Getting closer

Today I'll just post a few pictures of the current status of the car, and then a note on stripping. Paint. Stripping paint. (What kind of blog do you think this is?) I want to try to cover questions that I had before I started and put in my two cents about what I've found.

First the pictures. If you click on the pictures, you can see a larger one. If you look closely at the first one, you'll see some waviness along the center ridge where the trim attaches. I worked SO much on this panel and still didn't manage to get that line completely straight. I may have to go for outside help...

A closer look at the rust that has to be cut out and replaced:

What I did today:

What's left to strip:

Now a few words about how I've been stripping paint. Before I started, I researched quite a bit. I decided on using aircraft stripper because sanding and or grinding seemed like it would take too long. I looked into soda blasting, and Eastwood sells a unit for around $250, which is addition to your compressor. I didn't want to spend that extra money, so I bought some aircraft stripper. I actually did the whole replacement decklid that way. It takes several applications and is messy. Not to mention, you DO NOT want to get any on your skin. You'll feel it within seconds! Also, it's around $25-$30 per gallon. I think I used close to a half gallon just on the trunk. It would've gotten expensive. I really don't recommend it.

During a trip to Home Depot, I was looking at power tools and ended up getting a Ryobi 4.5 inch angle grinder that came with a sanding disk, a grinding disk, and a stripping disk, all for $39. Not too bad. I think it's a 11,000 RPM one. I tried the stripping disk on the paint and never looked back. Works quite well, and probably about as fast as a home soda blasting kit, although not as friendly to aluminum trim pieces, so be careful! The replacement disks are about $8 or $9, and I think I'll end up using around 6 of them. I've used some aircraft stripper to get into small places that I couldn't get to with the disk and it's very messy. Not to mention you don't want any hanging around only bubble up through your nice new paint later on. That stuff is powerful.

In spite of its relative effectiveness, it still takes a bit of work to do a whole panel with a stripping disk. And it gets paint and metal dust all over you. Here's how I gear up for a stripping session:

So, here are the grinder attachments I've been using. The DeWalt wire wheel on the left has been good for tighter spaces. It's actually quite heavy wire which doesn't work as well because you've got to apply more pressure to get all of the bristles to contact well, which can't be good for the sheet metal. The stripping disk I've been using is made by Norton, pictured on the right.

Regular flat shaped wire wheels also work very well on paint, and are particularly effective on surface rust. The stripping disc doesn't really remove rust as well, but it will some. Here's the remnant of the one that came with my grinder:

I'm glad I kept it because it came in handy today. Since it's so small, I'm able to get it into creases that nothing else would touch. They look like this when new:

I haven't been able to find a new one that has a center hole big enough to fit my grinder. There are ones that will fit a drill, which will work in a pinch, but drills just don't have the RPMs to be very effective. At least mine doesn't. Plus the battery runs out in about 5 minutes!

Well, I think I've more or less covered it. Hope this helps someone out there!

Pressing Forward

The saga continues. Slowly but surely. At this point I've got 3/4 of the car in the first coat of primer. That is, a coat of the first primer. If I haven't said before, I'm doing a coat of self-etching primer that is meant to counteract any surface rust before going on to the application of regular high-build urethane primer that can be sanded. This is necessary because I'm not in a position to IMMEDIATELY apply primer after stripping the paint. And since rust begins to form within minutes, it's necessary for me to apply the self-etching primer first.

ANYWAY, I only have the fenders and hood to strip paint off of. Sorry, that is, I only have the fenders and hood from which to strip paint. Better. At that point, I'll have the whole car in s.e. primer. I still need to finish the floor pan by giving it a final coat of black POR-15. I also need to do some final, small applications of body filler in the trunk, and it should be ready to paint. Going to do a semi-gloss black inside. Then I think I'll have to buy my paint (I'm thinking big...thinking Glasurit. But we'll see. It's pricey.) The reason I need to get the paint now is so that I can paint around the rim of the trunk before putting the seal in place. I can't wait to get that on there so I can seal the trunk to protect it from water. But also because the trunk lid bangs every time I hit a bump in the thing.

Ugh, that reminds me: since I used the trunk lid from a '72 200D, I need to fill the existing holes where the model decal mounts, as well as the chrome handle because they're in the wrong places. Obviously, I have a "240D" badge and not a "220 DIESEL" badge. Then the handle is much longer on the 240D than it was on the 220D. One final note about the lid: I put a coat of black POR-15 over the area that contacts the hinges. That's an obvious place for paint to get scratched (metal on metal) which would then be a feast for water. So the rock hard finish of POR-15 should take care of that nicely. I'm also going to do that along the rain gutters on either side of the roof. Since the aluminum trim clamps right over the lip, it's more opportunity for metal-on-metal scratching. Can't have rust forming there.

Body work hasn't been the only thing I've done. I also just put on new brake discs and pads all around. Mmmm...it stops quite nicely now. (I mean, not as nicely as my 420SEL used to, but then again, no car I've ever driven has had brakes like that.)

I will get some pictures up in the next few days...ideally after it's all in primer. 'Til then.