Repaint needed on some body panels; how to strip the old off ? (1 Viewer)

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Hi, After years of sun light , parking lot hits , trail rides , and hunting trips and kids learning to drive the clear coat is gone on some of the fj80 panels . In addition some panels like fenders and the hood have damage . So the hood ,fenders, valance , and back gates are coming off . I'm taking the paint off down to the metal . Would you strip the panels with soda blast or aircraft paint remover like D Zolve 912 ? Or is there a better way to take the paint down ? I'm only doing this once and with the price of paint I don't. Want to risk a bad base. Mike
 
unless you are using body filler on the whole rig you don't have to take it down to bare metal.
 
I would do some sort of media blast rather than risk doing the aircraft remover and leaving some residue somewhere. IF going to bare metal is an absolute must for you.
 
Are you planning on doing lead work? The area under the rear hatch glass, rockets, wheel wells, etc.; ... there are areas where lead can bestow its fantastic properties on these tires rigs. However, your best bad is the factory base. Take advantage of it as much as you can. If your dealing with rust then go down to bared metal in those areas, tin, apply lead, smooth, smooth again with filler, prime and paint.

Lead is cheap, and it doesn't rust. Used judiciously it allows you to stay under 3 mils of filler - so you get the benefit of a smooth texture and look from filler, and the durability of a heavy metal.

Edit: be sure to take the time to tin properly.
 
Are you planning on doing lead work? The area under the rear hatch glass, rockets, wheel wells, etc.; ... there are areas where lead can bestow its fantastic properties on these tires rigs. However, your best bad is the factory base. Take advantage of it as much as you can. If your dealing with rust then go down to bared metal in those areas, tin, apply lead, smooth, smooth again with filler, prime and paint.

Lead is cheap, and it doesn't rust. Used judiciously it allows you to stay under 3 mils of filler - so you get the benefit of a smooth texture and look from filler, and the durability of a heavy metal.

Edit: be sure to take the time to tin properly.
I know back in the day, lead was the only way to go, I've seen some fantastic custom body work done with lead, but most of the old timers who knew how to do it, are almost all gone today. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a body man today, that would even know how to use a blow torch, and soldiering iron.
 
If you walked into most body shops today, and asked them to "lay lead" on your car, they 1) probably wouldn't know what your talking about, or 2) would laugh. WAY too time consuming considering every body shop I know of is commissioned.
You will be sorry if you attempt to go all the way to bare metal! Like stated earlier..... use the PERFECT base that Mr T laid down for you..... much better results.
 
If you walked into most body shops today, and asked them to "lay lead" on your car, they 1) probably wouldn't know what your talking about, or 2) would laugh. WAY too time consuming considering every body shop I know of is commissioned.
You will be sorry if you attempt to go all the way to bare metal! Like stated earlier..... use the PERFECT base that Mr T laid down for you..... much better results.

True. I'm forty. I've seen guys 20 years younger than me use lead on LS swapped '51 ford trucks, '30s era Pontiac rat rods, etc., but yeah - mostly hobbyists. Eastwood has how-to videos on it.

You think maybe it's making a comeback amongst hipster car guys?

I've got rust around my rear hatch glass. It's coming through a coat of black stuff (POR-15?). That spot, and a few others like it, will get some lead treatment.
 
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I never sell my cruisers and the paint is starting to show the decades of sun and use. Very Small rust spots here and there . Mechanical work I'm ok with, paint not so much . I see no consensus from one painter to another, except for all will guaranty their work If stripped down all the way. I'm leaning toward soda blasting because I can do it ,easy clean up, envir. Friendly and leaves a film which for weeks will stop flash over ,I've been told as long as you don't handle the metal with bare hands. Thinking about epoxy primer which I've used on radiator supports and had good luck with .Then PPG paint and clear coat . The 1991 80 is metalic Champaign . Mike
 
So, fun fact. Most car manufacturers chemically dipped (electro zinc primed) their vehicles starting in the mid 80's (?) if you abrassivley or chemically strip to bare metal you create a host of issues which don't lend themselves well to repaints bare metal repaints often even with the best of painters tends to encapsulate some form of iron oxide which never truly dies. Using a treatment like OSPHO and then thoroughly neutralizing it can be effective but most shops don't do this unless you're paying big money. This doesn't matter on a short term time scale...say 10 years or less, but a lot of the jobs I've seen between 7-10 years the paint bubbles or has cancer where it has been repainted and body filler areas tend to shrink, crack and fail. As far as lead work on an 80 goes, lead (isn't lead anymore) isnt as great of an alternative for newer vehicles like the 80 series due to the metal being thinner and less accepting of the necessary body filing and heat needed to blend a proper lead repair. It's the only way to go for cars made before say the mid 70's. If you're looking to have a repaint done and the subsrate is in good condition and minimal body work is required...I wouldn't do anything more than a thorough cleaning, wax ,tar, grease and adhesive removing prep and if you're adamant about surface prepping yourself I'd ask the shop what scoure pad to scuff the paint with and what grits to blend and to what degree to blend any damaged areas. It is however best practice to let the shop do all the prep work...that way if there is any contamination which leads to issues down the line, they are wholly responsible for them. YMMV, just my $.02
 
I never sell my cruisers and the paint is starting to show the decades of sun and use. Very Small rust spots here and there . Mechanical work I'm ok with, paint not so much . I see no consensus from one painter to another, except for all will guaranty their work If stripped down all the way. I'm leaning toward soda blasting because I can do it ,easy clean up, envir. Friendly and leaves a film which for weeks will stop flash over ,I've been told as long as you don't handle the metal with bare hands. Thinking about epoxy primer which I've used on radiator supports and had good luck with .Then PPG paint and clear coat . The 1991 80 is metalic Champaign . Mike

Please don't get me wrong, soda blasting or shell blasting is primo, I just tell people to skip it because most people don't realize what they are getting ready to undertake!
If you can do the blasting yourself, realize the potential problems, and plan on keeping this vehicle forever, than this is THE way to do it.
For what it's worth.... I agree with the epoxy primer. Even though the soda "residue" sticks around for a few days there's no guarantee. I know I'd sleep better at night knowing it was wrapped in a nice epoxy! Good luck... can't wait to see it! Are you going to do a "paint thread"? People would love it!
 
Soda is too chemically active for my taste. If you want to blast with soda, make sure you rinse and 100% neutralize before painting. It's just as bad as aircraft stripper for getting stuck in crevasses and causing adhesion problems later. I would never use it on a customers car. Also, if you find any rust soda won't remove it. I would sand all the flat, easy areas and finish up the hard to sand and/or rusty areas with copper slag media. Then I would know that I can both remove coatings as well as clean any rust pits or damaged areas all with one media.
 

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