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Paint Prep

J

Jim Paterson

Member
I'm about to clean my sheet metal (gas tank, grille, hood)for painting and I'm looking for advice. Is there any kind of chemical paint stripper you recommend prior to sanding? When I begin sanding, what is the roughest grit I should start with 100? I plan on finishing up with a 320 grit. Any advice will be helpful. It is a '44 H and I have absolutely no intention of sand blasting (or other media blasting).
 
start with 120 on a d/a sander. 80 will cut quicker, but leaves deep scratches in the metal, and a lot of the primers will "bridge" over the sanding scratches, and over time, the paint will drop in the scratch marks. i use the mirka sandpaper products here at the shop, they work well and are a little less costly than the 3m paper.
 
Sandblast the hood, tank, grill and fenders. I've done three Farmalls, sheetmetal came out absolutely flawless. Result of hammer and dolly work, filler, epoxy base primer and Priming and block sanding 5-6 times will do.
At a minimum sandblast the areas of sharp corners and curves, tank seam, entire grill, there's no way to sand or strip all those edges.
 
For sheet metal I use a fiber wheel on an electric drill followed by epoxy primer. I don't worry about scratches as I use urethane surfacer over the epoxy, but I do sand with 100 or 150 to flatten the scratches some before the epoxy. Urethane surfacer does not bridge the scratches, lacquer surfacer or any non-urethane primer surfacer may. As to 320 (or 400 grit), that is for sanding surfacer prior to topcoating. Epoxy needs no finer than 180 grit to get a good bite, although I have gotten by with 220 before I knew any better.
 
For heavy paint I have used a stiff putty knife to scrape it off. Lots of times it's faster than sanding, less dust, no scratches. I seldom use anything but hand sanding. Hood and gas tank need to go to bare metal to look nice. Any place you skimp on will show though. The cast parts are not so critical. a little wire brushing and make sure it's clean. I like a spray degreaser and lots of water. The sheet metal I wipe down with thinner just before painting to remove any residual dust. I don't know why but that's the way I was taught by an old timer.
 
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