the car. I'd get out there real early in the morning and work until around 6 at night, but it all came off. The doors, hood and trunk lid had two layers of paint (original panels) and everything else had one layer. I managed to strip, do the body work, sand, prime and paint the car in the two weeks I was on vacation. This, of course, working about 12 hours a day! Did everything outside, except for the paint. Messy? Yes. But I had plenty of newspapers to use to catch the stuff. Also, I did small areas at one time. In July I didn't have a choice! Worked out well, though. Took the paint right down to metal. But, be aware, that if you have any Bondo filling, you won't when you get done!!

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MalibuJerry350
Original owner '70 Chevelle.
540,000+ miles on car.
My Chevelle: http://hometown.aol.com/erie614/myhomepage/index.html

from reading both of your post it sounds like your car is going to need plenty rust and rot repair so before you take it to get media blasted, take a D.A. to each panel useing 80 grit or so, dont mess with the body lines at this time. if you find out it has too much filler or rust stop and decide if you want to replace the panel or skin , media wont remove rust anyway. in short this way you will only pay for what is used.then you can have the door jambs and drip rail areas media blasted and any hard to get to places. doing the flat panels will let you see what you got and save you money . If you have any questions about who I used to sandblast and media blast or even body work I live in your area, ( from brooklyn) just E-mail me

I called a guy in Cleveland (Gentle Blast), near where I work and he said that he would do the entire outside of my car for $585.00.
Should I have him do the door jams? Their flawless but it's factory lacquer and I'm going with a bc/cc job.