Re: paint stripping prep

["James J." <m1garand@speakeasy.net>]

From my research and experience:
1)Tanking a car can leave caustic chemicals and paint-residue in certain 
parts of the car.  These are usualy the worst places, too, like inside 
the rocker panels.  If you work with the person doing the job, you can 
probably come up with ways to drill extra drainage holes if necessary.
2)D/A sanders will gauge the metal and sometimes remove detail/edges if 
too rough of a disc is used.  The problem is finding a disk that removes 
enough paint to be time-effective and mild enough not to rip out your 
spot-welds ;-)  Also, there are many areas where a D/A won't fit.

I hate to say it, but a combination of chemical stripper and wire-wheel 
will do wonders on a car.  If there is spot-rust or places there the 
wire-wheel will not fit, media/abrasive blasting will take care of them, 
as well as prepping the surface for an acid/conversion coating, which 
will stop the flast-rust for a few days until you can shoot some primer on.

Also, I recommend the use of Rust Bullet or Master Series Silver as 
primers.  As far as I can tell, they are the same thing, and may actualy 
be made by the same factory.  Both are moisture-cured urethanes, and 
contain aluminum powder as the pigment.  Both take ~3 days to fully cure 
(they absorb moisture out of the air to form their chemical bonds).  In 
my experience, it sticks much better than epoxy primer and alot of 
studies have shown that it fully stops the spread of rust even if it is 
breached.  This stuff was developed in the '70s for bridge repair, and 
has made some wide-spread use in the car realm in the 90's.  Like all 
urethanes, it has some seriously toxic sh*t in it, so you should use a 
forced air respirator if you are spraying it in a booth, though outdoor 
painters (aren't we all??) can probably get away with a good dual 
cartride respirator, but don't quote me.  Another advantage of this 
stuff is that it can be painted with a brush or a roller.  I'm doing 
that in non-exposed parts of the car, like the underbody, engine 
compartment, interior, etc. etc.  Ok, actualy I'm using it everywhere, 
because it will block sand just like body-filler, so all the 
brush/roller marks will dissappear. 
This stuff is bulletproof!!!  If you are like me and you con only 
restore a square foot at a time, this stuff rules:  Once you have 
blasted an area and then used your acid-based conversion coating, you 
can roll on some of this primer (those little white foam rollers leave a 
smooth finish, and it can all be sanded flat, regardless) and not have 
to worry about cleaning out your spray gun.  The next day, when you work 
on the adjacent area, the acid coating will NOT harm the previous day's 
priming.  Try that with epoxy or laquer!!   Until I built my Man-Dome 
(the wife's expression, not mine) I was doing all the work outdoors in a 
muggy Maryland summer, where flash-rust is a fact of life.  This car saw 
alot of condensation, but after I started using this Silver primer, I 
never had to re-do anything!!!!  Two coats are required, and all that is 
needed.  If you wait more than 72 hours to top-coat, you have to lightly 
sand it, but you should do that with any paint-system!!!  Inter-layer 
bond failure is one of the biggest problems with amature auto painting.
Your Mileage May Vary.......
James J.


CraigFaubel@aol.com wrote:

> Have any of you had experience with chemical dunk stripping and/or media 
> blasting?  Is there a benefit (other than having someone else do the work) over 
> stripping with a D/A sander?  I got estimates over the phone for $1500 for the 
> chemical tank job (seems high) and around $500 for media blast job (also a 
> lotta money).  Neither includes a primer afterward and the car is entirely 
> disassembled already.  Do those seem reasonable for the Clevaland Ohio area?
///
///  mgb-v8@autox.team.net mailing list
///  Send admin requests to majordomo@autox.team.net
///  Send list postings to mgb-v8@autox.team.net
///  Edit your replies!  If they include this trailer, they will NOT be sent.
///