Paint Strip-Body on or off?

[Justin N.]

Dear Members,
I am considering chemical stripper for a couple of the upper layers on my 67 coupe. Bubba has gone over the original lacquer with about two coats of cheap grey primer. Should I strip it now with the body on rusty frame or wait to do it on the body dolly? Thanks much!
Justin #41362

[Tim E.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body on or off?

It's probably easiest to strip paint with the body on a dolly and fully disassembled which is what I did. It's easy to roll the body outside the shop and onto plastic sheets, the stipping chemicals will not drip on the engine, chassis, or interior, and when you spray water to neutralize the chemicals it won't get on the engine or interior.

However, if you're not ready to lift the body yet or don't have the dolly ready but you're ready to work on the car, many bodies have been stripped while on the chassis. It's a decision on which order to proceed.

I'd say if you're planning on lifting the body anyway, concentrate on that and make it easier on yourself. By the way...pick up a couple of the 2 X 3 foot drip pans sold at auto parts stores to collect all the drippings, rubber gloves, and lots of course steel wool (which work better for me than plastic spatulas).

[Chuck S.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body on or off?

Justin, if you are restoring the chassis later, it shouldn't make any difference.

One advantage of having the body on a dolly is that it will be easier to get to the lower areas since it will probably be higher than on the chassis...conversely, you may need a stool to get the center of the top.

If you have extensive body work (it looks like you don't), it would be better to make those repairs with the body stressed in the position it will have on the chassis. In that case, it would be better to strip the body on the chassis, do the body work, then adjust your gaps just like you want them BEFORE you do the body lift. Regardless of whether you have repairs, you should adjust your gaps before you remove the body from the chassis.

My personal preference is to use Scotchbrite pads rather than steel wool. You probably won't have any problems if you are careful, but some restorers apparently have had problems with steel fibers getting stuck in the body and causing problems later with the paint.

[mike geary]

Re: Paint Strip-Body on or off?

Instead of Scotch-Brites or Brillo pads, I had really good results with those pot scrubber pads you can get at the supermarket. Not only are they heavy-duty, you don't have to worry about metal whiskers getting imbedding in the surface.

Best of all, you can soak them in laquer thinner overnight, and you're good to go. I did my whole car with just 2 of them.

By the way, a great stripper scraper is the yellow Bondo paddle. It is very resistant to softening up, and keeps its edge. It can even by "sharpened" up with a little belt sanding. Get yourself a drywall mud tray to wipe your scrapings into. Do a small area at a time and you'll be fine.

[Mike M.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body on or off?

I don't see how taking layers off is possible with a chemical stripper. Especially to arrive at the smooth even finish required for painting. There is also the chance that the original paint may be salvageable. Primer is relatively soft, why not just wet-sand it. You will have to sand it anyway. This would probably be Cheaper, quicker, easier, less messy and more effective for finish prep. There is far less danger of damaging the fiberglas surface and there will be no chemical residue that may weep out later from that California sun.
Good Luck and H. a. N. D.

[Justin N.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body

Dear Members,
Thank you all for the help! Michael, I wanted to take off as much of Bubba's mess, but leave some of the original behind to sand into. I didn't want chemicals going all the way down to the bare glass. Also, the right front marker light got popped hard enough to flex and crack the glass above the driver's headlight door! Bubba made a meager attempt at fixing this which needs attention also. I'm still undecided about Glasurit BC/CC or Duracryle, which apparently can be found in the San Diego area.
Justin

[James W.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body on or off?

Justin,

I'd strip the paint off the car with the body still on the frame. I would limit the amount of time the body was on a body dolly to a minimum. I was in the same situation you are in when I bought my '64 convertible. It had the factory paint under several coats of light gray primer that bubba owner #2 applied. I used a chemical paint stripper and a various sizes of yellow bondo paddles to remove the primer and original paint. The stripper I used 24 years ago cut right though the outer primer and in most cases it removed or softened part of the original paint on the first application. Beleive me, it doesn't take much to remove the original paint. One more coat of stripper and it was down to the factory primer. From there I used lacquer thinner and scotch brite pads which quickly removed the factory primer and left a smooth fiberglass surface. I never once used water to neutralize the stripper since it was not water soluble so getting the interior or engine components wet is not an issue. I was very careful to clean all the surfaces with thinner and clean rags immediately after the paint and primer were removed. As I said, this was 24 years ago when I was a kid at the age of 17. The car was professionally paint shortly after and I have had not one problem with the paint and it still looks excellent to this day!!!

Go for it, you should be able to have it stripped in a couple of weeks. Once your done put it on the dolly, clean the under body fiberglass surfaces in preparation for blackout. I would not attempt to do underbody cleaning and as little blackout painting as possible after it comes back from the body shop, bad things can happen to new paint, i.e. overspray where you don't want it.

Best Regards,

James West
Omaha, NE.

[Mike M.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body

Forever busy Bubba, he apparently covered more ground than Johnny Appleseed.

[Mike M.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body on or off?

James has Not overstated the appearance of that finish on the '64.
H. a. N. D.

[Dick W.]

Re: Paint Strip-Body on or off?

Justin, I think that you will be far better off by removing all the old top coat and substrates. Remember the paint and primer on the car is 50 year old technologh. I had a paint rep say that putting modern paint over lacquer substrates is like putting it on peanut butter.