How well does it work? I have a big can of this paint stripper at home and it says to brush it on and then 5-15 minutes later to wipe it of with a non-metalic object. anybody use this type of paint remover before? any advice. How long does it take to do a whole c3?

Thanks,

Aaron

 

You need to make sure that it is safe for fiberglass. if not it will eat the gel coat. if it is then all you have to do is put it on the area. Start with small spots first. When the paint starts to sag and bubble up then just scrap or wipe it off, I did mine a few weeks ago and used one of my wifes old plastic spatchulas . when your done make sure and wash the car really good to get all of the residual off or it will mess up your new paint job. Good luck.

 

yes it is fiberglass paint stripper. thanks for the reply. How long did it take you to do? Is it possible to do a whole car in one weekend with two people?

 

Not meaning to jack your thread, but where do you get the stuff that is for fiberglass? All the stuff at the parts stores around here say not for fiberglass. What brand is it?

 

i will be able to tell you that in a day or two. I dont know that name because it is at my fathers house , where my car is. It is in a big square yellow labled can. will get a name for you and ask where he got it. He has done this before a few times. but i havent done it yet. he tells me that it takes alot of time, and i am wondering if i could surprize him and have it done before he gets back from Florida in a few weeks.

 

I would recommend not using it. I saw a thread once that said strippers can eat the bonding adhesives which will cause more problems. I would recommend stripping the car by one of three methods, based on my own research: razor blade (does a great job by getting "under" the paint) sanding (takes a little extra elbow grease) or media blasting. By the way, there is no gel coat on the Corvette body. That was dropped after the 1953 production year I believe.


[Modified by Big Fish, 10:44 PM 11/13/2002]

 

really. i hadnt heard that. you make a good point. i dont think the car would fall apart or anything, but it is good to know.

does anyone have any idea how long it takes to the job.

 

I did mine by myself. Took me 4 days. The clean up took the longest.

 

I guess I'm not the only one who won't trust chemical strippers. The following is an excerpt from Lar's article on body repair in the faq site:
http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/PaintTechPaper.doc

Chemical Strippers
Never use “Aircraft Stripper” on a ‘Vette. Remember the movie “Alien” when they cut the Alien’s knuckle and the “blood” ate its way right through the floor and didn’t stop going? That’s what Aircraft Stripper will do to your FRP or SMC panels: you can’t get it to stop “eating.” We once spent 2 days with a Hotsie, steamcleaning and solvent wiping a ‘Vette that a customer had tried to “strip,” before we were able to get the stuff to quit eating away the body. There are other chemical products out there intended for ‘Vettes, but I’ve never trusted them enough to use them.

 

The brand name for the fiberglass stripper is probably Kleen Strip .I think they are the only ones that has some labeled "for fiberglass".Ive used many different kinds and have never had problems with any of them.I think the big problem is that noone lets the fiberglass dry good after the final rinse stage.I usually let them sit outside for a week or so .That fiberglass is like a sponge and if you hose down bare glass it will take awhile to dry.C3s didnt come with a gelcoat ,so you dont have to worry about it eating that off. :yesnod: :seeya

 

As BIGFISH said By the way, there is no gel coat on the Corvette body. That was dropped after the 1953 production year I believe.
hold true for our c3`s . They were made with SMC ( sheet molded compound ). But make sure you stay away from aircraft stripper. It will eat through the SMC.

 

I stripped my entire 69 convertible from the from the front clip all of the way to the rear upper deck with Kleanstrip Stripper made specifically for fiberglass.
I think the key to using fiberglass stripper is as follows:
1. Only work on a small section at a time.
2. Don't let it sit on in one area for a long period of time.
3. Keep it away from small corners, krevis's and areas that are hard to clean out with water or can't be cleaned out easily.
4. Thourghly wash down with water over and over again.
5. Give it plenty of time to dry.
There is no way that I would of been able to use a razor blade to scrap off the paint on my 69 nor would I of tried!! The factory paint was so dry and it had 1 layer of paint over that. I would of had a 1000 gouges in the glass after trying to use a razor blade. I still don't know how people do it. I was able to take a layer off at a time using the Kleanstrip. It took a long time but I ended up with no gouges or DA sanding marks in the glass. I slowed it down as soon as I started seeing the factory red primer that they shot over the glass. Of course most of this primer came off too and what I had left was the factory panels.

 

nothing wrong with stripper...I uses Bix, bought it at Home Depot, 17 bucks a gallon, stripped the 68 with the stuff.

Probably all the negative comments concerning commercial, non-aircraft chemical strippers, people don't understand and never used the stuff.

I'd rather deal with the clean up than repair gouges in the body.

One tip using stripper, coat one panel at a time and then press a plastic over the coated panel....the plastic sheet, (Paint drop cloth) will prevent the stripper from drying out to fast (evaporating).....then coat another panel, cover with plastic, now go back to the first panel and remove the paint. I used this technique on my 68, and it cut the time in half

 

thanks guys. i just found my post. I started to strip my hood yesterday :) I only spent two hours on it but i think it is going pretty good so far. I have about four more hours to do on the hood. The stripper works pretty good. The only part I had trouble was after removing some paint I went to remove the next squegee (sp?) lenth of where I had applied the stripper It would leave a smear from the paint I just removed. (hope you understand what I am trying to type :crazy: ) So the area was really clean and down to the glass was now kinda dirty from the previous swipe of the squegee. So I figure I need to do a smaller area at a time and I may end up using some super fine wet sand paper to remove that last little bit of residue.

I took lots of pics to show you later. I plan on documenting my time spent and taking lots of photos. I havent started on the car yet, but I am not to intimidated by the hood to keep my from commiting to the rest of the car.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I will keep you updated :) I will try to get the pics up of my hood when I am done with it and I know its gonna turn out ok. Hopefully that much will be done this weekend.

BTW, anyone know how much one of those cans of Kleen Strip should last? Seems like a lot. Do you think one can is enough for the car?

Thanks again :thumbs: ,

Aaron :seeya

 

when u apply the stirpper to half the hood, press down some plastic, like a plastic drop cloth. The plastic will retard the evaporation of the stripper, and allow it to work the paint. Also the stripper will will go longer. After each coat, apply the plastic drop cloth...or u can cut a 55 gallon garbage bag, that will give u a nice area to cover.

 

To get that last bit of residue off ,brush stripper over the entire panel and clean it off by scrubbing with a scotchbrite pad and water.You will probably have to keep rinsing the scotchbrite pad out with water because it will keep getting clogged up with residue. :cheers:

 

thanks. that sounds like great advice. I will give it a try if i get to work on it again this weekend. Snow is on the way so I dont know what is going to happen. My daily driver 98 mustang gt is horrible in the snow. I may never get to my fathers house to work on my car :smash: I hope the snow doesnt last long :nopity

 

Hey Aaron,
I'm stripping a 69 in Wallingford, who are you going to use to paint yours? Did you have any issues with the stripper with the colder temps?
Thanks,
Gary

 

no problems with the colder temps. but it wasnt as cold as it is now :crazy: If i have to I will do it in the heated garage :)

my father is going to paint it. He has painted two of his hotrods, the hood and front end of my car, and will be painting his 55 chevy soon :) :chevy


How far are you into your project and what stripper are you using?

Aaron

 

Aaron,
Right now I'm in the middle of rebuilding everything from the tranny forward. I using blades so far, but will try either Capt Lee's or Bix when it gets warmer out. After yesterdays 5" of snow the garage work is pretty much over for a few months. I have the front suspension apart for rebuilding now then I'll move on to the steering box.
Gary