I started sanding on my hood. It is a spider web of paint cracks. I was used 80 grt on a DA, and was barely cutting it. Must have 4 layers of paint on the hood. Was considering using a stripper, then light sanding, and a coat of epoxy or self etching primer. Is there any reason I should not do this?

 

I’m not an expert in body work by any means, but I did strip our entire truck save for the inside of the bed down to bare metal by myself using a DA sander with 80 grit and moving up to 40 when I needed it. Using modern paint stripper is pointless and a waste of money. It’s garbage and does nothing. Take it slow and make sure you don’t let the metal heat up too much or you’ll warp it, cause tin-canning, or worse.

Your best option if you don’t want to spend the countless hours it takes to sand the thing down do yourself a favor and hire a mobile media blasting service. They’ll have you sorted in less than a few hours.

 

Roy used a razor blade scraper and scraped old paint & primer off of my cab, cowl sides, and hood, and then sanded and etc ................

 

holy crap. It seems like it would gouge and scratch, but...it is going to get primed and sanded. Thx.

 

I had the same reaction ..., but Roy said that it is faster and cheaper that a DA sander and less chance of leaving deep swirly gashes / marks and removes less metal. He was taught by an older painter here when he started in the '70s & he's 71 now. He said he only does it when a vehicle has had a few paint jobs. Mine was new once (#1), then repainted to flip after fellow got it in an estate sale before I bought it in 1986 (#2), then I had it done again in 1989 (​​​​​​​#3), then Roy was doing it in 2021-22 (​​​​​​​#4). Knowing the guy I bought it from, and the guy who did it again in 1989, I'd say was a good chance all the layers were still there for Roy. He offered to teach me the next day, let me practice even .... but it was a few days before I got back and by then, he was done with that chore, was even almost done hand sanding the cowl vent louvers too.

Roy is a fine fellow, hard work is all he knows. He does a lot of "mechanic-ing" too. He will do projects to take to Pigeon Forge to sell at the big meets. His son and 2 granddaughters go in a "chase" vehicle.

 

If it's lacquer you're going to play hell getting it sanded off. The best way is to take it to a dustless blaster, it'll take him 10 minutes to have it in bare metal. DO NOT take it to a soda blaster, it has to be recycled glass or similar.

If it's not lacquer and you want to do it yourself put 50 or 80 grit on your DDA and lock it out of DA mode. use it like a grinder and you'll save hours.

 

The areas in primer were done with laquer. The paint that I put on is acrylic enamel. The two layers below that is anyone's guess.

 

Lacquer primer sands fine. lacquer paint gums your sandpaper up instantly.

 

I think the stripper disks that attach to your 4" angle grinder are by far the fastest and safest way to get to bare metal. I have done the entire vehicle now except for a small portion in the bed left to do. It has taken stripper disks, wire wheels, DA with 36 grit. It is a lot of work!
I don't have any experience with sand blasting the body. A dustless (wet) sandblasting would seem to be the fastest if there is that service in your area.

 

I saw video of a guy using Carbon Off for stripping paint. It seemed to work pretty good and better than today's actual paint strippers, but a little pricey.
I have used the stripping disks mentioned above and they do work very well. (like these:

 

The old, good, methyl chloride paint stripper that worked is now banned in the USA.

Is it also banned in Canada & Mexico??

 

So, just to play the devil's advocate, what issues may arise by simply priming, painting over the existing surfaces as they are?

 

I am about 98% sure that's what was done in 1986 over the factory paint and again over that again in 1989, and I was pleased both times, & they were acrylic enamel jobs as I recall (or maybe the1989 job was polyurethane?) It was after years of weathering that the fading of the red to pink and the rust areas deminished the fun of driving. I initially thought Roy was gonna seal / sand and prime over the old paint this last time, but maybe since we were putting new bed sides, new tailgate, new front fenders, new doors on, he did what he did. He also resmoothed / filled cab roof seams and gutters. My hood was a 1979 hood put on in 1989, I think it too was galvanized inside at least, no rust in the rear lower hinge areas like the '77 OEM hood was showing then.

How it looked in 1986, already had been repainted once after long time under trees in a yard. Originally was a silver metalic roof and side insert and candy something red elsewhere.





Above was a couple years after 1989 job was done and it still looked great I think, and it never saw a garage or carport then.
Below was in 2014 and the rust grew a little more by 2021.



If not for the fact that I had most of the parts including a NIB Ford tail gate stored since the 1990s and the rust in my doors, bed sides, and an old rust patch falling out, and especially rust in the OEM tailgate, I might , maybe even likely, would have left it alone.

Now, I have a jewel green '95 T-bird, same guy that did that 1989 job above repainted the T-bird roof & hood after the original clear coat pealed. I don't know what he used but in short time, the paint was popping off the primer he used, in specks like rain drops, and he had give up painting by then. Now the original pealing clear coat on the trunk looks better than the hood or roof. I might end up sanding and priming and painting all three surfaces ... maybe even green .... with spray bomb. Car runs good, great on gas, comfortable, just looks really bad. Brushing would look better?

 

Double check the primer specs.. Some say that you should top coat within a certain time or re-sand or primer again.

 

So I have Summit Racing Urethane paint. How long does this last? It's been sitting for more than a year. Is it still good? Thx.