Wanted to use a chemical stripper to start removing several coats of paint on my project car.
Any recommendations? What should be done to the panels after stripping and before priming as to remove any chemical residue?
Thanks,
Dan

Strip the whole car with chemical? Do you have the patience of Job? Hope so; Its a dirty, tedious, potentially hazardous-to-your-health job. A major challenge is the possibility of stripper not being completely removed/neutralized from all nooks and crannies and later damaging the new paint. But it can be done. Should be some tips here from the guys. Some strippers contain methylene chloride--a potent carcinogen. Good luck.

My $0.02

Aircraft striper,not sure of the brand. Lots of water afterwards to neutralize the striper. Heavy rubber gloves, the stuff burns skin. Safetyglasses and a good mask. The fumes are terrible. The stuff will remove everything.

jamie

Good point made on the hazards of chemistry.
Will probably start on a small portion of a front fender to see how it goes.

I and a friend did our 1948 Stinson airplane fuselage, empennage, and control surfaces with gov't issue aircraft paint stripper. One coat did not do it. Some areas had to be hit three times, but it had several coats of some pretty tough paint. We procured the stuff in 5 gal containers.

Warmer temperatures speed the chemistry. Covering the area with foil or something after applying the stripper to reduce evaporation rate of the chemical may help. Score the surface of the paint to give the stripper a chance to get "under" the paint will help. A good stout extremely sharp razor blade scraper may even take the paint off in relatively flat areas without using stripper. I would wear a respirator qualified for use against your chemicals vapors or dusts, and try to arrange a supply of fresh air taking the vapors away from you. Avoid getting stripeer on your skin. If you do, it feels cool on your skin, but it definitely ain't "cool" for your health. I didn't always follow my own advice then (23 years ago) and I'm still kicking, but why push your luck? Good Luck.

My $0.02

Eastwood now carried a supposedly non-toxic and environment friendly stripper. I just saw it in their new catalog. Might check on their site before you go tossing around cancerous chemicals in your garage.

Originally posted by JJ'65:
Its a dirty, tedious, potentially hazardous-to-your-health job. Yest it is. Think long and hard about this before you start. I stripped my 68 with chemicals. Never again. I would seriously look into having it media blasted. Just my .02

Thanks for the tip on Eastwood's stuff. Might give it a try. Would like to avoid the more toxic strippers if possible.

I had the quarters,bottom and inside of my 68 blasted($500.00). The rest of the car (fenders, doors, deck lid, hood, etc. I striped with paint remover I bought at a local Hardware store($30.00). I did one panel each evening, and it really wasn't difficult at all. I then sanded the whole car with 100 grit paper and started the body work. The next car I do will not be blasted at all. It's too much to clean up. That media will never be completely gone. graemlins/sad.gif

Speaking of hardware store stripper, I have used a brand called "Zip strip" on old furniture to remove the stain and it worked well. Wonder if it would do the job on the car?
This particular stuff had no objectionable odor either. Would probably be worth a try anyway since you can buy it by the quart or gallon.

Yes, there are newer stripper formulations that are less hazardous. I'd buy an assortment in smallest containers available and do a comparison check.

I have used razor blades in a handle before and works great. On gentle curved radii works good just have to use multiple passes because the contact area is narrower. You can get them at any house painting store. I got the idea when I painted houses for aliving we used them to clean glass after painting the windows. Worked like a charm. the paint simply falls to the ground. It's not loud so you can work late at night not worring about neighbors complaining. No dust, or fumes. Plus the sheet metal is perfect so your sanding is final prep and not removing deep scratches from rougher sand paper. It goes pretty fast. When you combine all the other issues of paint striping like clean up and repairing damage caused by some stripping methods or anything else. this is by far the fastest and cheapest method.

Todd

I stripped a car with a methylene chloride based stripper. I used a twin cartridge respirator I got at Sears, which worked amazingly well. Still, it was one of the more stupid things I have ever done.

First, with that kind of solvent, you can't get gloves which will protect you.

Second, the vapors will dissolve into your skin and eyes.

And as previously stated, it is a carcinogen.

But, it is one of the best chemicals there is to strip paint. It doesn't do as well on primer.

I would suggest having the body blasted with a soft polymer media. We have a local prep shop here that swears by it, saying it is about the only thing that absolutely will not warp metal. They say it is better than walnut media.

Dave

This is what I've done so far.
Removed the passenger side fender and started with a a $14.95 hardware store paint stripper. It is a heavy bodied stripper and the longer you leave it on the better it works. (Did this outdoors and did not have any trouble with vapors)
Next scraped the bubbled paint and primer with a putty knife. Applied several coats of stripper to get through first primer, then paint, then paint then primer.
Then took my hand drill with 80 grit sandpaper disc and went over it. Took a razor blade and wire wheel to sand hard to get places. Then went over that with 220 grit sandpaper, then lightly primed so it wouldn't rust.
Mind you this is not final prep to paint, just to get through all the previous coatings to the bare metal so hopefully when the time comes the body shop won't have as much time invested.
Next up is the hood since it had to come off to get the fender off.
We'll see how that goes before taking on the really big panels like roof and quarters.
Media blasting sounds good at this point, but there is no place in my area that does that.

I use a bondo spreader to scrap the stripper. Put down cardboard for the stripper to drop on and pick it back up with a dust pan and use it over and over again. I strip the flat surfaces first so the stripper gets thicker and then I reuse it on the sides of the car. It's a messy job but it's cheap to do yourself.
Roger

I used Jasco Premium Stripper using just rags and steel wool. On the first application of stripper, I laid it on real thick and waited for it to completely blister. Any spots that did not blister I would just touch up. After a few minutes the paint would literally slide off of the car. Wipe off the slime with some throw-away rags. This took me down to the factory primer. I then dipped steel wool in stripper and scrubbed off the primer. Last step was to clean the metal with MEK. Body shop was happy, said I did a great job.

Still wouldn't do it again.

Good idea about the steel wool dipped in stripper.
Yes it is time consuming work, but I'm not on a timetable with this project and if I can save some money at the body shop it will be worth it.
Would not want to do this on any kind of regular basis. Media blasting would be nice, but not an option here.

Good luck with it. Here's some pictures of the torture I went through.

Step one: Paint wiped off with rags
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/TimC/dsc_369.jpg

Step two: Plenty of elbow grease needed here
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/TimC/dsc_399.jpg

And the result: http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/TimC/dsc_378.jpg

Great pictures Tim! I'm not going to be quite so ambitious as to do the engine compartment and inner fender liners! (Had to replace the one on the passenger side due to battery leakage)
About how long did it take to strip the El Camino and did you keep after it steadily or walk away from it for periods of time?
Dan graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Originally posted by Sixties Guy:
About how long did it take to strip the El Camino and did you keep after it steadily or walk away from it for periods of time?
Dan graemlins/thumbsup.gif It took me about six months to complete the entire job. Yes, I walked away alot. I used about 5 cans of Stripper @ $25 each, two or three cans of MEK @ about $5 each, countless rags and a few packs of steel wool. The skin on my fingers has now grown back and I'm begining to regain my sense of smell ;)

I thought the car was pretty straight and relatively rust-free when I started. I learned quickly that where there's rust, there's more rust, and where there's bondo, there's more bondo. :(

I hear ya about the rust and bondo. That's why most mainstream body shops don't want to touch any car over 20 years old. They'd rather do the easy fender bender insurance jobs.
Don't know how long it's going to take me, I've done one fender and half the hood. Going to have to patch the lower quarters, lower front fenders for sure.
Will know more as the paint, (or should I say primer) ;) comes off.
I admire your perserverance on your car.
Good luck with the final stages.