TR3A Body Tub Paint Removal.

[nrobinson_1]

Hi everyone,only second time on the forum but last time you all helped me so much.My dilema (and it has probably been addressed before) is what is the best way of paint removal on a body tub,i have been quoted £800 + the dreaded (ouch) for chemical strip,next but not a lot of info on it is soda blasting! or is it just good old paint stripper and grinding disks?any thoughts gents will be greatly received.

 

Thanks

Nige

[stuart]

Hot air gun and a good quality scraper.

Stuart.

[Menno van Rij]

If you're referring to the paint, Stuart's advise 'old school' advise is first class (as ever) but be careful with the toxic damp. Use a proper mask! Soda blasting is an option. I remember an article in Practical Classics a few years back. Can't remember the address, though

 

If you're referring to the under body sealing, have a look here: http://www.ice-blaster.co.uk Might be interesting.

 

Menno

[Rodbr]

At one time the considered opinion was that treatment with a dip and strip was the answer to all our prayers. Had it done and not so sure. Seems to be dependent on the flushing/washing process. yes it gets into all the tiny seam gaps.

i would suggest, having used it personaly, that soda blasting is the way to go due to the gentle removal of paint etc. It will not remove rust but you can use a rust remover, or add small amount of fine ali oxide as a mix 40/60 depending on severity, you can choose.

 

Check out Utube and type in "soda blasting"

 

The media is readily available in 25kg bags at about £30 ea delivered. possibly 3-4 bags depending on extent required.

 

Do as Stuart suggests and finish off with Soda blast, nice finish after treatment.

If you need info drop me a pm.

[Fireman049]

Hi Nige ~

 

I completely stripped my 3A down to bare metal quite easily using "Blackfriars" paint remover! Forget "Nitromors" because it isn't man enough for the job believe me! As one of my hobbies is emblazoning military drums I've removed paint from drums painted well before the First World War using "Blackfriars". "Nitromors" barely had any effect!

 

Tom.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Fireman049

[AlanT]

I used paint stripper but maybe you don't know the best way to do this.

The active ingredient is quite volatile and this means you need to keep doing lots of coats.

 

UNLESS

 

You do a small area and cover it with newspaper. Then a light coat on the paper to stick it down.

You have now trapped the solvent under the paper. It will now bring off several paint layers. Maybe all off them in one go.

 

You leave this quite a while to work. When you peel it off the paint will be stuck on the newspaper and you can wrap it up.

 

Some one told me that the mix of paper and stripper might be a fire risk. So be careful to leave it outside to dry off.

 

Al.

[Fireman049]

Spontaneous combustion is always a danger but if you go about it with due care and attention then there is nothing to worry about.

My method with "Blackfriars" was to coat the panel with a thick layer, let it stand a while for the liquid to take effect then use a paint scraper and all the paint would lift off easily! Simples!!!

 

Tom.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Fireman049

[stuart]

Agreed paint stripper does work pretty well, depending on which one you use because as noted Nitromors no longer works. But you do need to be careful if it gets into any seams as it can be difficult to totally neutralise it and its very messy!

FWIW you can now also find people who blast using dry ice which works the same as Soda.

Stuart.

Edited January 26, 2013 by stuart

[Tr4Tony]

I've had good results on a tub from gentle air blasting, and also pyro stripping where it's cooked and everything literally falls off ..... Both expensive but probably only twice the cost if asterisks if you do it yourself and you don't have the huge mess.

 

When blasting particularly its best to tape over the flat areas like bulkhead top and deck so that they don't distort, but apart from that my recent job with two halves of a very rusty TR4 body went very well, with minimal collateral damage and most importantly, no rust left.

 

Regards

 

Tony

[littlejim]

If you are paying someone to do it maybe soda blasting is the way to go, although over here it would proabaly be done "wet", which wouldn't appeal to me as the rust would be starting immediately.

 

If you have your own compressor I would go for garnet, which is the way I went for chassis and tub. The gurus said I might distort the metal, but I found that the "home" pressures ,around 100psi didn't even remotely look like distorting anything, and the rust came off leaving clean metal as well as revealing any dodgy repairs underneath.

The home blasting also meant I could clean and undercoat manageable bits at a time instead of having to do a huge amount at once. I have kept all my gear but suspect that buying it, doing the job, and flogging it off afterwards, would cost less or about the same as a commercial job. (WAG guess not proven fact)

 

Have a look at Dave Connit's TR4A blog (via Google) - he's the one that got me into doing my own garnet blasting.

[Willie Felger]

Hello Nige,

 

We recently had a TR3A tub soda blasted and treated/primed by a local firm in East Sussex. The result is way ahead of anything I managed to achieve by hand stripping three TRs.

 

It was quick but the downside is the cost - £1400 including VAT, collection and delivery. It is a lot of money to find at the start of a restoration but the time it saves is enormous. I've no personal experience of the process but I'm warned that the danger of dipping is residual chemical which doesn't get washed out of nooks and crannies and which can leach out over time and spoil an expensive paint job.

 

You pays your money and takes your choice.

 

Good luck,

 

Willie

[Superaquarama]

Dronco fleece - one of these lasts about 15 mins, in which time you should strip most of an average TR panel apart from the bonnet. Brilliant, gentle (use on ali) , not messy but dusty. IMHO far better and quicker than sanding discs or paint stripper.

 

http://www.outlandsales.co.uk/product.php/2664/dronco_coarse_cleaning_fleece_disc_115mm

Edited January 27, 2013 by Superaquarama

[Pogo]

Hi Nige

 

Have a word with Carl at TR Trader - he does blasting with various media and I know he has done cars - tubs and panels. 0161 485 5005.

 

No connection etc.

 

I'll speak to you about it when I see you - Thursday?

 

Cheers

 

 

Roger

[foster461]

Dronco fleece - one of these lasts about 15 mins, in which time you should strip most of an average TR panel apart from the bonnet. Brilliant, gentle (use on ali) , not messy but dusty. IMHO far better and quicker than sanding discs or paint stripper.

 

http://www.outlandsales.co.uk/product.php/2664/dronco_coarse_cleaning_fleece_disc_115mm

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

I stripped my tub and some outer panels myself with a pad like that in a grinder plus some smaller 3M pads. The bigger pads were not cheap but I found one pad would take the paint off one fender for example.

 

While I could get most of the crud off the flat panels there are many crooks and nannies so I used a pressure blaster with the tub in the driveway to do the final cleanup.

 

I had some outer panels soda blasted with mixed results. The soda took off the paint but still left me with hours of work dealing with the rust. I'm really glad that that phase is mostly over.

 

Stan

[Tony Millward]

I found those pads superb in removing paint.

 

Tony

[BrianC]

After much experimenting, I did both sides of all the outer panels and doors of my TR3A with 3M and similar pads from B&Qs and Halfords. They even dealt with thick layers of underseal inside the wings. Fairly cheap and not too hard a job if you don't attempt too much at a time but I should have worn a facemask from the start. The dust, especially when hitting patches of filler did my eyes, nose, throat and lungs no good at all.

 

Unfortunately, the nooks and crannies needed paint stripper and I found the current Nitromors very poor in comparison to the original version I used a few decades ago. Stripping and cleaning these areas was the most time-consuming (and boring) part of the process.

[RogerH]

When I did my TR4 over the last couple of summers I found the following worked -

 

Coarse sanding discs for the paint in flat(ish) areas.

Drongo wheels for rust patches and paint/filler

StarChem Synstrip P50 stripper (ebay) for the paint either all over or for awkward areas. Not used Blackfriars but many people have mentioned it.

Medium sanding discs to clean the stripped metal.

 

goggles and mask are well recommended.

Marigolds for the hands.

Bucket of water on stand-by

Rags.

 

Roger

[AlanT]

I used paint stripper, the newspaper trick, wire-wool.

 

I don't like mechanical grinding things on panels.

 

Phosphoric acid wash. Dipped if possible.

 

Al.