I am currently taking a few autobody courses at the nearby city college.I have a pretty straight El Camino that I've had the rear lower quarters and front lower quarters rust removed and repaired. There are no other visible signs of rust anywhere on the car. It still has the original white paint and coats of primer over the top. My question is where or not it is worth it to strip all existing paint and primer off the car down to baremetal. Then spray a coat of epoxy prime followed by a guide coat primer/block sanding etc.... OR should I just start block sanding primer over existing paint. Your help is appreciated.

Do it once and do it right. Strip it.

Mike

yep

A safe way but by no means the easiest is to strip it w/ a da and 80 grit. If you are working at the school and driving it to and from you can do one or two panels a day (or night) and get them in primer for the trip home.

I have worked out a deal so that my car can stay in the shop full time. My plan if i were going to take it down to bare metal would be to use airplane remover and a plastic scraper. Then just take off remaining areas with a DA w/ 80 grit sandpaper for around edges, seams and missed spots. I started with the passenger door last night and almost got it completely stripperd. I take pics tomorrow night during class. I just have heard two different opinions and i wanted imput on this site. More work is not an issue, i just want to be sure that all the extra work is worth it?

I did the same thing, took a night class for auto body and ran my 86 Cutlass back and forth. I stripped a panel per night and primed with after I was done. After I got the car stripped, I was able to start leaving it in the shop and I simply started doing the welding and fill work after that.
I wouldn't mess with chemical strippers, that stuff is nasty and leaves a big mess. I used a 6" DA sander and 40 grit to remove the paint, then went over the car again with 80 grit. It didn't take that long to strip it, 10-12 nights worth at 4 hours per night.

Based on info I got on this post, I am going to strip the entire body down to bare metal. I plan on stripping th whole thing and then epoxy prime, followed by guide coat, block sanding. ect...I don't think I will be done by the end of semester but will just take the classes again to finish. I hope to have the whole thing stripped and epoxy primed by summer. I can post updates and pics of progress if anyone is interested.

Here is an update on my progress

You had better get every bit of that crap off. Chemical stripper car get into the paint pores and create a real problem, trust me i know. Wash it thoroughly with dawn dish liquid and dry real fast and follow with epoxy.

You had better get every bit of that crap off. Chemical stripper car get into the paint pores and create a real problem, trust me i know. Wash it thoroughly with dawn dish liquid and dry real fast and follow with epoxy.

I have been wiping the areas down with paint thinner after the chemical stripper. I am going to wash area with water/dry (neutralizes acid?)and DA the whole thing to scuff the surface to prepare for epoxy prime.

Though you've already started to strip it...I'm going to go against the grain here and say that most of the time, if the car only has its original paint and it is well adhered...it actually makes a pretty good base for new paint.

Check out the '69 Chevelle and the '79 Z28 on my website...the Chevelle was stripped to bare metal, the Z28 kept its original paint as a base...both turned out equally well.

I stripped my '70 completely with the stripper shown below
http://www.wmbarr.com/Images/ProductImages/GKS3_6_R.jpg

It took me a few evenings, but this stuff would strip a panel in no time. My car had a few layers of paint and primers. I went over everything thoroghly with 80 grit on my DA. Then shot epoxy over everything, and then urethane primer/surfacer over that. I am ready to wet sand and paint. ;)

. I am going to wash area with water/dry .

I did the roof and rear quarters with the stripper and made darn sure i kept it away from any seams. As a precaution you may want to use a steamcleaner to get into those areas if you did not tape off or may had had stripper get into the seams. I am using a euro steamshark (little hot steam cleaner with a wand on it) to get into the cracks. I am fairly certain I kept it all out of there but I dont want it coming back later to bite me in the butt.

As for "the other side of the coin", I've read in a few other places that there's no better primer than a factory paint job, providing that the factory paint is adhering well.

FWIW, my money's on the original paint used as a substrate. It is the only product available giving 40 or so years of proven results. I don't know of any product that can touch that. The next 40 years will most likely be less taxing.

other side of that coin, is that rot could be creeping up from underneath and hasn't shown through the paint yet. Or, a previous hack job of bondoing the car might be lurking...

If you strip it bare, you KNOW there's nothing lurking.

other side of that coin, is that rot could be creeping up from underneath and hasn't shown through the paint yet. Or, a previous hack job of bondoing the car might be lurking...

If you strip it bare, you KNOW there's nothing lurking.

x2

Though you've already started to strip it...I'm going to go against the grain here and say that most of the time, if the car only has its original paint and it is well adhered...it actually makes a pretty good base for new paint.

Check out the '69 Chevelle and the '79 Z28 on my website...the Chevelle was stripped to bare metal, the Z28 kept its original paint as a base...both turned out equally well.

Thanks for the comment. I'm working on a 75 Firebird now, I drive my Chevelle daily. The original paint on the Firebird is in excellent condition except for fading. I have planned on retaining the original paint as the base for the repaint. I had always heard to leave the factory paint if you were sure it was factory and was in good shape.

This car is a driver. It has 180,000 miles on it and I hope to put another 180,000 on it after restoration.
Tom

Did I miss where you told us what was currently on your car? Original? Not? Layers? Age? Current condition? Type of Paint?

Answer for me and I'll comment.

I would tell anyone repainting a car to decide what they want out of the new paint. If you're looking for a long term high quality paint job and you plan on sanding an already existing paint, don't expect it to last to long. Of course lasting long is relative to the age of the existing paint job as Irisner is getting at.

My show and cruise car paint is lacquer and started showing signs of cracking from shrinkage and stress about two years ago. Cracking started near the quarter panel to roof seam and also the windshield pillar post to the roof seam. I'm starting to see some signs of cracking where the quarter panel meets the filler panel at the lower portion of the rear window recently. None of this was evident two years ago. That lacquer was shot in 1983. I would say it lasted a good long time for lacquer.

Take the paint off completely and respray from the metal on out...you will probably use one of the new Urethane type paints, lacquer is not an option anymore...at least not in New Jersey.

As for me, I don't have much of a choice; I have to start planning on stripping my entire car and repainting with Urethane. I'm already starting to shop around for supplies. I will be dry stripping it with a DA and paper, no chemical strippers here. Probably start fall 2009 or so.

Sam