[lemansboy70]

My GP has a hillbilly paint job on it. Looks to be a tractor enamel of some sort. Seems to very brittle.

What is the best way to strip it for repainting? My painter said if I could just get it down to factory primer, he could work with that.

[dhutton]

Try a razor blade scraper first. I find that the easiest and cleanest method. It will take several blades to do a whole car.

Don

[lemansboy70]

Do I use a chemical stripper with it or just a razor blade alone?

[400 4spd.]

Use only the razor blade. Once you put chemical stripper on a surface, you're committed to going 100% all the way to metal. Don't leave behind any primer or old filler, or it will haunt you.

[Stuart]

Chemical stripper works, but as mentioned you have to go to bare metal if you use that method. Also, the strong stuff with methylene chloride isn't available anymore to consumers.

[dhutton]

Chemical stripper is a last resort imho.

Don

[tjs72lemans]

Not sure why anyone would risk spending thousands on a new paint job with old unknown paints and primers underneath. Take it to bare metal so you know what you have.

[fairwayhit]

I used a cheap harbor freight heat gun and razor blades. It definitely is less mess than trying to sand it off or use chemical stripper. However, it was a lot of work and I had to finish a lot of spots with a wire wheel on a grinder.

After all of that, I think it would have been much better to take it somewhere and have it media blasted.

[dhutton]

Don’t use a heat gun until you’ve tried it without a heat gun. I’ve never needed one.

Don

[critter]

An example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korPLvwGpHc

[Greg Reid]

I've never had a problem using a razor blade without the heat gun. For some reason, it takes the paint but not the primer. Some of the odd areas, concave curved surfaces for example, may be tough to get to with the blade but just use other methods in those spots.
In the end, I found that a combination of different methods works for me. Wire brush cup or sanding disc on a variable speed grinder, razors, 3m roloc discs. etc.
It's a fairly messy and time consuming job no matter how you do it.

[gtohunter]

Originally Posted by dhutton

Try a razor blade scraper first. I find that the easiest and cleanest method. It will take several blades to do a whole car.

Don

Used the razor blade method a lot back in the 70s with Mopar Plum Crazy. Chrysler seemed to have problems with adhesion and the paint would come off with very little effort. Made a lot of money respraying those cars!

[lemansboy70]

I started stripping yesterday. Man this paint is thick! Looks like the car was dipped instead of sprayed.

Using a razor blade, but it is slow going.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by lemansboy70

I started stripping yesterday. Man this paint is thick! Looks like the car was dipped instead of sprayed.



Using a razor blade, but it is slow going.

My experience and I am no expert but I use a combination. Razor where it works well, wire cup and/or sanding disc on a VARIABLE speed angle grinder where it's better. Experiment and find what works....and patience is a virtue.

Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

[lemansboy70]

This is about 2 1/2 hours of work.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tve90682kp...105_125924.jpg

[Old Goat 67]

Here ya go.



Downloaded your pic. Uploaded to this board. Posted that link to this answer.

[lemansboy70]

Thank you!!!

[dataway]

Yep, that's going to be pretty slow going.

I'd keep using the same method but maybe just a very light coat of chemical stripper on an area to see if it softens things up. Not enough to make a mess, but maybe the type of paint is easily softened by chemical strippers and it might speed things up. But keep it away from gaps and seams.

[lemansboy70]

Yup, planning on using chemical stripper when I get to the sides.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by lemansboy70

Yup, planning on using chemical stripper when I get to the sides.

Just make sure to keep it away from any panel gaps or trim mounting holes, so you don't have any left over residue that will affect the paint job later. It doesn't hurt to put tape over them.