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Triumph TR6 - paint removal

I am prepping the car for paint. I wish to remove all paint from outside and messy undercoating from inside of fenders. I have started to use a chemical stripper on the valances and would prefer to dip the fenders, trunk and hood. However, I am concerned about the total cost of dipping.

Has anybody used a business in Ontario to dip parts? If so where and how did it work out? Also, am I correct in that this is the best way to remove paint?

John
JOHN BRUNATTI

John:
I did my 6 in 2005 and took the paint off with razor blades. This left a lot of work for the painter in ensuring everything was nice and straight. If I had to do it all again I'd definitely go with the soda blasting method. My painter agrees.

Bob

Bob Evans

John...Don't know about chemical dipping but I had my 6 soda blasted by Robinson Marine in Sherkston (Fort Erie). Cost was very reasonable and I had no troubles with warped panels or thick undercoating.

Rob

Rob Brophy

John,
Eastwood has a dual, media (sand, bead, etc.) and Soda blaster for less than $300USD. If you have a place to handle the dust and paint residue, might be worth checking into.
db
Doug Baker

A $300 soda blaster might be the way to go. I'll be paint the TR this year as well (in the GTA area). maybe find another interested party and split the cost three ways?
BC
B Chamberlain

Soda blasting is the way to go. It will not warp pannels like the bonnet where as with sand, there is a possibility of warping the panel even with an experienced operator.
Unfortunately soda is expensive but you will you have the body done in a day.
Rick
Rick Crawford

Hi Folks

We have one soda blaster in Nova Scotia, and it happens that he is about 10kms from my place. I spoke to him yesterday and he charges $150/hr for blasting and $49/hr for bodywork. He says after the blasting the car will smell nice. Anyway he is comming over this weekend to give me a quote.

Les
lw gilholme

Guys, there's one soda blaster in the immediate area (like within 200 miles) and his going rate is about $700-$1000USD to blast the outside of a regular sized sedan, that is, wings on, bonnet and boot down and doors closed. Blasting all surfaces inside and out topside and underneath would likely run twice the first estimate. Then you have to use sand blasting to get the heavy rust out. Soda will remove the paint down to the metal, but makes little headway with heavy scaly rust.

Sort of makes a case for getting the home hobby size tool and doing it yourself. Eastwood also has a conversion kit to adapt an existing tank type sand blaster to soda blasting. Runs about $169.00 if I recall correctly from their last catalog.

Wire brushed the rust and paint off my inner rockers tonight with a super heavy duty grinder and brush. Gonna POR-15 the insides before I weld the outer rocker back in. Finding more and more rust throughs as I remove paint and putty. DPO misled me into believing only the left front and the outer rockers had seen body work. I'm finding patches and bondo in lots of places. Replacing with metal as I go. Got to the inside of the A&B posts with POR-15. Took a looonngg handled brush!! Should'a turned the sucker upside down and sprayed it.

John, good luck with your removal efforts. Keep us posted on how/what you do.
db
Doug Baker

John,
We all agree that soda is the best but to be fare and answer your question.

TSL Techno Strip Ltd.
1 Blair Dr.
Brampton
905-459-6196
George Tischler
www.technostrip.com
Advertises in the TTC Ragtop.
Rick
Rick Crawford


Great sign Rick.. Love the WTF for premium.

Just to throw out another option that I did to remove all of my paint down to bare metal. I used a 60 grit sanding disk attached to an electric drill. Went through 7 layers of paint with it... the whole car! It's a pretty common practice among body pro's but they use a sander/polisher to turn the 60 grit disks which I'm sure is much more efficient than a regular drill motor. It worked and it was cheap... but it was a LOT of work and of course it made a big dust mess.

I think the do it yourself soda blaster that Doug mentions is a good way to go if you want to save money. It sounds like less work than the 60 grit method and at $300.00 for the system it's pretty reasonable.

Good luck John.

Here's a pic of my stripped TR with newley welded in rocker panel.

Henry

HP Henry Patterson

John

I had my hood, both doors and truck lid dipped by Techno Strip as Rick suggests. Cost was $500 in March 2005. I was very pleased with job. Took all rust off.

I would recommend over blasting it to avoid potential damage to the surface. However it takes off everything so if the piece has hard to reach areas- when you go to prime it and paint it, there may be places that it is tough to get good paint cover. You might want to dip the part in primer/paint following the stripping (I didn't do this)

I attach a picture of the doors after stripping. If you want to see the hood and trunk let me know.

Mike

Michael Petryschuk

How big a compressor would you need for that soda blaster? I know my small 2 cyl. Devilbis has a hard time keeping up with intermitent use of air tools. Wouldn't stand a chance with something like that.

Rob
rw loftus

Thanks guys,

I did actually find Techno Strip previously, but wanted a second price and somebody closer (2 1/2 hrs. away). It seems that the pricing is fair.

There is a concern with dipping that the acid must be thoroughly neutralized from crevices. If not cleaned properly, leaching will occur. I saw it happen to a vehicle locally rendering new paint.

Soda blasting seems to be preferred but not available locally. I don't think I am interested in purchasing a unit, considering the mess and the demand on my small compressor.

I removed the paint from the main body of the car with a chemical stripper. I experience no problems with a reasonable amount of labour. Perhaps I will do the same with the fenders and hood.



Thanks, John
JOHN BRUNATTI

This thread was discussed between 27/04/2008 and 02/05/2008

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