Paint stripping question

[mally002]

Hey guys,

I plan on spending the Fall stripping all the old paint off a 1973 240 and have a really stupid question. Once I take off the paint will the car begin to rust on the surface? I figure this will be a several week project on the weekends and wasn't sure if what I'm planning to do is the right way to go about it.

I have never done this before, but it seems I remember someone saying once a car is stripped it needs to be primed ASAP.

What is the correct way to do this. I just want to get all the old paint off and see what areas need to be repaired, but don't want to paint the car right away.

Thanks for any help

[jmortensen]

I had my car stripped to bare metal for about a year in my garage and didn't have anything more than the most minor surface rust which you could barely see, although it really showed up more in pictures. It stayed like that through 2 Seattle winters in an unheated garage, well except for the propane heater I used when I went out there.

If you don't want it to rust, you can use a converter like PickleX or I think POR15's Metal Prep is basically the same stuff. It's phosphoric acid, but much more diluted than Ospho or similar products, so you can wipe it on and not have to rinse it off to keep it from eating the metal. I towed my car while it was stripped to bare metal too. When I did that I WD40'd the entire exposed surface. If you do that too you will end up using quite a few cans of brake cleaner getting all the oil off when you go to paint though...

[Zak's Z]

I stripped my car down to bare metal last summer. I used a few different ways - paint stripper, sanding, nylon wheels...

When I was done a section, I used POR-15 Metal Ready, then I cleaned the area with solvent and used a rattle can primer to cover the area. When I brought the car into the body shop that is painting it, they said it was ok and they would just sand that down. I left a spare hood and fender bare over the winter in my garage. I used Metal-Ready on both of them, and they did both have a very slight amount of surface rust on them in the spring. Better prime it right after you strip it and prep the metal is my opinion.

[BRE-240Z]

Randy, is this the car that you were looking at a couple of weeks ago? Did you buy it?

[EScanlon]

Don't use WD-40 on a metal surface you plan on doing finish paint on.

The oils, solvents and silicones or whatever is in there will positively and definitely cause problems... fish-eye, crazing, lifting, amongst others. The body shop I worked at would fire you if you used it on the premises. The problems it can cause usually won't show up until you're shooting the base coat of paint... at which point you'll want to shoot someone.

As has been mentioned, either use a phosphoric acid (Metal Ready, Ospho) and then continue with a primer, or seal with an epoxy primer. While a mixed and paint gun applied coat is best, if done carefully a rattle-can job can suffice.

Just be aware that primer IS porous and shouldn't be considered a "seal" against the elements.

FWIW

E

Edited August 25, 2008 by EScanlon

[JimmyZ]

If you have medium to high humidity it will rust. You are better off waiting to strip until you're ready to do the rest. You could always strip and coat with krylon if you want to see/fix any rusted areas. It is far more efficient in terms of time spent and cost to do everything at once.

Here's a page I made just for someone in your situation...

http://warbuddies.homestead.com/RestoHelp.html

Jim

Edited August 25, 2008 by JimmyZ

[mally002]

Randy, is this the car that you were looking at a couple of weeks ago? Did you buy it?

Hey Brian,

Yes I'm picking her up on Thursday and will get some pictures when I get it home.

Thanks for all the responses guys, once you see the car you'll know why I want to strip it. It's an original owner with no rust issues save the battery and three re-paints. It should keep me busy all Fall and Winter.

Since I have never stripped a car I'm actually looking forward to the work.

PS....Jim, thanks for the link.

Edited August 25, 2008 by mally002
new info

[geezer]

I look at this a little differently. Don't bite off more than you can chew. If you are stripping this car down to the bare shell and then doing metal repair and rust removal, why bother to strip the entire car all at once, and then try to hold off the ensueing rust that starts to develop immediately, even if you don't see it with your naked eye. I would recommend removing the hood, hatch, doors, fenders, and cowl screen one or two pieces at a time, do the nessesary repairs, do the metal prep and then use the appropriate coatings. Same with the shell. Do your welding repairs first (may be nessesary to do some preliminary rust removal first), prep the completed section and coat. Here's why. Not all areas of the car that you weld in repair panels/pieces or remove rust from, are going to require to be epoxy primed. Even if you did, it would still be nessesary to top coat after. Because of the high cost of epoxy plus a top coat, it becomes much more feasible to use a rust inhibitive paint such as POR 15 or Zero Rust on these unseen/hidden areas. I have switched from POR 15 to Zero Rust for a number of reasons that I could elaborate on, but will give you the one reason most relevent to this thread. POR 15 will require a tie coat for any visable areas that need a sandable base built apon it. Epoxy primer will not readily bond to it without a tie coat. Using Zero Rust eliminates the need for a tie coat as the epoxy primer will adhere to it well, after a light, fine sanding. If you are doing this yourself on weekends you will be able to plan out a particular area to be completed and not worry about rust taking over. After all the welding and rust removal is complete, then coated, you can concern yourself with the exterior visual portion of the shell, which can easily be stripped and epoxy primed in a weekend. Now you are left with a rust free car that is ready to be prepped and painted.

It doesn't matter how many times I do this, I always say to myself...why am I removing this just to put it back on? Stripping the bottom of my Z there were large areas that the original coatings were still in great shape and doing their job. Just saying, it really isn't nessesary to remove all the old paint if it is intact and not multi-layered. Finish panels are a different story. The paint has to be removed in most cases after all these years.

[74260ZMan]

Ive had my Z completely stripped in my garage for about 2 years, and the only thing that gets on it is the dust, but I also live in Arizona, and its always dry here. Like Geezer said I think I bit off a little more than I could chew, if I were to do it again I would have waited until I was ready to prep and paint until I stripped the car

[mally002]

That makes perfect sense, I wasnt thinking in terms of doing each panel I think I just got excited about starting a new adventure.

When I pick up the car Thursday I will post several photos, hopefully you guys can give me a clear direction in which to proceed. It may in fact not need to be stripped all the way down, but I would have no idea.

One of the main reasons for buying this car was to give me more "on the job training" since I hopefully won't be able to make things any worse. Of course I'll have a better idea when I can get the car here and give it a good pressure washing and better look.

[geezer]

I didn't see JimmyZ's post and link before I posted, but I have read the link before. There is some good information put together in a well thought out manner. Nice work Jim. Your methods seem to run parallel to mine for the most part. You are exactly right about the "do it at home guy" tackling the job in sections and not getting ahead of him/her self. Much more time effective and cost efficient.

PS - Looking forward to seeing the pics Randy.

Edited August 25, 2008 by geezer

[bob m]

Mally02

I stripped my 240z with a chemical stripper one panel at a time and sent them to a body shop where they were sanded with 80 grit paper and epoxy primed. I could work at my own pace this way. I finally took the shell to the shop to finish the job. The panels were repaired and returned to me for fitting and final prep work before painting. I could have sanded the paint with 80 grit paper myself and saved the mess of chemical stripping. You need to remove any residue of the chemical stripper before epoxy priming.

Bob M