jeff batchelor

Sanding this hard lacqer off of this car is getting old fast. What is the best chemical stripper to use on fiberglass? NAPA has a product called kleen strip that is fiberglass safe...has anyone usesd this product its about the only thing I can find close by.

Jeff

Hitch

Jeff, If I remember correctly Jerry used this from Zip..

http://www.zip-products.com/Corvette...FD7DAD6CE4791E

vettes1st

I've used Klean strip many times. Works good on lacquer. Make sure you clean well to avoid paint problems.

DansYellow66

I used a product that was talked up a lot about 10 years ago - something like Captains Spray Strip . Lacquer just melted off. It worked well even on urethane and I had no residue problems with the respray.

Denney

As an alternative, a lot of folks I know have successfully used a razor blade to strip paint...

Corz

I used aircraft stripper

worked good on enamel paint.. didnt' try it on laquer, I scraped that off with a razor blade

RLH

Jeff, check out Shannon's site, he's a local c3'er here in Raleigh, and has a good description of what he did:

http://www.employees.org/~sburgess/stripping.html

If I remember right, he got the Kleenstrip for Fiberglass from Home Depot, or someplace locally.

OverBudget

Why not media blast it?

glensgreen65

I just finished removing the paint on my roadster the other day. I used a razor blade and it only took about 10 hours. Just sweep it up, no chemical waste of fumes . I bought some inexpensive razor blades and a holder/scraper from the local parts house for around $10. Another thing i did was when I noticed an imperection in the paint while I was scraping I would circle that area once down to the old primer using a sharpie pen. If I wasn't such a computer moron I would post a picture of this. Rock on!

JohnZ

Captain Lee's stripper has been used for decades by many folks, and is safe for fiberglass.

RLH

John, is Captain Lee's available at local stores, like home improvement places? I hadn't heard of this one.

Thanks,
Rob

DansYellow66

Captain Lee's Spra Stripper is the one - I had the name almost right. Good stuff and no problem on fiberglass. Here is one link http://www.halonmarketing.com/mall/Spra'%20Strip.htm

There are several hits for it under Google.

John 65

Used it on my 65 and it worked great. I got it from a body shop supply store. Put down your cardboard and put on your gloves. Nice results.

danbones

Has anyone had any success using and electric heat paint removing gun? I was told by a friend it works great and no mess.

Dave McDufford

Not a good idea. Heat will break down the resin in the fiberglass which is the reason the paint on the Corvette was not baked under heat lamps to reflow the paint like the metal cars.

I used Captain Lee's and it worked great. I got it at CC.

Dave

waynec

I, too, wish you weren't such a computer moron, because I am a moron when it comes to the paint removal method you used, and I'd like to understand it better; sure wish I could see a video of the process...

1. Are the razor blades the single-edge hardware-store variety with a standard "push" style holder/scraper like you'd use to scrape paint off a window pane, or is there a special holder that can be pulled and depth-controlled (like a Gillette beard shaver), or something more like a woodworker's plane?

2. If it's the simplistic cheapie "push" style, how the heck do you control the depth well enough to avoid suffering really bad gouges or removing fender ridges?

3. Does the old lacquer paint "peel" off in strips, or crumble in a million tiny granules?

4. Are the hand movements swift sliding strokes, or a painstakingly slow peeling action?

5. Is the blade pushed/pulled straight (blade at a 90 degree angle to the scraper direction of travel) or with the blade at an angle to the direction of the scraper travel?

glensgreen65

Answers...

#1 Yes, the blades are the generic "sharp one side blades". The opposite side mounts on the hand help blade holder. These holders are the readily available body shop units

#2 It is used in a push motion. At first you have to take your time to get under the paint without gouging the body. It will flake off in small peices using the corners of the blade. Once you have an area the size of your blade edge on the primary coat of primer your home free.

#3 Neither, my paint came off in small chips up to peices maybe 2 square inchs.

#4 The hand motion is relatively swift. The peices literaly leap off of the blade.

#5 I'm right handed, so the motion was right to left with the razor blade holder at an up & down angle of approximately 45 degrees. The left and right angle will come once you get going.

I was a little anxious myself but once I started was amazed how the old paint (5 layers paints primers)just flew off the body leaving the primary coat of primer behind. Even my 8 year old son gave me a hand (with supervision of coarse).

project63

I know of at least person who did this and the sharpie ink bled back through the sealer and new paint. If I were you, I'd remove these markings ASAP and be sure you've completely sanded ALL residual ink completely off the car before you start the primer surfacer/paint process.

If you really feel the need to mark imperfections, put down a piece of masking tape to mark the spot.

tc

jeff batchelor

After some research I decided to order the Sra-strip. It sounds like some good stuff and you sray it on rather than brush it on. It will be here in 5-7 days. $30 gal Thanks for all of the input guys.
Jeff