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MG TD TF 1500 - Dip-Stripping Body Parts

What can you tell me (pros / cons) about dip-stripping MG body parts to prep for painting? Non-acid chemicals plus electrolysis removes paint and rust. It ain't cheap.

My TF was painted by a previoius owner about 25 years ago. 2K single stage enamel. A few years after the car was painted, tiny spots started appearing on the surface of all removable body parts. I met the painter and he said that water was trapped in the lacquer primer when it was painted, which caused the tiny rust spots. The tub was painted with epoxy primer and doesn't have the problem.

Today, the spots are uniformly all over the car about 1/4 inch apart (none on the tub). The few places on the car that have body filler do not have the spots.

An MG Vintage Racer friend and restorer recommended this shop about 90 miles from my house to remove the paint and the rust. I will remove all chrome etc and bring the parts to him. I will not dip-strip the doors or tub. I will confirm with the painter (when I choose one) if he approves the dip-strip.

Classic Auto Stripping
Wauchula,FL
www.classicautostripping.com

Thanks for any advice that you can give to me.

Lonnie
TF7211

Photo: Spots like these are on all removable parts of the car.

LM Cook

I know of a tub soda blasted and wasn't cleaned and neutralized properly after completed and before painting pretty much had the same effect. Not saying this is what happened to your parts, just using that scenario as a possibility. PJ
Paul Jennings

Unsure what they use, but all my solid metal body parts were originally stripped of paint in a machine shop hot tank. Back then, they used lye to clean blocks and other parts.

All the parts came out perfectly clean, no paint on anything. I could even see the inspector mark on each part. This is an inked mark put on each body part.

I did the car in 1974 and other than the paint is cracking(an issue with the paint I used), the finish has stayed perfect.
Bruce Cunha

Media blasting for me by a pro. I could not have been more pleased. I went in thinking soda but he quickly talked me out of that due to problems it cause. Used copper slag. Chemicals... they have issues...the electrolysis can work wonders. Tub and all on my car was less than 500 bucks of course prices will vary by area as well as the quality of the work and the guy running the gun is everything. Just my two pence.

L E D LaVerne

The key with quality media blasting is to ensure that the operator is an expert, whatever media is used. I've seen too many panels totally ruined through distortion from the excessive heat generated by an incompetent operator. Totally agree with LaVerne's comment that "the guy running the gun is everything". Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Lonnie, to me it looks like humidity blisters. This can be caused by moisture trapped under the undercoat when perhaps the items to be painted were not preheated or up to temperature in the spray oven.
Just my two cents worth,
John...Sydney
John Walton

25 years ago most painters did not know about silicone brake fluid contamination, and how it would wreck paint jobs if not eliminated completely from the shop. Or this looks like that.
S Cole

Hello Lonnie, That place used to be a restoration shop until Hurricane Charley pretty much destroyed Wauchula. I have a contact that that can perhaps check it out for you. I recall the one issue with dipping is that residual stripper can linger in areas such as the curl on the bonnet tops, the lips/rolled edges of the wings, etc. Need to make sure they can neutralize the chemical, etc. Second all above about being careful with blasting. George
George Butz

Hi Lonnie
When I first started stripping panels on my TF 20+ years ago I was advised to use a regular paint stripper and a power hose. Worked really well.
More recently I brought a couple of panels that had been primed after being allegedly soda blasted to a guy who media blasted them using somthing more gentle than glass. I think it was nuts of the eating variety. He then used epoxy primer to keep out the water. He mentioned that soda was far to gentle and costly for this purpose and they had never previously been done just primed over the surface rust that had formed over the intervening years. You live and learn.
Regards Darryl
D Lamb

Thanks everyone -

Glad to hear that some of you had good results with dip-stripping. I hope to visit the shop at the end of this month, find a painter, and start disassembly.

George, thanks for the info about the business in Wachula. I guess Hurricane Charley is responsible for the new shop described on his web site.

I'll keep you posted.

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

This thread was discussed between 03/01/2017 and 04/01/2017

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