65droptop

me again. what are the best methods for stripping the shell of my convertible and getting it ready for body work and paint? i have a quote for being stripped through electrolysis, which is rather high, but all things considered, the most effective way to get rid of ALL the rust, and have a clean slate. renting an industrial air compressor, and a good size pot from the local tool rental for 200 bucks, pick it up friday before 5 and i have it all weekend. i can use silica sand and do the bottom, and interior areas, no, i wouldn't do the exposed exterior panels with sand, but i could get my frame and most of the shell, for a very small fraction of electrolysis but as we all know, very messy. then there is dustless blasting that is mobile, but once again, kinda pricey. then you have the good ole fashion stinky, burn your *** method, chemical stripper, which obviously i'm not set up to dispose of that properly, all though, we as home enthusiasts are allowed by epa law to paint one car a year at our home. i'm not afraid to spend the money on this build, i just want to make every attempt to spend it wisely, every dollar buys something. lol

Phoenix8990

The body shop I used a few years back just used sanding discs to bring it down to bare metal for $1500. I wasn't concerned about door jams etc. Paint was in good shape in hard to get at places and if not it was sanded out by hand. If I was doing a frame off and total disassembly I'm not sure what route I would go.
Steve

Eddie Hansen

Well you have quite a few options as you mentioned, I stripped every inch of my car , by hand , it was a f$&kn miserable job, I used a combination of chemical aircraft stripper and a razor scraper, 4 inch stripping pads which are like stiff course black pads sometimes purple , wire wheels, rollover disc etc , but the cost was my time and materials only.

if I had to do it again, first thing I would buy is a rotisserie, number one without a doubt ! If you have the ability you can make your own using engine hoists and engine stands from harbor freight, if not they are often sold used and at worse they aren’t super expensive compared to the grief they will save you, I stripped the underside of my car on my back and it was a super **** job.

of course having your car dunked and fully stripped sounds great! Does this include having all those nooks and crannies treated with a coating afterward? How will you prevent rust ? Those areas won’t be easy to spray? These cars were dipped in a primer from factory , my worry is yes it’s stripped but then there’s exposed metal,

you could also buy a soda blaster , but I believe you could strip it a section at a time ( I did this) you physically look over each and every square inch of the car, put some head phones on , turn up the tunes and have at it, brush the stripper on and let it work put newspaper down to catch the scrapings and you would be surprised at how fast it works , messy yes but top side is easy, with a rotisserie you could have the car media blasted as well but you’ll pay for transport. Still has to be cheaper than dipping.

the frame I would have sandblasted if it’s in good shape and not pitted I’d have it powder coated, if it’s not as clean as you like you could put some filler sand prep the frame and use paint, (painted mine)

when doing a panel at a time you can address rust etc are you doing the body work? If so work a section then you can prime it , move on to next


just my two cents

Eddie Hansen

There’s also this tool from Eastwood that has various attachments that looks promising , these are the types of pads I used in my dewalt grinder 10 pack on Amazon for 20 bucks wear a mask!!!

tkcutlass

I have the Eastwood sct shown above,
The drums are very expensive but it does work pretty well, be careful not to get the long panels too hot.
I used a DA on sensitive areas like the hood.

65droptop

Also, Eddie, i have to say it's refreshing to have you here sir. you genuinely seem like you're here to lend a true helping ear and answer questions, no matter what they are, that sir is awesome. thank you.

oldstata

I did mine a few years back using sand paper. If I had to do it over I would have used a soda blaster only thing here is make sure you clean and prep properly after.

Eddie Hansen

Gee Whiz!! I’m blushing , you are more than welcome , I’m here for the same reason as everyone else , to learn from each other , I am not an expert by no stretch of the imagination, I too have learned a lot on this forum! There are a ton of great folks here , yourself included ! Thank you for the kudos

cdrod

DropTop:
I put new quarters on my car so with the quarters removed I used a wire wheel to clean up all the inner bracing and supports that would otherwise have been inaccessible with the quarters in place; I followed up with a spray bomb epoxy primer. I sprayed a rust convertor into all the nooks and crannies while the quarters were off. I also sprayed rust convertor into the cowl area thru the vent openings in the kick panels followed by a high zinc paint to protect these areas that will potentially have more contact with water.

For the doors, fenders & trunk lid I used these blue paint stripper discs that I bought from Amazon; they bolted right up to to my 4-1/2" angle grinder. The blue ones aren't too aggressive and don't seem to overheat the metal when stripping paint. Just go easy and don't apply too much pressure and you won't damage the panel. I used small diameter wire wheels chucked into a cordless drill to get into the smaller areas where the larger disc won't fit. If you remove the door glass you'll have better access to the insides of the doors. Spraying a rust convertor into all the nooks a crannies here is a very good idea. These are the stripper discs I used:




To kill rust inside the hood and trunk lid, I turned them upside down on a pair of saw horses and poured a liquid rust convertor like Ospho inside to kill hidden rust trapped between the inner and outer sheetmetal. Ospho is a phosphoric acid so put some plastic down to catch the spills or your driveway will look like it has Vitiligo.

For frames, sandblasting and powder coating is pretty common, or you could skip the powder and just paint the frame. If you paint, I would use a high solids paint or an epoxy primer. Another good idea is to have the frame re-galvanized, but you have to find a shop that has a dip tank large enough to fit a 17 ft. long frame. The major benefit to re-galvanizing is the long-term protection inside the frame where it's practically impossible to sand blast. After galvanizing, you can top coat with paint or powder just as easily. I couldn't find a shop with a big enough tank or I would have dipped my frame before powder coating.

bccan

Have you looked into a soda blasting option? This is sometimes available by a mobile unit but I don’t know geographic or current rates.

I ran a body shop for 30 years and stripping cars is one of the most miserable jobs on earth. I have seen a few soda blasted bodies and was fairly impressed with the results. Dipping and electrolysis are in my opinion great techniques but require another whole level of logistics.

My personal technique was usually a combo of stripper and abrasives. Don’t miss it at all! If going that route, take at least minimal precautions for personal protection, don’t consume or wear stripper and don’t eat or breathe the dust!

…

Eddie Hansen

I was going to wear a stripper once, wife said no Effing way And hit me on the head lol go figure, if there’s dust coming off the stripper find a younger one lmao


sorry couldn’t help myself , carry on gentleman

65droptop

now that's funny