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I'm looking for some better alternatives for stripping my egg crates on my 1970. I've removed them and used Aircraft Paint Remover 5 times to remove two coats of paint and primer. Some of the primer remains and the aircraft stuff, expensive as it is, doesn't seem to do anything.
Anything else work better? Can it be polished off? And why did they chrome these pieces ony to paint over them?
From what I understand about the process, since only the edge of the fins is what we see as chrome plated, the entire thing has to be plated in order do achieve this.
IMO, making these out of heavy gauge aluminum, paint and THEN polishing the fins would have been a better option.
Mine are in good shape... I'd like to strip them and leave them all chrome, but, man, it's taking forever to remove the last of the paint/primer. 5 applications of Aircraft... this stuff is not as good as advertised. (but then again, what is?)
Which brand of aircraft remover did you use?
What I found tremendously helpful was to warm up the vents with a heat gun first and while they are still hot to the touch (on the surface) spray with the aircraft remover. It looks like they were repainted as the factory didn’t use primer as a base prior to painting.
Thanks for the responses....I'll try anything, at this point. I don't want to damage the chrome, but I need to clean them up beyond how they are now. As for the kind / type of Aircraft brand paint, I couldn't tell you... I thought there was only one. It worked well in the outer layers of paint, but doesn't seem to be doing anything past that last picture. I'll try one more time and let it sit a full hour rather than the directed 45 minutes. I'll leave the crates in the sun for a while before the next attempt as well. Maybe that'll help.
how long do you leave the stripper on? once they banned methylene chloride the new product take 5x longer to work. make sure the stuff does not dry out in the process,
I agree with warming them up (oven at 200*F??) and then putting paint stripper on them. Read the directions on the stripper can; it may need to sit for 30 minutes, or so. Then flush with warm water. I suspect someone used some epoxy primer on them to assure the paint would stick. You might Google up "how to strip epoxy paint", as that might require a different type of stripper.
BTW, you DO want to strip these rather than shoot/blast them. The base material is just pot metal which is brittle, but not very hard. Handle them carefully, as replacements are $$$$ .
Carb cleaner in the 5 gallon bucket is what I have used for rears, and also made a cold tank with 15 gallons. In your case it's not worth buying the carb cleaner. Just go have it dipped or re- chromed. Here in CA you can drink most cleaners, and I order Berrymans for my shop work.
It removes paint and grease.
This is not for you, but after the carb cleaner I dip STEEL parts in muriatic acid to rid of the rust. The latter would destroy your part. You must live in CA where any strong chemical is XXXXX.
[QUOTE=Z06LMB;1603892218 It looks like they were repainted as the factory didn’t use primer as a base prior to painting.[/QUOTE]
Are you sure of that? I have stripped two sets and owned an NOS pair, and they all had a black primer on them.
I'd put them in.a pan, cover them with acetone. Put some sort of a lid on the pan to prevent the acetone from evaporating. Soak'm for a day or so.
Methyl chloride will remove/destroy paint and not harm metal. I don't know if you can still buy this stuff. It's mean nasty toxic.
These pieces are not repro'd, treat with kid gloves. Someone suggested an acid dip. They are a zinc alloy; i.e. pot metal. Put them in acid and it'll be the last you see of them.
There is a difference, (I don’t know what these are in this case) 1970 vents were not primed for sure. On the stock vents, off the shelf from the parts department, they all were painted black. On the car, assembled at the factory- for some od reason 71 and 72 were not painted. I’ve had 3 unrestored 71s and nothing but the color coat was on them. One was my older brother’s Corvette and I did the first respray in 1987. It was White paint only. There was a Chevrolet dealer that went out in 1989 in PA then reopened. About 8 of us bought most of the parts department inventory at an on site auction. I grabbed most of the Corvette parts and over the years since sold a lot and still selling today. I had2 sets of those vents in the box. A AZ collector offered $900 for the pair of 1970, got $2000 for a pair of 1970 front grills a year later.
Methyl chloride will remove/destroy paint and not harm metal. I don't know if you can still buy this stuff. It's mean nasty toxic.
When the Franklin Mint in Philadelphia went out of business my bother bought their chemicals. Among other things was a skid of 28 gal kegs of MC. He still has some. They stopped selling it because it was used in the process of making Speed (I’m not talking about racing).
Mine are in good shape... I'd like to strip them and leave them all chrome, but, man, it's taking forever to remove the last of the paint/primer. 5 applications of Aircraft... this stuff is not as good as advertised. (but then again, what is?)
Any help is much appreciated.
The real problem is even almost new - the chrome was not that "chromey" other than on the edges.
I did it in the early 80's- when paint stripper's vapor removed the paint!!! I thought it would look better than the re-paint red but was disappointed with the not so shiny fins,
IF the chrome is too pocked up- you can sand the potmetal and polish it up.
I found pin-stripping (1/8") works great if you are going to mask the edges and re-spray..-
Albeit these are custom-but the potmeteal does polish up nicely-
From what I understand the main chemical in paint striper was removed for health reasons and now the stuff takes forever to work,if it works at all. On a plus side I was able to strip a plastic motorcycle fender with this stuff and it didn't hurt the plastic. As far as the vent goes get a bag big enough for o put the vent in,put the striper on the part and seal it in the bag for a day or 2. The bag has to be completely air tight.
My chrome looks to be pretty good... so I will definitely try the polish up and leave bare approach first.
It is possible that these were not original 1970 crates, but they are originals (maybe 71 or 72)... They definitely had black primer beneath the original paint which was beneath the respray primer and paint. That's why it's taken 5 applications, I suppose. I'll try number six (after heating and sealing in a bag) tomorrow after prepping the car for paint. Looks like this is the big weekend. A new coat of Electron Blue from 02-03 vettes and what looks like it'll be 7 coats of clear. I'm stoked!
Stripping Egg Crates
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