What's the best way to strip existing paint from a vehicle? Sand paper, wire wheel, abrasive discs, or possibly some kind of chemical? Also, the rubber undercoating goo under the body seems like it may be stubborn also, any ideas for that? Thanks much.

 

I assume you are doing this in your driveway? I use chemical stripper and finish off the last little remaining bits with a palm sander and 120 grit. It is tedious and messy, though.

 

Drop it off at the media blaster, pick it up in 3 days in epoxy primer. It will take forever & still not be done. What is your time worth. Pull the engine & re gasket, & paint it while you wait.

Really depends on the purpose or your goal

 

They all have their pro's and con's. I just had my frame blasted and it is def the easiest, not the cheapiest. Blasting you deal with the leftover abrasive that seems to hide till you start spraying paint. Chemical, same deal, will cause problems when painting if not fully removed. 80 grit and a DA sander will strip it fine staying away from edges and clean up the hard to reach places with aircraft stripper. This is the cheapest as long as you don't count your labor. If I had the money left I would have had the undercarriage blasted. But. I'm doing a frame off project. Just strip and paint, I'd sand it. But just my opinion.

 

Up here in Michigan there are blaster guys popping up every where, they are in a price war. We just got a 2 seat tube buggie blasted & powdercoated for $375.

A full size truck runs $425 for complete removal of top & bottom epoxy primer is another $225. The under coating is hard to get off without a heavy grit. Soda Blast is good to.

As far as sanding goes, use a 6" or 7" oscillating orbit sander air tool they are made for paint removal on large flat surfaces.

http://www.algrovetoolsupply.com/cgi...Orbital-Sander

80 grit works but try to stripper first & neutralize the chem stripper. Another way would be to chem dip it. If you want to have a complete original body to start with.

Or you could just get a pressure pot from Harbor Freight they work pretty good, use a flint cut sand or 80 grit glass bead. Little slow depends on the compressor you use.
Here is a pretty good one for low cfm compressor's

http://www.texasblaster.com/?gclid=C...FSXyDAode0HILA

I might have to get one of these for the shop

 

Nice when blasters have to compete. Only one around here and I had to hunt for him. $250 for doing my frame, blasted only. My little 66 half cab Bronco, with no front clip, doors, tailgate, windshield, shell only, wanted $1000. Would have been nice, but out of my budget. Like you said, lot depends on how far he's going with this project.

 

Has anyone used one of the soda blast kits that adapt to a sandblaster? I have a smaller sandblaster, and was thinking of doing some of the hard to reach areas with the soda blast.

 

Dam you could drive back & forth to MI & still save money.

The Eastwood conversion looks pretty good if you have enough air, I have never tried one, was thinking about it but the glass bead & flint cut is all you need. Unless you do not have it stripped down. They have small hand held units that work well with a little hood to cover the work area.

 

I have access to a big compressor, so air isn't an issue. I haven't checked prices locally for soda blast media either. Thought that this would be cheaper than having it done, though.

 

For sure! After two days of wire wheeling the underside of the body, it's sounding better all the time. At least I did finish and sprayed with rust converter today. I don't mind the outside near as much. Should sell my 76 so I can afford to pay to have the hard work done.

 

Well I have done it several ways. Back in 1990 I stripped my Mustang using Aircraft Paint Remover over the entire car. I was a novice and found that it was tedious, messy and takes at least 2 go arounds to get all off. More so if more than one paint job. Then you still have to go over the car with a cleaning disc at the very least.

Recently had someone over to soda blast my hood, front fenders, lower gravel support, upper support, front and rear bumper. If outside it puts dust everywhere. I tried this way since I wanted both sides stripped since both sides were to be painted. No fun trying to clean up the inside of a 44 year old hood. Worked great and looks great painted. Not cheap and the dust lingered for weeks and weeks.It looked like a Christmas scene.

This week I just did my cab and used some Eastwood 7 inch stripping discs I had left over from 1990. On my Makita, at 4000rpm, they went through 4 layers of paint in no time. Using psa 180 grit sandpaper wasn't even close. Afterwards I just blow the dust off. This was by far the easiest and cheapest way especially if cleaning one side. Just be sure to wear a dust mask.

 

Here is the latest system from Eastwood:
Looks like the best of both worlds on sale now for $349

Dual Tank Blaster. Item #11737. Only $ 429.99. Now Only $ 343.99. Two Blasters in one - Soda and Media! The new Eastwood Dual Blaster is the best of both ...
<cite>www.eastwood.com/dual-tank-blaster</cite>

I Have to get one of these dual tank systems...Nice video
http://www.eastwood.com/dual-tank-blaster.html

The disc works, as far as easy mabee, Cheapest??

10 bucks a disc: I love Eastwood stuff But they are getting carried away on some of there pricing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/7-Inc...9031410003r372

 

I have the 50lb. sandblaster from eastwood. I'm also in the works on creating my own rotisserie for the frame, from two engine stands. Would be much easier to blast and paint.