RE: [T3] Primer Removal

["Jaranson, John (J.W.)" <jjaranso@ford.com>]

Will - 

It is fortunate that this question came up right now.  I have been meaning
to post my experience this past weekend with paint removal.  As some of you
may remember I recently purchased a pair of early rear fenders for my Fasty
from Russ Wolfe.  One of the fenders was the factory original and one was a
German replacement.  I had already worked out some of the dents and had put
a few guide coats of primer on them to look for low spots.  I decided to
strip the fenders to bare sheet metal in preparation for filling the trim
holes and modifying the cooling vents.  (I can see the stockers cringing
already! 8^))

Anyway, I started with the replacement fender.  I applied a coating of
aircraft paint stripper and waited about 15 minutes.  The paint blistered up
and I scraped it off.  A little steel wool on the stubborn bits and I had a
fender that looked like it just came out of the stamping die.  I will have
to post a picture or two next week.

I then took the factory original fender and applied a coat of paint stripper
and waited 15 minutes.  Nothing. No blistering except where the primer guide
coat was still pretty heavy.  I waited another 15 minutes since it had
cooled off quite a bit between doing the two fenders.  Still nothing.  I got
my scrapper and tried it.......the primer guide coat wiped right off leaving
the factory off-white paint behind.  It has still solid!  The paint stripper
had not done a thing to the factory paint.  I ended up taking a heat gun and
slowly scaping most of the paint off and then using a DA (dual action
sander) to finish it off.

The moral of the story......leave the factory paint on if you can and it is
still on good shape.  It is really good paint and it sticks good.  In your
case Will, I would get some chemical paint stripper and a medium to fine
steel wool pad.  Put a little paint stripper on the steel wool pad and wipe
the primer off.  It will take a little bit of time, but not much elbow
grease.  Try it on a hidden area first to make sure, but I don't think the
stripper will do much to the factory paint.  Then when you are ready to
resquirt the color just rough up the original paint and have at it.

One word of caution, the primer may be hiding bondo or other repairs with
non-factory paint.  The paint stripper WILL attack these areas, so proceed
with caution.

Later,
John Jaranson
'71 FI Auto Fasty
http://hometown.aol.com/jaransonT3


-------------------------------------------------------------------
List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org