At 10:39 AM 12/15/99 -0800, Jeff McNeal wrote:
>Apologies in advance for such an amateur question...
Jeff, don't appoligize for being a Novice. We were all one once and we all
still are in various areas.
>The first thing I'd like to do is sand off two or three coats of paint from
>the bonnet. I've picked up some books on the subject, but I'd really rather
>hear from someone who's been there......
The following is based on my experience working on several of my cars.
There are only a couple of ways of getting paint off, 1) blasting, 2) chemical
stripping, 3) sanding.
Blasting - if you do it yourself - is very slow. If you have it done, you
can get hosed if they don't know what they're doing. Sheet metal like the
bonnet can be easily warpped.
Chemical stripping - is relative easy for a hobbiest. The paint stripper
can get expensive but a gal. should do a bonnet. The only problem with
stripper, is that it can inpregnate the metal. Thus making it almost
impossible to repaint, because the stripper keeps lifting the new paint.
Especially along seam. I did 2 Volvo P1800s back in the late 70s and
had a lot of trouble painting them. If you use stripper, be sure to work
a small area at a time and don't do it in direct sun light. The sun will
dry the stripper out too quickly and that's how it ate into the metal I think.
Sanding - This has the most control. Especially if you don't want to take
ALL the paint off. However, you indicated you wanted to go to bare metal.
However, I strongly you have at least a 5hp 30 gal compressor, a 5" DA
sander, and a 14 to 17" inline sander. If you are trying to cut down to
bare metal, start with something like 36 to 80 grit sandpaper on the DA.
This will cut quite fast. If you don't want to go all the way down, then
use something between 100 and 200 grit. I spent about 50 hr stripping my
Voyager mini van with 80 grit.
Once you get down to bare metal, you should apply a metal conditioner like
DuPont's metal conditioner or OSPHO to etch the metal and kill any remaining
rust.
Now prime it. To help you find iregularities, use 2 different colors.
If you want to use a gray primer, then top coat it with a red primer before
you start sanding. Now you call tell where the highs and lows are.
>My understanding is that it's best to repair any small dings before removing
>all the paint, since spotting irregularities on a painted surface is much
>easer than on a primed one.
I usually wait and do the body work after I get the paint off. But you are
right that you will see more imperfections with a "color" coat of paint on
then with primer. So, when you think you are ready for a color coat, spray
on a light coat. Then look for the blemishes.
>I'd like to remove the paint myself (just for the experience of doing it),
>prime it, then take it into a professional body shop for final sanding,
>blocking and priming before paint.
The stripping, priming, and blocking are where the most labor and cost is.
The more you do yourself, the less you will have to pay. Now if you have
the compressor for the sanding and the priming, go ahead and try putting
on the top coat also. If you don't like it, you can block it down, and
have a shop put on the final coats.
John
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
48 TR1800 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V (B1109)
71 Saab Sonett III (71500840) 75 Bricklin SV1 (0887) 77 Spitfire
Morgan: www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin: www.bricklin.org
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