Factory paint removal

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coby74

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I'm working on a 1982 chevy truck thats been in the family almost since new. The truck has 4 repaints over the years and is two tone so the factory painted the
the whole truck the secondary color. Would it be best to take in all the way to metal or is it ok to leave some of the factory ecoat and paint? The ecoat seems
to be stuck well to the metal. The trucks paint is in good shape but the body work was never great and it was never blocked down so it is wavey.
 
I've done 4-5 of those square body trucks. Most of the time I take to metal unless paint is in really good condition. Most of time inside of bed needs most attention.
 
'68 Coronet R/T said:
With that many coats of paint, I would use a heat gun and razor blade to strip it. Then a DA with 80 grit to prep for epoxy primer.
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I think I'm going to try that. I been using 80 grit on a rotary but gums up on the original and next layer of paint which I think are enamel.
 
I'm doing an 85 myself thats only had 1 repaint, and found the heat/blade method works well. I would think with all the coats you have it would be the best bet.
Good luck on your project.
 
I was hooked on the heat gun and razor blade method after the first time I tried it.
It came in real handy when I had to strip this '62 Chevy that had been "professionally painted" a few years earlier and had paint cracking in a few areas.

Stripping Right Fender.JPG

Here is a chip to show you how thick they were.
Paint Chip Layers.JPG

It would have taken forever to sand all that off with a DA.

The trick is to heat an area until it is soft enough to get the razor blade to penetrate down to the metal. Then keep the heat gun pointed just ahead of the razor blade while applying pressure to scrape off the paint.

I simply vacuum up the chips with a shop vac.
Paint Chips on Floor.JPG


When done, a DA with 80 grit will quickly prep the metal for epoxy primer.
 
Most of time inside of bed needs most attention.
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Seams,All of Them. Door skins,jambs. Anything with Sealer is suspect.
Then, the Cowl box/Firewall spot welds.
You could get any body part But this from LMC. Don't know about Today but It's a diy if not because most donor trucks are as bad or worse.
The 85. Dually had this black,like undercoat sprayed all along the joint hiding some real ugly.
 
I tried the heat gun and razor blade trick on the gas filler door and it worked very well. Can the heat gun put too much heat to warp the panels? The filler door was hot while stripping.
 
The metal will get pretty warm, but not hot enough to do any damage unless you were to just park the gun in one spot for a while. The paint will soften up enough to scrape long before the metal gets too hot. As someone else mentioned, the trick is to keep the heat aimed just ahead of the blade. With a bit of practice you'll find you can peel off single strips the full length of the panel.

I take a sharpening stone and round off the blade corners slightly. That helps prevent the blade trying to dig in at the corners and leave scratches or snag and break off part of the edge.

The Titan blade holder in the pic above is the one to use. Anything shorter and your scraping hand won't like the heat. O'Reilly usually has them in stock for around 12 bucks.
 
coby74 said:
I tried the heat gun and razor blade trick on the gas filler door and it worked very well. Can the heat gun put too much heat to warp the panels? The filler door was hot while stripping.
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You would have to have one heck of a heat gun to do that. Not a issue IMO. Even with the best heat gun you will probably not reach 175 degrees panel temp while stripping. Takes more heat than that.
 
metlmunchr said:
The metal will get pretty warm, but not hot enough to do any damage unless you were to just park the gun in one spot for a while. The paint will soften up enough to scrape long before the metal gets too hot. As someone else mentioned, the trick is to keep the heat aimed just ahead of the blade. With a bit of practice you'll find you can peel off single strips the full length of the panel.

I take a sharpening stone and round off the blade corners slightly. That helps prevent the blade trying to dig in at the corners and leave scratches or snag and break off part of the edge.

The Titan blade holder in the pic above is the one to use. Anything shorter and your scraping hand won't like the heat. O'Reilly usually has them in stock for around 12 bucks.
Click to expand...

Spot on reply ^^^
 
it is an art. the thicker the paint the better it peels. not a lot of heat is needed , just enough to soften it .
 

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I was checking with my temp gun and it removes it best at around 160 to 170. One spot was 200 to 210 and it would not take it off well. I didn't know how much heat was to much for metal.
 
it works best when you get a large area warm . there is a fine line between release and melt in . if you get it too hot the paint will melt into filler or primer and be tough to get off. it just takes a while to get dialed in..
 
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