My 1967 was painted white by a previous owner, but should be Marlboro Maroon. I am thinking of stripping the paint myself, and having it painted professionally. Should I attempt this, and if so, what is the best way to strip the paint? thanks.
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Re: 1967 Paint Removal
Joseph,
I stripped my 70 last winter and it is a miserable job but it is doable. I used a paint stripper that I had laying around that was real watery. I put it on in a small section at a time with an old stubby paintbrush. I let it work for a while and then scraped the paint off with a plastic flexible bondo paddle. I just globbed the old paint residue into sheets of old newspaper to dispose of it. I also used blue rubber gloves and that helps with the skin burn. I got some fiberglass specific stripper from the body shop supply place but it started out very thick and seemed to just run off as it started to work. It also didn't seem to work as quickly or as well as the watery stuff that I had from the local paint store. Each time I scraped paint off I washed the area with water to de-activate the stripper before going on to another section or taking off the next layer. I stripped down to the charcoal colored primer coat and stopped there. I stripped some of the filler out as well. I did not sand or get too carried away with paint prep as I wanted the paint shop to do the prep work that they would know would hold up under the paint. Do not use ant sharp scrapers as you will just make more dings in the glass. It is a kind of miserable job and it took me MANY evenings and weekends to accomplish but it does give some satisfaction. It also allows you to see and photo any previous body work for some history on your car. Needless to say you will also need to remove and bag all of the chrome and trims and label them for future re-assembly. You will NOT remember where they all go if you don't label everything.
Would I do it again? Maybe, but it would partially depend on the savings for doing it myself as opposed to just taking the car in and later picking it up finished. Hope this helps. You can e-mail me at Grung3@inil.com if you have questions.
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Re: 1967 Paint Removal
If you are handy razor blade stripping is fast and cheap. There is a learning curve but with a little practice you can cleanly strip an entire car in a couple of days.
The best stripper, should you choose that avenue is Capt'n Dees specifically made for fiberglass....I like the blade myself and stripped my 67 in one day
Best of Luck
jerComment
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Re: 1967 Paint Removal
Joseph,
You might ask the shop where you're going to have it painted, what there policy is on you stripping it yourself. Some shops won't paint a Corvette that has been stripped with chemicals if they didn't strip it. They don't know if the stripper was left on too long or not nutralized properly.Comment
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Re: 1967 Paint Removal
Joe: If you decide to use a chemical stripper, make sure you get stripper made for use on fiberglass. Regular paint strippers can attack the gel coat. Captain Lee's is a very good chemical stripper that is safe for use on fiberglass. Do a samll section at a time, use a plastic scrapper and wash the area you scraped down thouroughly with soapy water. After you get the color coat off, you can use scotchbrite pads and laquer thinner to remove the promer and you will end up with bare finerglass that is smooth as silk.Comment
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Re: 1967 Paint Removal/Thanks
Thanks for the responses. It is nice to know that there are so many helpful, knowledgable people out there.Comment
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Re: 1967 Paint Removal
Capt'n LEES....brain fartComment
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