Well, last night after I replaced the trunk lid and driver's door with rust and dent free panels, we counted the colors on this car and came up with 10. I really would like to get this car ready for primer. What is the best method to take paint off the firewall, doors, trunk lid, sail panels and roof? Would a DA Sander do the trick? I used a da on one of the sail panels and it left faint swirls in the bare sheet metal.

Anyway.... So do I DA it or Air craft strip it? I've heard that air craft stripper is hard to get rid of and can lift new primer and paint.

Whats your guys take on this?

OH, and also what is the best tool to use to get the window channels down to bare metal.... I have some holes, and want to get that area nice and clean and prepare to weld in the patches. Do I use one of those rodex... spongey looking drill wheels?

I spend 40-60 hours doing my hood and fenders. I took the hood to bare metal (need to use Vara-prime metal etch before primer), and the fenders I took down to original factory primer.

You don't want bare steel, unless you are welding on it.

I plan to get the back half of my car "media blasted". They use shells or baking soda. Does not heat the panels, and will not remove rust.

I used Vara-Prime metal Etch from DuPont, I think. then an epoxy primer. I think 2 quarts of Vara-Prime and a gallon of Epoxy is want you need.

Don't forget the activator for the epoxy.

You can even reduce the Epoxy by 20% and use it as a sealer before the first coat of base.

First, a great tool to use on those channels would be a clean n strip wheel from 3M part number 07466, it works slick!!

Depending on what type of paint we are talking you can use a razor blade to peel most of it off. If its lacquer based paint goodluck. Get yourself a cheap razor blade holder and give it a try, its worth a shot.

Paint stripper wont affect the future paint job if you remove ALL TRACES of paint, stripper etc. When you strip it it NEEDS to be nothing but BARE METAL!!! Use a razor blade to remove any last traces of paint then wash the part with water to remove the residue. Also its a good idea to scrub with a red scuff pad, helps remove those pesky bits of paint and stripper that still remain.

Dry the part and sand the metal with DA sander using 180-220. You need to sand the metal in order to get adhesion of any paint product even thou its bare metal.

If you da sand the paint Id go with 80 grit all the way to bare metal. Once its completly bare go over it again with 180-220 to remove those 80 grit srcatches.

I would NOT leave the factory primer on that car. The products of today are far superior then what they used back in 1969. To me painting over that 35yr old paint is creating a weak link. Thats just the way I see it.

Now you get to body filler part. there are two methods of mayhem on filler, both work just fine IF you follow the rules.
Method 1 filler on bare metal
Method 2 filler on EPOXY primer and ONLY EPOXY primer.
Without going into much detail about this since a good search would provide all the info you need, either method is a fine method. If you go filler on bare metal then I strongly suggest you ONLY strip one panel at a time. Strip the panel do the filler work and apply one round of primer.

As for a metal treatment on bare metal you can go with etch primer or epoxy, I myself prefer etch. Etch contains acids that bite into metal producing adhesion second to none. Its also a great rust fighter. Epoxy on the other hand is also a great at adhesion but has an extra benefit of being a great sealer, its holds back the elements real well.

To me the ULITIMATE method is a coat of etch and then 2 coats of epoxy on bare metal. On my own personal stuff thats what I do.
But then again you need to double check the product tech sheets on those products. Not ALL etches can be applied under epoxy. PPG's dpx170/171 CAN NOT be applied under DPLF. The same goes with Valspar's sunlock 88 etch CAN NOT be applied under VP40 or VP50.

I would also not use an epoxy as a sealer prior to basecoat. Epoxy can suck the gloss out of the paint. It might not be enough to where you see it when done on a whole car, but say you did it on just one fender, the gloss would be night and day between the fender and door. This might not be true with all epoxies but with PPG and Dupont it can and does happen. I cant think of a single PPG shop that Ive been to or talked to guys that work in one that spray an epoxy based sealer. Most are using K36 or NCP270, and now the big push is torwards V-seal.

Tell us what paint companies you have in your area?...Eric

I stripped my entire car with a product called "Kleen Strip" (??) You'll find it at Lowes, Home Depot, Sears Hardware....etc. A gallon is about $14 and comes in a gold/silver paint thinner type can. There are a few different types so make sure you get the one for metal. It will take about 2 hours to have the top side of the hood completely stripped, just to give you an idea. See my hood photo on the post above. graemlins/thumbsup.gif