The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop The Stripper, is not a song by David Rose

Well I got the front fenders, inner skirts, grill, valance, lower baffle and core support back from the stripper this morning and man O’ man, was I a happy camper. I'd never had any metal work chemically stripped before so I've been a little worried about how it was going to come out. But this is one of those projects that just keeps getting better the more I dig into it. And you all know unusual that is. I was fully prepared for some nasty surprises under all that red paint.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/the_stripper
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/117081470
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/117081489
All that needs to be done to this sheet metal is fill a couple of 1/4” holes where they had mounted the firelights and siren and work out a few dents and waves in the flanges and I’m ready for primer. Still looking for just that right sheen to match that of the e-coat.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Those look like they are in great shape. Was that an IL truck all of it's life? I guess that is a plus for good undercoating. I will swap fenders with you it will give you some body work to do. You just pay the shipping. Looking good.

Denny, those look good! I'm close by to you, do you mind telling me where you had that done? Thanks. Brian

Sure Brian, Strip-Rite in Union Grove, WI., just west of Kenosha on route 45.

Denny Graham

Yep. I didn't believe all the old wives tales about acid left in the seams either and had my hood, front fenders, and trunk lid from my old Rambler chemically dipped at Strip Kleen in Orange County California and I was so pleased. I felt like the body plant workers at AMC must have felt years ago working with bare metal, no coatings. They just came out great and will spoil you for any other paint removal process if you aren't careful. Joe

Denny....I realise you probably already know this but make sure you clean,clean and did I mention clean the panels very thoroughly.

I had a few panels chemically stripped a few years back and it caused problems with my finish coat.
About a month after the paint job,micro blisters started appearing.
Guess I learned from that mistake!

From what they told me, the post process is simply to rinse with water after they pull them from the vat, then wash them down with some sort of a preservative. The guy that took my money said he didn't know what the bath was, some sort of acid, or else they just didn't want to tell me. And the same thing with the preservative didn't know what it was just a product that they used.
The surface has a chromated look to it that you can see in the pictures. After you handle it your hands feel a little oily or greasy.
I plan to wash any lap seams with CRC spray brake cleaner to force out anything that might be left in between then give then a good washing down with thinner and prepsol before I begin the bumping and repairs. Of course the surface will be cleaned again with solvents right before applying the PPG DX579 cleaner and PPG DX520 metal conditioner followed by PPG DP90 primer. That’s probably a bit more than Earl Scheib or MAACO would do.
I was a little surprised to see a 5% tax on the bill, here in Illinois labor is not taxed. And I suppose it should come as no surprise that there was an Environmental Surcharge but I didn’t expect it to be 10%. Other than that I’d say the cost was just a little more than having it sandblasted.
DG

Denny
Looks great. Its nice to get a little bonus once in the while working on this old stuff. Just being curious, what was the $$$ to have the stuff done?
Thanks
Don

Right around four hundered bucks not including the 400miles I drove from Sandwich, IL to Union Grove, WI., and the hambergers and beer at the R&R. By the time I added up the Aircraft Paint stripper and associated mess, the strain that the pressure pot put on my aircompressor, the Sand, the full day or two that I would have fought with blasting it in my back yard and the mess that it would have made, I'm money ahead.
The cost depends a lot on how much paint, rust, undercoating there is on the parts and how long they have to soak.
DG

Any problems with flash rust like there is with sandblasting?

Well lets see Eric, I got the parts stripped in Sep and it's Jan now and I still haven't had a chance to get them primed nor have I coated them with anything such as oil. I just hung them up in the garage, which is attached to the house and stored some in the bed when I got them home. The back door to the house is left open to keep some heat in the garage and the only time I open the big door is to take out the garbage once a week. The only rust that has formed on them was actually there when I picket them up and was from the few drops of water left on after they rinsed them. I've taken a Scotchbrite pad to the spots in a few places and they are just surface and come right off. When I get ready to do the straightening and finishing on them I fully intend on scrubbing them with Scotchbrite and a metal converter (phosphate) before priming them with PPG DP90 epoxy primer.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/120747323 , http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/120747336
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I read some postings about acid problems. Strip Rite does not use acid or chemical stripper in their process, just electrochemical stripping which is just a sodium solution and electricity so there's no need to worry about the old stripper residue problems. Any metal prep will quickly clean off any light rust. The biggest problem with stripping is getting primer into all the nooks, crannies and pinch welds. If you don't, you'll have rust issues. The hot ticket is E-coat dip that draws a primer into every bare metal spot. Unfortunately it's expensive and few places do it. Wish is was more commonly available.