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Engine bay coating and stripping advice..


MusPuppis

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I'm slowly stripping my engine bay to bare to metal. The paint was well atrophied and failing fast, so I didnt think it safe to just knock it down and paint over.. I also dont know paints ability to absorb oils and the like over time.. So, bare metal it is.

 

I've been using aircraft stripper (Cheaper stuff you can get from Advanced/Pep Boys/Whatever) then going back over it with scrapers, the wiping it off with a rag, then attacking it with a wire wheel. Its slow going but I'm almost done and *should* finish today.

 

Here are my questions:

 

1. On the firewall only, the fenders dont seem to have it, is a light grey coating on the metal itself. The stripper wont touch it. My wire wheel wont do much to it either. It takes a *alot* if pressure to get the wheel to bite through it. The coating is incredibly think but tough as nails. I tried to take a picture but my camera sucks and wont really pick it up. So.. What is this stuff and what will it hurt if I dont take it all off? Will an epoxy primer adhere to it? I'm taking a guess that its some kind of etching primer maybe? I'm gonna beat the hell out of it regardless. I did a search and found Racer X's engine bay stripping method. I'm just curious as to the how this coating will effect the paint job if I cant get it all off.

 

2. Any suggestions on getting in to those extremely hard to reach areas? Like under the battery tray, the corners around the front brace, etc? Some of it I can do by hand, but alot of it I cant. The battery tray is the part I'm most worried about. It has some rust on it thats damn close to being bad enough to start pitting the metal.

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Don't know the brand of stripper you are using but try Mar-Hyde Tal-Strip II Aircraft Coating Remover Spray. Jolane did a test on a bunch and this was good. I have used it many times when I painted my car and I found it's better than the gel.

 

On the battery tray area. I sand blasted mine with a harbor freight pressure blaster. I had alot of rust on and under mine. I then used Rust Mort on anything that looked even a little rusty.

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