Blues77

I need to go down to the bare fiberglass. What is the best method when removing everything?

sb69coupe

Best way? Plastic Media Blasting. Should cost between $600 and $1200 depending on the kind of paint you have now, and how much paint is on the car.

Shannon

VettePower

I am just finishing stripping my 77. It had 5 layers!!!! Found out it was originally blue before it turned red. This is the worst job I have ever done. I am talking about chemically stripping it. I looked into Media Blasting as an easy alternative, but was told that #1 the media, unless you have the body off, gets into everything and everywhaere. #2 If there is bondo on your car it could be damaged, as well as the gelcoat. But now that the stripping is done, and I am down to final sanding, I can say that I am glad I did it!! :flag

chevyman

I paid $600 for media blasting with great results. No mess or complaints from the painter. Just make sure you wash the car thoroughly

427V8

Some people have had really good luck with razor blades...
( I know sounds hard to me too, but they loved it )

Lohkay

When you say plastic media blasting....its plastic beads used in a sandblast machine right?

Paul 75 L82

If you go with the media blasting make sure you bag the motor. I know a guy who lost a 427 because the motor got media inside. If it was me I would pull the motor. Stripper is messy but works OK. It's slow but it will work OK. If you use the stripper make sure you mask off all of the seams in the body to keep the stripper from getting behind the panels and wash, wash, and wash some more.

sb69coupe

Actually, they look like really tiny "chips", much smaller than any beads I have seen. I had the small parts on my car blasted, but stripped the body myself with chemical stripper.

Shannon

Roadster71

Media blasting is the way to go. I had my 71 done localy in Bridgeport CT.
The media they used is small plastic about the size of suger. There was no dust or residue anywhere I could find!

Blues77

Id go with media blast but dont have the funds. What chemicals are the best to use? Should I use razor then chemicals? Looks like I only have two layers, primer and paint. What chemicals dont damage gel coat?

Blues77

when im at the sand down stage wouldnt that damage jel coat? Im confused about the jel coat. :crazy:

VettePower

Any stripper will damage the gel coat if left on too long. Don't be scared away. The thing is to do one panel at a time. Use a natural bristle brush and apply a nice thick coat, using a natural bristle brush (2'' throwaways from Home Depot, about $.99 each). You will know when it is time to scrape it off using a plastic scraper (again from home depot, in the furniture stripping materials aisle) because you will see the old paint bubble up and dry up. I used a product from a auto paint store called Flake Off and it worked just fine. With only 1 coat of paint and a primer, you should have no trouble. After you scrape off the loosened paint, make sure you neutralize the area with good soapy water and rinse with clean water. You will be left with a nice smooth finish that you can sand easily with 180 grit paper.You would have to do an awful lot of sanding to disturb the gelcoat at this point. Hope I was some help, and good luck. :cheers:

sb69coupe

There is no gelcoat on your car. No Corvette after the very early models has used gelcoat on the fiberglass. When you're stripping you'll likely come down through the paint, then find either a gray or black primer. Under that will be a brownish red layer. This is the red oxide primer that was baked on the body. The stripper won't work very well on this layer. Once you get this deep you can sand off the red oxide or leave it in place. I'd suggest leaving it, since it helps seal any bare glass strands. Once you're down to this layer there's nothing else between you and the bare fiberglass.

Shannon

VettePower

Sorry I have to disagree, but since I have a 77 myself, and am just finishing my strip job on 5 layers I can tell you from experience that you will come down to bare fiberglass. You are right when you say about the red oxide primer, but the only places I found that, were on the fender seams. There is still gelcoat and you will have to be careful!!! :flag

BADCAIMAN

I have stripped quite a few cars with chemicals with little problem...Except for the fact that if you encounter some previous body work (bondo and such) you will have to remove it completely and redo the body work.....also if you leave the stripper on to long it will damage the fiberglass...If there isn't much paint on it try sanding it off..But go slow to keep waves to a min..Then spray poly,trace coat, block and you should be good to go... Good luck

SharkAttack

I paid $550 to have the plastic media done, as the rear half of the car had already been chemically stripped in a poor manner that resulted in pitting. No residue, mess, engine issues, etc. I would do it all over again to strip a Corvette.

sb69coupe

If you leave the stripper on long enough, it will go through the red oxide primer. I was overly cautious since I didn't want the glass to absorb any stripper and have it come back to haunt me later.

The entire body was primed with the red oxide, then baked. If your car didn't have it everywhenere, then someone has stripped or sanded it away in the past. The panels on C3's are press-molded and have no gelcoat. When the glass and resin were pressed in the molds to form the panel, the resin that worked its way to the outside surface would make the panel smooth. This resin can be removed with stripper, leaving bare glass strands. That's why most folks incorrectly assume that it's a gelcoat layer, but it's not.

Shannon :cheers:

Harry74

Here is a link to the method I use.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...D=66&TopicID=5

-harry

Larry Cottingham

I used the cheapest stripper I could buy at Walmart and a plastice spreader to remove several layers of paint. I wanted to obtain a smooth surface and I had some fiberglass hair exposed so I used a product called Rust Defender. It is a sprayable polyester body filler. I sprayed it with my paint gun then sanded and got a great finish. After the rust defender cured I carefully sanded, then I sprayed sealer, base coat and finally clear (all in the same setting). After color sanding and polishing, I've had nothing but compliments.