I have a metal scrapper, but I wanted to get the technique down before I went to town on the car with the metal one haha! Thanks for the tip on doing it dry if using the sanding disc. I am getting a larger air compressor in the next week or so and will get a proper DA.
I am in West Michigan, so plenty of moisture. It's in a garage that is very rarely opened and it's dry in there. I figured I won't want to go more than a day or two with it being bare metal.
No need to do anything first. Just mount the disc and go! Once you're done stripping, go over the whole car with 150g on a D/A. The strip disc leaves a smooth finish. The 150g will rough it up enough for epoxy primer to stick. On mine I actually used 80g however, I followed that with 2 coats of epoxy primer, then 3 coats of SlickSand so that alleviated any scratches. Get primer on the bare metal as soon as possible!
Another thing to be very aware of...paint strippers often use a paraffin wax to help slow the evaporation of volatiles and to stick to vertical surfaces. After using paint strippers, you need to do an extremely thorough job cleaning with wax and grease removers or your new coats of filler/primers/paint etc. won't stick properly. This can be made even worse when using various grinders and sanders after the paint stripper has been applied and scraped off because it helps spread the wax into all the scratches in the metal. Unfortunately, this was a lesson I learned the hard way.
Dumb question coming... Can I use a light rattle can primer job to hold me over until I am ready to do the real thing? Between work, coaching a youth hockey team, games, etc... I only get to work on here for about an hour a time a few days a week. So I was going to go panel by panel, but I know I can't leave bare metal exposed that long. So can I rattle can primer it and then remove that all in one day before I finish prep and then seal with the real stuff?
That can work. Just be sure to take it all off. Or....you might get lucky, and the remains of the rattle can primer will hold up ok when covered with the good stuff later on. My old truck that I drove today still has no issues with the 1981 paint job over the patches of rattle can primer that I used to cover the bodywork I was doing outside when I had the chance. Another thing to keep in mind is that lots of guys here build really beautiful cars, and you're going to finish your car in matte black...so you might be getting some advice that goes a bit further than you really need to.
I've had good luck with Ospho after either the strip disk or sanding w/80. If there are rust stains left (meaning really some residual rust) scrubbing the Ospho with a red Scotch pad will remove it. Just brush or spray on, just enough to wet the metal surface, rub any rust spots with pad and wipe off excess. The coating left will prevent surface rust for a while as long as it stays dry. And it is ready for your DTM primer of choice, mine is epoxy.
Body shop supply in my area has epoxy and dtm primer in spray bombs. I use the epoxy when I have a single panel in bare metal and it works perfect. I just put a coat on for adhesion, then go over that with my surfacer
That'll work but could be iffy......how about this. Buy a gallon of epoxy primer and catalyst. I've used Summits primers for years. They have a pretty good shelf life. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-up230g https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-up231g Now you have enough for the entire car. Do one panel at a time. Epoxy is the right primer to use on bare metal and it'll last until you're ready to shoot your topcoats. You're getting a new large compressor and the primer can be shot with a $15 HF gun. https://www.harborfreight.com/colle...oz-hvlp-gravity-feed-air-spray-gun-62300.html Do it once, do it right!
I've used some etch primers and some epoxy in a spray can which I believe was made by SEM for spot repairs that got top coated and had very good results with it. If you're going to do a whole car, it probably pays to go buy a gallon and a spray gun, but I wouldn't hesitate to use the spray can stuff on small spots, just make sure you're buying a good quality product.
If the paint stripper you're using doesn't contain methylene chloride, don't even use it, it's for latex and varnish. It is difficult to find paint stripper WITH methylene chloride anymore, it won't be at the home improvement store, likely need to order it. If the temp is cold, paint stripper is much less effective. Razor blading it off sounds slow. But it works well, buy a good quality holder. In fact buy 3 If youre compressor is a home size model and not "industrial", DA time will be rather limited while the compressor builds back up. It's a shit job no matter how you do it. Just put on some headphones and get at it. If your goal is flat black or satin black, I'd knock it all down with a DA. Shoot a black sealer to ensure the various other repaints dont haunt you, then shoot your choice of satin black. Buy a paint gun, use paint that will take a hardener.
The stripper I have doesn't have that in it, so I guess I will put that option on the back burner. I bought a few different razor blade options and a heat gun, so I am about to head to the garage and give that a try!
I grabbed some stuff from Ace Hardware to buy me some time. It's what we use on all of our metal after we are done welding/grinding it and it gets sent all over the US, so that should hold me over until I am ready to seal properly.
Is that the Eastwood stuff you posted a picture of too? I may pick up some of that too. So do you sand that off before you seal or just seal right over it?
No I think the spray bombs he sells is upol. You don't need to sand it off, just scuff it and apply your surfacer over it.
I'd be very careful using even 80 grit on a sander, especially if this is all new to you. It's easy to take down filler, and paint, but just as easy to get into the metal and leave it thin. I'm not a fan of coarse grit sanders for removing paint or filler. I only use them to knock down welds. I've gone exclusively to paint stripper discs on my 4.5" angle grinder as they wont do more than polish the metal, but are very quick at removing paint and filler. They also go a long ways, and two of the stripper pads will do an entire car in about 5-6 hrs. work. I've used them on my last three builds, and love them. Besides working great, they are very forgiving to metal. https://www.amazon.com/Remover-Remo...t=&hvlocphy=9061081&hvtargid=pla-824341093801
UPOL, that's the stuff that I used! If you're using stuff from the hardware store, it's fine to keep the rust off, but plan on sanding it all off before you put on your "real" primer. the UPOL stuff would not need to come off before painting. So if you're doing an area that you don't want to have to re-sand, that's the stuff you want. If you're not worried about buzzing it all off once the whole car is stripped, you can pretty much use whatever, since it's just temporary to keep the body from flash rusting.
Check Ace Hardware for old school zip strip in the black and yellow can, sometimes farm stores. The big box stores have all pulled methylene chloride stripper from the shelves, I've gotten lucky at some smaller stores or stores without high inventory turnover
Small update for those that care haha: I tried a few different techniques. -The strip disc on the grinder works fast but makes a mess. With my wife’s daily in one stall and my gym and son’s synthetic ice for hockey I don’t think that’s the best route. - I also bought a heat gun and some assorted razors and tried that. Once I get the flow down that goes pretty fast and is easy to clean up. It’s oddly soothing too haha. - after scrapping all the old paint off I went over it again with the strip disc to clean it all up. Another dumb question…. How clean do I have to get the metal? After scrapping it left what looked like red primer or something as the base layer in spots. Didn’t look to much like rust. I am assuming I need to clean all that off too for best results? I took @KenC advice and I used some Ospho once I was done to clean out the remaining rust and then to protect the metal. Is there something else I should do? I am going to go back at some of the areas toMorrow to try and get the remaining rust left behind. As always, I am open to any advice!!
You went this far, why leave a little bit of old primer? In the same vein, why leave the rust in the pits? Don't quit on those now. Are your fenders molded on? If not, you can unbolt and take them for sandblasting the rusty spots. Don't worry about the stuff you have nice and clean.
I didn’t want to leave the rust, but I had to get to work so I had no choice unfortunately. the fenders could come off and be sent out. I’ll have to see what we have available, pretty rural up here haha.
I use the stuff that says, Aircraft stripper on the front of the can . Then says, "Not for use on aircraft" on the back.
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