Stripping Grp Bodywork

[nico506]

I have a 68 DHC S3 which i am stripping to bare shell- through some 7 layers of paint using water soluble Nitromors as advised by Miles Wilkins.
After stripping the layers of I come to a layer of grey primer-b4 gelcoat which is resistent to nitromors and shiny and in good condition.

Can anyone shed light on this finish and is this the factory applied finish and dopes it require any special treament prior to adding primer and finish coats- either two pack or similar

Any tips or help please
B)

[Unibrain]

Sounds like you've reached the factory primer. If there is no checking and no cracks in the primer, leave it.

- Jim
<a href='http://www.unibrain.org' target='_blank'>www.unibrain.org</a>
'66 Lotus Elan
'97 Caterham Seven

[bvt]

once stripped get the shell and panels heated in an oven (at local body shop)
get repairs done

then spray with Crystic coat.

let you work out why!!!

[Howie97630]

I have my body almost totally stripped to "blue coat", with many stress cracks to fix, yucch. But I did it the old fasioned way by sanding with combination of body sander(air), and elbow grease. It is slow, but the contours are all still there, including the "crease" up the headlights and front fenders.

Any suggestions on doing a good job on the stress cracks would be appreciated.

[elansprint71]

I would be inclined to keep both Nitromors and water well away from glass fibre, the first because it gets into every microscopic crevice and cannot be washed out and the second because if it gets into the glass layers it can lead to micro-blistering and osmosis.
I have posted a question to a leading glass fibe company tonight on how to best remove layers of paint and will let you know their response (I am about to strip my spare bonnet). These folks have no vested interest in Lotus car repair and therefore the advice they give will be more impartial than that from any alleged experts who, when they deign to anwer the telephone, appear to be so far up their own backside that you wonder if they know what they are talking about at all.
Have you noticed how many re-painted Elans there are with micro-blistering there are? I wonder why?

No criticsm of any actual person either living, deceased, or public school educated is implied in this message.

[elansprint71]

As promised last night here is the reply from the galss fibre company (how's that for service):

Hallo Pete
Many people do you use Nitromors but it can have a bad affect, we would always take it down with wet n dry by hand or with a DA
When you get to the primer you could use a sealer to stop any reaction and then paint
Hope this is of help
Bill
Bill Blissett
CYB Glassfibre Technology
[email protected]
00 44 (0)1268 696094

[bvt]

Crystic coat and baking....

if you think of the boat industry.. boats are in water.....

you bake the shell to get the water out!
Crystic coat is developed by Scott Bader the uk's leading resin processor.. to seal fibreglass against water osmosis... it is a resin catalysed substance that when cured provides an impermeable sealed surface...

after which you can prep like a steel car...

[elansprint71]

I absolutely agree with the above comments, but be aware that car paint shops are used to baking paint jobs on steel cars at 80 degrees, GRP needs only 30 degrees, unless you want to scrape your shell off the floor tell them it's plastic!! Total dryness is absolutely essential before applying a sealer.

Pete

[bvt]

30degrees???
best not take a car to smewhere hot!!!!

[pereirac]

My car is in the process of being repainted by a company called SMS in the UK. I have seen samples of their work and it is very very good. They don't use paint stripper but scrapers and sandpaper. Expensive but very slow, but the quality of the finished item is hard to beat. They take the car back to the gelcoat and start from there.

[clemf]

Did mine with a scraper (old chisel about 1" with the end flattened off) It took a long time but if your carefull you shouldn't gouge the bodywork. Do wear protective glasses as the paint pings off. As for the cracks, a wipe over with a damp cloth with white spirit will show up even the smallest of crack, I then ground out the crack carefully and refilled with gelcoat, then flat it back with wet/dry.

[marcfuller]

Anyone have any experience with, or have seen the results of using, "plastic media blasting" for paint removal on GRP? A friend builds GRP Cobra replica bodies and suggested the plastic media as an option worthy of consideration. He said it does appear to cause almost no harm to the gelcoat, but had not had any long term experience with it.

[memini55]

Hello everyone!
Wanted to thank everyone who replied to an old post I made about stripping my S2 to fiberglass. Had taken a headlight bucket to a media blasting shop with not much luck, too much preasure and a few extra holes now.
I then bought some safe strip by 3-M and removed the layers of paint form the top of the boot lid. Decided this was a very slow process and wanted to look further.
Did a bunch of research and found a new stripping process called soda blasting and located a gent about 90 miles from me that is the only one in the four surrounding states. I took my project to him and in acouple day returned and found a wonderful clean body shell!!! This is a very neat process and can be done with no water being used. The complete shell is now down to gell coat. The other neat thing about this is that it is portable and the next time the blaster will come to me. If anyone would like more info please let me know.

One very happy Elaner!
Mark Doubet

[kevin]

Hello

I've been following this post with interest as I'm looking at painting my +2 this spring. I contacted a firm in Yorkshire who carry out soda blasting (mainly for graffiti & chewing gum removal). They paid me a visit today and carried out a test to see how long it may take to completely strip the whole car. For those who are interested the estimate is for two days (the guy said it may only just run into the second day, but they have to charge for two full days due to the travelling time to Nottingham). Total bill ?600 + vat.

I'll put a couple of pictures of the test on my website at www.lotuselan.info this evening. I'm new to fibreglass, so I'm interested to know if the blasting has gone too far. The test was performed on the bonnet which unlike the body shell, does not appear to have had many re-sprays before. Below the top coat and primer is a layer of white material. Is this a factory primer or the gel coat? Underneath this is a bluey/grey material. The blasting process leaves the base material very smooth to the touch, but with holes in it. The white material and remaining paint is fairly coarse in texture, so would require further sanding if it needed to remain on the vehicle.

Depending on your answers, I'm considering either using the company for one day and finishing by hand, or looking to hire the equipment and do it myself.

Thanks

Kevin