Tom73

Previous owner painted the spare tire carrier on my 73. Looks good, painted black, but it is not the original raw fiberglass.

Is there a safe way to strip this paint off of the fiberglass to return it to its original raw fiberglass state?

ajrothm

Ironic you posted this today.. As this afternoon I pulled my spare tire tub out of the attic to restore it for an upcoming road trip.

So I'm sub'd for cleaning info as well..

Will paint stripper or oven cleaner harm/contaminate the fiberglass?

I thought about easy off oven cleaner..

briankeery

Try Citristrip


http://www.wmbarr.com/citristrip/default.aspx

Tom73

In their FAQ it states:

Can Citristrip be used on fiberglass doors?
No. It will leave the fiberglass sticky. Fiberglass stripper is the best choice.

Tom...

terrys6t8roadster

My 68 has 2-piece rockers, the bottom piece is fiberglass. I stripped the old paint off with 'crokus' cloth and lots of elbow grease. No damage to the glass. Very much a PITA, but turned out very nice. T

Alan 71

Hi T73,
I believe I'd try some lacquer thinner first to see what it does.
At least on my 71's tub it didn't change the appearance of the fiberglass surface at all.
I followed it up with one coat of semi-flat clear.
Regards,
Alan

The Hot Rod Grille

When my car was new, I would spray paint the tire carrier black several times each year because I didn't like the "raw" look of it. I also painted the mufflers at the same time to "detail" the undercarriage. Fast forward 40+ years and it's time to strip all of that cheap black spray can enamel off the carrier. I tried lacquer thinner but found it evaporated too quickly to soften the paint. I found success using brake cleaner spray and a LOT of elbow grease! The brake cleaner did not damage the fiberglass and even left the white date code tag undamaged and legible. I masked the small aluminum rivets before covering the the carrier with paper and painting the metal brace straps chassis black. I then removed the tape to expose the aluminum rivets against the black metal. Finally, I used tape to mask the black strips and lightly sprayed satin clear over the bare fiberglass carrier to protect it and make it easier to keep clean. A lot of work that I caused myself by "detailing" the car years ago .... LOL. Sorry for the poor pic. I needed better lighting under the car when I took the shot.

Jim

bj1k

I lightly sandblasted mine using very fine sand that was almost worn out and kept the pressure down and the gun at a distance , gently just removing any years of grime. Painted the steel black, then clear coated the whole thing and it looks like it just came out of the factory. Don't try it though if you haven't had some experience sand blasting.

ajrothm

Thanks for the pics.

Mine was under coated when the car was new ($25 dealer add on), I have peeled some of the under coating off of the frame and the original semi flat paint is near perfect under the under coating.

I am hoping I can peel the under coating off of the tire carrier and it look good under it. I know its filthy and will need pressure washing just to see the under coating..LOL This project starts this weekend.

7T1vette

Tire tub was not painted. Just bare fiberglass. If you want to protect it, a coat of satin clear would be good. But it doesn't really need it.

Tom73

Just trying to figure the best way to get paint off of the tub.

Tom...

labhound

I'm kinda in the opposite part of this. Mine has been damaged. big scuffs and a piece of wood stuck in it, So I patched it up and is very noticeable so I had to paint it.

7T1vette

I went the lacquer thinner route when I un-painted it. And, I probably lost lots of brain cells while doing it! I think a chemical stripper would have been easier and not any messier than what I did.

I don't think the chem stripper would hurt the glass at all.

thegavel

A little something I did to mine.
It looked really crappy so I gave it a sand and hit it with some black VHT wrinkle finish paint then decided to try my hand at some custom art. Made a stencil and used model aircraft paint.
It looks a bit ruff now (10 years old) but I like it.
Cheers,
Gavin

Tom73

It warmed up enough today to get out and do some work on the car. I found that I had a spray can of Auto Strip by Klen-Strip in the garage so decided to give it a try. Liked it because you can wash it off with water.

The spare carrier tub had been painted flat black. Looked okay but was not original. Here are before pictures, looks okay:







Took several applications to get the fiberglass clean. Car had been repainted in the past and had quite a bit of overspray on it. Here is the after pictures. Still have to paint the straps so don't pay any attention to them.







Not a hard job. Hope it will end up looking okay. Will still have to use some paint to cover the scrapes at its low point. Any one have suggestions on paint that comes closest to the fiberglass color?

Tom...

Justwin24

I used high temp flat black grill paint on mine because of the scuffs and then a glossier black on the metal frame. I really like how it turned out.

ajrothm

Finally working on mine now. Drilled the rivets out and dropped the brace/hardware off to be sandblasted..

Trying to strip the under coating off.. So far I've tried oven cleaner, paint thinner and brake cleaner.. Brake cleaner has been the best but....this stuff is 3/16" thick in some spots...

Thinking about trying some time of paint stripper next. What a terrible job... Lol

redrdstr72

I used a common paint stripper and a plastic scraper + 00 and 000 steel wool on mine with no problems. I first drilled out the aluminum rivets and then went to work on both the tub and the "V" brace. Once I had most of the black paint removed from the tub, I finished it up with 0000 steel wool and lacquer thinner. I sanded the brace down and painted it with SEM Trim Black. Before re-assembling, I gave the tub a light spray with Krylon satin clear. This covers most of the white scratches in the fiberglass, giving a new look again. I re-assembled, using reproduction aluminum rivets from Paragon. Flat head of rivet goes to inside of tub. Peened end to outside.

When you re-do your tub, look for the Rockwell sticker on it. It's a blue and white decal, approx 1" X 2.5" in size. Preserve it if you can. Judges LOVE to see them. Have a look at the file photo I took of mine when done.


I hope this helps...

ajrothm

I got my tub cleaned up finally... It has a few small cracks but nothing major.. All of the cracks were under the 45 year old under coating. I'm debating shooting some satin clear on it to even out the colors/texture...





Sand blasted and painted the V bracket and original hardware.


I still need to clean up the lock assembly by hand..It still worked great with the original key so I'm gonna use it. Now just waiting on the rivet kit from CC. Then I'll get it together and back in the car. I'm only going to keep it in there for my road trip, then I'll take it back out. Car looks way better without it. I'd rather look at this:

imariver

My tub had undercoat sprayed on it, I soaked it in a large pan of WD-40 for several days. Undercoat just fell right off, leaving the tub in perfect condition. A messy job for sure . . . . .