Stripping off paint

[Chris-72-Sprint]

I have been reading other posts about stripping the paint back to the gel coat

There seem to be different views on using paint stripper

Based on the state of my paint - 40% like the picture below and 60% sound (but faded) what are the views of the experts on the best way to strip my car. I want to do a good job so I am not too fussed about the time it will take

Has anyone used a hot/warm air gun ?

Thanks in advance

James

[carrierdave]

Hi there, I used a hot air/paint stripper gun. The thing to do is to warm the paint rather than overheat it.
I found that as soon as the paint got too hot it would either start to smolder or just stick to the chisel.
If you just warm the paint then it tends to come off in reasonably large lumps.
If you take a chisel to the paint whilst it is cold I found that the paint chipped rather than peeled from the car; and quite often you would end up with lost of small chips within the gel coat.

You will have the odd slip with the chisel and gouge the fiber glass but don't worry.

Be careful around areas that have been repaired with filler as the paint tends to be more difficult to remove. I would suggest that you use a sander on these parts.

Good luck

David

[christoph]

Hi James I used a hot air gun and scraper, but it was adjustable and was used on a low heat setting, infact no hotter than the paint would get on a hot UK summer day in the sun. My paint looked like yours, even yellow, it took about 25 hours to complete. Then the real work, prep and repair can begin. I'll let you now how long that takes Warning using a heat gun is a skilled job, many a house as burnt to the ground with careless use of heat to strip paint, an Elan body will capitulate much quicker
Big disclaimer,
but hope it helps, Chris.

[batfish]

I used paint stripper to remove 4 coats of paint from a body shell. I did not have any problems using paint stripper although it took a long time removing a coat at a time. When any paint stripper got on the gel coat I washed it of with water immediately and it did not have any long term effect on the gel coat or the finished paintwork

[garyeanderson]

Hi James

By the looks of the photo that you posted , it looks to be only one or two layers of paint. Keep the chissel in the wood working tools draw and get a sleeve of 180 grit wet/dry paper, I use water and dish washing detergent to wet sand, I don't like the dust. Others will tell you the moistier will get in to the glass fibre but looking at your photo, thats already happened, it will need to be brought indoors and dried for some time anyhow. Do a wing at a time with a sanding block and hand sand the car. The curves can be done with a block by addressing the area at the best angle to give the most exposier to the block. In about 40 hours you will have the paint off and no digs to fill. if there is more paint then that then you should resort to the other methods.

Gary

[iain.hamlton]

Hi Gary.

I see your message advocating rubbing down with wet-and-dry, and like the idea, especially as only I plan to do a panel at a time. The question is: is there a problem with water getting into the fiberglass? If it is OK, the method looks exactly like the conventional method for steel panels.

Best regards, iain

[Bruce Crowthorne]

I found a scraper - the sort that takes single sided razor blades - the most effective.
A chisel was OK, but not as quick as the razor blades
Sanding was too slow and dusty
I was too concerned to use paint stripper

Thank goodness that is behind me and I am on to the mechanicals .....
Regards
Bruce

[mcclelland]

Hi James,

I have never stripped paint from a fiberglass body befor, however I was advised by a guy who has been in the business for over 30 years to visit my local glass shop and get a load of thick off cuts and use them to scrape off the paint. I suppose you would just have to be carefull not to cut yourself!!

[fluff]

Hi James My two pence worth.

Stripping the paint is easy, don't try and be clever, and don't rush! There are no short cuts! You will do a good job I have no doubt but be prepaired for sore fingers and dusty clothes! Yours looks fairly straight forward to strip!

Use a 1 inch chisel on the big flat bits and any contours that will safely allow you to keep the whole blade (that bits important) in contact with the body, it should be sharp, keep a sharpening stone at hand (your not cabinet making but an edge is important.) Slide the chisel under the paint, to be honest your only going to remove the top coats and a percentage of the primer, the 'Polysester spray filler' usually white or vey pale grey, underneath the primer comes off fairly easily with a DA (dual action) sander and wet and dry paper always on a proper block or around varrying sizes of polystyrene pipe lagging for contours DRY!! (Do not use water, trust me, I left my stripped shell to dry for months and months in very warm, dry, airy conditions and I still got one dammn blister due to trapped water!! not a drop of water had been near my car for sixth months!) water, dampness and moisture are your mortal enemy

If you don't have a compressor man enough for an air driven one you can use a Random Orbit electric sander but be very careful it's easy to cause damage seen in the form of heavy swirls and burning, just be patient and kepp the sander moving over the poly covered ares. You will nick the body with chisel but don't worry when you get in to the reapir work another one or two will take you no time at all, that's the easy bit, there really is nothing to be scared of with glass fibre repairs I promise!

Set yourself achievable targets for a day or an afternoon, like stripping one wing including the fiddly bits that you can't get at, don't leave all these till last because you will never finish it. The areas around the doors are the worst bits in my opinion. I found working in different environment doing the removable panels helped with the monotany.

Just keep in mind that actually putting the paint on takes no time at all, the most important bits go un-seen!

Good luck

Fluff

[garyeanderson]

The last I heard they were making boats out of glass fiber and they put them in the water on purpose. A boat will soak up water, but is is sitting in it for the better part of 3 or more months a year and has water on both inner (bilge ) and outer. Problems don't occur for close to ten years that I have head of. There is a layer of gelcoat that is on the Elans too, its not like the fibers are exposed to water for an extened period of time. I havn't had problems with blisters on my elan that was painted 8 years ago. If you are working on a Elan that is in good shape as far as the glass fiber goes and just needs paint and there is only a layer or two to remove I would sand it , an I hate dust, so I sand it wet. The 40 hours that it takes me to hand sand a S2 Elan is just the way I do it, it will dry over the period of several weeks any way, we are not professional painters that are priming and painting the same week. I have used a chissel before and it works just fine but you will slip (oops, I'll fix that later). I have used stripper and if you don't get it all off it will soften the glass. its not that its difficult to get off, its just sometimes you miss some. I had an Elan coupe that had been painted before and it was failing, I left it in the sun and I was pulling off strips of paint 2 to 6 inches wide and two feet long, I loved it , I had most of the old paint off in two days. The first Elan I did I took the paint off with a power disk sander, I made about 40 hours of work for my painter to fix, cost a lot of money to learn the hard way. anyway do it the way you want to, I paid the price to do it my way already.

Gary

[iain.hamlton]

Thanks for sharing the experience, Gary. I am beginning to form a picture now.

Good point about the boats and GRP. I don't know much about it, but suspect the GRP in boats is implemented differently. Perhaps heavier with thicker gel coat to keep water away from the fibers?

As I mentioned, I'd be happy to use wet-and-dry, because that is what i have done before with metal cars; I just want to be sure it's not a mistake!

Clearly it's a good idea to dry the work before spraying. Any suggestions on methods? Natural + time? heating and dehumidifying the garage? Using a heat gun gently or hair drier? Is it humid is it in Mass.?

I enjoy the planning stage as well as the doing.

thanks and best regards, iain

[garyeanderson]

Hi Ian
Winters are dry (relative humidity) and in a heated shop even drier, in August we get Humidity as bad as anywhere so I guess it depends. When you work out doors you are at the mercy of the weather, indoors you can some what control it.

Gary

[denicholls2]

Fiberglass shells often have a blistering problem. I've seen a lot of references to it and your shell clearly shows it. Personally, I don't believe this is ever caused by wet sanding. Solvents are more likely, a bad job of dewaxing any applied resin more likely still.

I believe you'll get the best results with Gary's method, though it is labor intensive.

Most people don't appreciate that polyester resin is reasonably porous. Epoxies are less so, but a fiberglass coating on a wooden boat does not prevent the hull from becoming saturated. Absent a very waterproof coating on both sides of the object, water will eventually find a way out.

Eastwood sells a package of odd-shaped foam sanding blocks for contours, and it's reasonably priced.

My own touch-ups (largely dealing with random blisters in an otherwise decent and recent paint job done by the PO) will be done by wet sanding down through the grits. The parts involved will then be placed in a dehumidified environment for a couple of weeks before coating. Time will tell.