Advice on removing trim and striping paint?

[Guest pistonpackingmama]

I bought a '48 Dodge last year and would like to start striping the paint off. I am new to the world of car restoration so any suggestions you can give would help. What is the best way to remove the trim without damaging it? What tools do I need? Can an air compressor be used to aid in striping or do I have to worry about it being too abrasive? Where should I start the striping process? Should everything that will come off (doors etc.) be taken off first or should I work on the body?

I am sure there are other good questions I don't know to ask, so please feel free to post your advice.

thanks!!!

[greg g]

I removed the paint from most of my business coupe as part of the refinishing process. I was lucky enough not to have broken a bolt or more than a couple trim fasteners. Trim is held on by several different style fasteners. Some is bolt and nut like on the hood sides and on the side trim on the trunk. where the clips go int blind holes, they are spring type which snap into place. You the piece on the cowl is retained by nut accessed up over the kick panel and under the dash. Those that are the pushin type usually relase the trim by gently pushing down on the trip piece and prying gently uotward at the bottom. The rocker panel trim is removed the same way. there are nutted clips on the front and rear ends of the piece. Once the trim is off, the clips can be removed. Thec clips are "H" shaped with the fastener on the bar of the "H". Take note of the position of the clips, as the legs are longer on one end, and need to be reinstalled the same way.

I removed the paint with a product called BIX from Home Despot. This is a spray on chemical, that comes with a spray bottle. Sprayed it on let it set then, pressured the goo off. There is a product available from Body Shop supply stores called Airplan or aircraft Paint remover. This us a brush on that needs agitation. I then used a scuff pad and then pickled the bare metal with phosporic acid, rinsed and dried with compressed air. Good luck with your project.

[Uncle-Pekka]

To start with it may be appropriate to introduce myself: I am a chap from Finland having bought a 1948 Dodge D24 4D Custom from a gentleman in Chicago. The car is currently being shipped to Finland and I am most anxious to get to see it for the first time and to lay my hands on it. the car is told to be in fair driving condition, but poor paint job, thus I am planning to drive it in summer coming and overhaul part by part instead of taking it "on a dock" for complete restoration.

(I might like to add, that 1940...48 american cars are very rare in Finland due to the war and lack of currency after the war. The currency was regulated after the war until early fifties. The idea was to use all available currency to buy necessities like raw material for domestic industries instead of commodatives which were possible to be replaced by domestic goods or even to live without. In the 30's american cars formed the backbone of finnish "fleet" in numbers and durability, after the recovery from the war they again gained popularity in fifties, but in sixties become more like luxury cars when small cars from western Europe and Japan begun to take over. However, american cars have been the most popular objects of the car hobbies in Finland ever after. In a land of relatively long distances, compared to middle europe, we do appreciate reliability and comfort, not to forget the glamorous design. On this background I am thrilled to import a piece of automotive culture, which originally was not available here.)

Well, then the "cultural question". I've wondered, having read US car magazines for several years, the custom you seem to have to remove all of the original paint when restoring or rebuilding a car. Even in a case, when the most of the body is in good condition, rust only in wheel wells and door & trunk sills, the entire body is stripped to bare metal? According to my experience it takes tremendous amount of work and five to ten coats of paint to reach a quality finish starting from bare sanded surface. Compare to a case where only problem areas are cured by rust removal, preventive coat etc... The factory paint and even the layers on top of it are in most cases smooth and even base for primer and new top coat, reaching the same finish by merely a couple of coats. Especially today, when newer and newer cars are restored I doubt one will gain anything by stripping the multilayer coatings applied by the factory and replacing it with new paint system. What I mean is that exposing the bare sheet metal ever does no good. Micro rust hits sand blasted surface in seconds, also sanded surfaces. After chemical paint removal surface may be less reactive, but bare metal still needs several coats to even up the imperfections. My leading philosophy is not to mend what's not broken and that applies to paint coat as well. The areas that remains in good condition can as well be left as they are: sand them with grade 600 wet paper and spray a prime coat over the mended and original areas. A couple of top coats is enough to create better than factory standard finish. Or have I missed something essential?

Yours,

Pekka Virkkala aka "enfinneigen" (that's swedish for "another finn again")