[Quarter Flash]

I am beginning to look at the paint on my Monza drag car project. In the past someone has striped it down to metal and sprayed it with lacquer. Thankfully the paint layer is thin and not hard to sand. I know lacquer is not good to spray over. Do I need to sand to metal or can I sand to primer and re-prime over the old primer? Do I need to spray a sealer over the old primer? Do I sand it to metal, prime it, block it all out and then seal it? I want to use a color coat, clear coat system. I have access to a professional down draft paint booth for free, however I do not know how to paint or use the booth. Obviously I could pay someone else to do this, but this is my project and I would like to do it my self even if it's not quite as good.

Bob

[baddbob]

Strip it, and the reasoning is if the bodyman before you shot lacquer over lacquer primer there really isn't any benifit leaving any of those products on. JMO

[Quarter Flash]

Is it true that a chemical stripper applied in an area that has seems may seep out later and damage the paint? It is easier to DA the open panels, because this paint is so thin. It's the corners and the seams that may be tough. I guess I could wire brush it.

Bob

[OneMoreTime]

What I use to strip with is my 7' drop head sander grinder..then my 41/2" sander grinder then I have a little drop head air grinder that uses 2' disks for small left over spots..works fine and it is easier and cheaper than doing the paint stripper deal..Less issues too..

Tiny little corners can be done with a spot blaster..

And yup I would use a good primer so I have a good base to paint on for the final..

Sam

[baddbob]

Originally Posted by Quarter Flash

Is it true that a chemical stripper applied in an area that has seems may seep out later and damage the paint? It is easier to DA the open panels, because this paint is so thin. It's the corners and the seams that may be tough. I guess I could wire brush it.

Bob

Stripper does a lot of work for you, put it on thick and cover it with masking plastic so it doesn't dry out, pull the plasic off a few hours later and scrape the paint and primer off, if done right it only takes one application and most of the paint is gone. Wash the panels good with water to nuetralize and remove any remaining stripper residue-this is where most people screw up by not washing. Sand and wire wheel the rest of the paint off, 80 grit on a DA works good. Protect all plastic and rubber parts from the stripper and if you're not doing the jambs protect them as well.
Or just sand it all off, or media blast.

[kenseth17]

7' drop head sander grinder

Holy cripes, now if I could just find a panel big enough to use that, I could get it done with one swipe. Probably hard to control though. Sorry, couldn't resist, lol.

[Quarter Flash]

It looks like no one is recommending painting over the current paint. It looks like the best method is a combo of Chem stripper and sand paper. Thanks again to everyone for the advise.

Bob