Body work

[jerrys85iroc]

Hey everyone, what would be the cheapest way to get my 1978 trans-am body down to bare metal and then into primer?

[Gordz32]

Cheapest way is for you to do it yourself with aircraft stripper, but its lots of your time. If you gonna pay someone I'd go with media blast or soda blast and then have a shop prime it. But your looking at a couple grand for that.

[jerrys85iroc]

Well is there any spray can primer worth using once i get the car to bare metal?, i have the time to strip the car.

[malster]

strip it dry chemical stripper

[fathomgreen69SS]

Go and buy a cheap spray gun and prime it yourself. Rattle can primer will take forever and by the time you buy enough rattle can primer, you could have taken her on down to Maaco's or Earl Scheib's and had it primed. You may want to consider putting in some good prep time and then just have a budget auto paint paint company such as Maaco or Earl Scheib prime it for you. After that you can do all of the blocking yourself.

[belair54]

Not sure where you are located, but our shop has a media blaster and we charge @$700 to strip a bare car shell, plus @$350-500 to get it into primer, but we are in Kansas and not sure what you are wanting to spend on it.

[Paint God]

The ultimate would be to have it blasted and sealed. You should not pay any more than 600-800 for the blasting (exterior only).

If you are on a budget here is what you do my man.


Remove all exterior mouldings, door handles, bumpers, etc.
Tape off all of the glass with duck tape and cardboard (make sure you overlap the duck tape about 1/2 inch onto the body so that the stripper does not get into the cracks around the windows).
Tape all of the panel gaps, seams, and holes (door handles, marker lights, locks, antenna, etc) with duck tape. I usually cut the duck tape down to 1/2 strips to cover the panels gaps. Its ok to overlap the panel a bit. Tust me the biggest mess is if that stuff gets into any gpas, cracks, or holes.
Sand the surface with 80 grit on a DA (dual action sander) just to break the surface a bit. You dont need to sand it down far. You just want to penetrate the paint a bit so the chemical stripper does not have to fight through the top resin which is the touphest part of the paint.
Using a thick paint brush go ahead and apply the paint stripper as thick as you can (within reason) and let it sit as per the products instruction (usually 10-15 minuets).
Scrape with a sharp and wide putty knife.
Repeat this process as much as needed panel by panel.


The trick is to only concentrate on one panel at a time. If you take on to much it can get away from you and turn into a huge mess. If you take your time and do it few times per panel you would be surprised at how nice it can come out.

Once you have them all stripped just clean it up real nice and unmask it. Now you will have small strips of paint along the edge of each panel. I would use a 3M stripper disk (part 07470, http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/pc-13940-698-3m-scotch-brite-roloc-clean-strip-xt-disc-07470.aspx) on a die grinder or high speed drill to strip it.

Now it is stripped. This is where most amateurs screw up. Most people don't etch the metal to give the primer or sealer a nice "tooth" to hang on to so the sealer or primer peels off or bubbles later on. The other huge mistake people make is to just throw some spray can primer on it. Spray can primer is usually lacquer based and has no corrosion resistance or etching capability. If you do not prep the metal properly and spray a good sealer over it you will be doing this all over again in a few years after you have put that nice paint job on it.

Metal cleaning, etching, and priming.

First thing to consider is that you have everything you need from this point to sealer right in front of you. You do not want the car to sit for days in bare metal before you seal it. If you could knock this all out in a weekend (providing that the car is inside a garage or shop) the better. If you are doing this outside you need to get it done same day.

DA sand the entire body with 80 grit. Sand it till it is clean and shiny.
Clean metal with a good acid metal etch cleaner. I like PPG's DX579. http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/rustremove.aspx). Just follow the instructions. Make sure you get the car super dry after the wash.
Now the metal is clean and etched. It should have a slight goldish tone to it.
Tape it up and apply 2 coats epoxy sealer. I prefer PPG's DP line but if you are on a budget I would use Northstars EP210 epoxy primer (http://www.computerlogic.com/northstar/northstar-products-primersurfacers.htm#a). This stuff is just as good as DP but half the price.



Now It might seem a little intimidating if you have never sprayed before. Don't sweat it. Just go and buy a Cheap HVLP gravity fed gun from somewhere like Harbor Freight Tools. Just keep the pressure down around 15 psi and it is cake. That primer is very easy to spray. Don't even worry if you get a little run here and there. You are going to sand the hell out of this car along the process anyway. Just make sure you get a nice thick coating over the whole car. A couple of coats should do it, but 3 would not hurt.

By my calculation you should be able to do this whole process for about 300-400 bucks and it will be done right.

[NVR2L8]

I love people that know EXACTLY what they're talking about. You run across so few of them.

[jerrys85iroc]

Thanks alot...sadly i got rid of the car due to money problems but at least now i know what i should do when i do get another project. Thanks again...