The hardest part of the whole stripping process was fighting with the fricken spray bottle!! The first bottle I got with my initial gallon of POR-STRIP worked like a champ. A buddy was doing a little project at his home that required stripping some paint, so I gave him the last bit of my first gallon and the sprayer. I had already ordered a second gallon, so I called my local POR-15 rep and had him to bring me another sprayer when he delivered my order. The sprayer worked as it should at first but then it started acting up and not wanting to spray. I first thought the filter on the pick-up was getting clogged so I removed it. Worked for a while then it started acting up again, so I removed the spray assembly and cleaned it out and tried again. As before it worked for a while then petered out.
In frustration, I called the POR-15 rep and told him I was having problems with the sprayer and he said he would bring me another, so I called it a day before I really got mad and broke something. In about 5 hours, all I got done was the roof.
He delivered the new sprayer during the next week and so the following Saturday I started on the sail panel and rear quarter. Just like the previous week, the sprayer started off performing great. Actually got the sail panel stripped and was doing the second coat when the sprayer started acting up. So I cleaned it out and again it started working correctly... for a short time.
I told myself I wasn't going to fight it like I had done the week before, so I immediately called the rep and told him it was happening again. I asked him to call the factory and see if they had run into this problem before with the sprayers and he said he would. He called me back a bit later and said they were aware of the problem and what was happening was the POR-STRIP was basically eating the guts out of the sprayer and they didn't have a solution other than to brush it on!
He said he had another source that had industrial sprayers and he would get me one to try and see if it worked any better. He wanted to find a sprayer that would work with the stripper so he could really push the product at car shows and to restorers so I agreed to try it out for him. Again it would be later on in the week before he could get it to me, so I finished up the sail panel and played around with other things on the car for the remainder of the day.
The following Saturday, I began again with the new type sprayer. Started misting the quarter and adjusting the sprayer until I got the right pattern going. Once the ideal pattern was tuned in, I really went to town applying the stripper. Rather than shooting the entire panel at once, I started from the rear and worked my way to the door opening applying the stripper between the sculpt line to just above the wheel opening. once I had that area pretty well stripped, I proceeded to apply the POR-STRIP to the lower portions of the quarter. I finished the lower rear half of the panel then the lower front half. Once the quarter was finished I stripped the door jamb area.
From the quarter, I went to the door and once the door was done I did the front fender. As I started the front fender, the sprayer began to spray erratically. I fought it long enough to get the first coat on the upper portion of the fender, then while the stripped was doing it's job, I cleaned the sprayer in preparation for the second coat. Once I had scraped the upper portion of the fender I applied the second coat to the top and went ahead and applied the first coat to the center portion of the fender. As I was finishing the center section the sprayer started spitting again, so I limped it along until I had the panel done.
I thought to myself that I was almost done and to just keep nursing it until it won't spray any more before giving up, so I cleaned it out once again. Again I scraped off the previous application and went right into the second coat/first coat on the balance of the fender. I kept pushing it until I had applied the stripper to the balance of the panel then I once again cleaned out the spray assembly.
When it was time, I removed the loosened paint and applied the final application of the POR-STRIP, all the while counting to ten as it spit and spattered the stripper onto the fender until finally I was done.
I wanted so badly to throw the bottle across the shop into the wall, but I knew the type of luck I have! I could just imagine the bottle hitting the wall and splitting open and showering several of the new or classic cars stored nearby with paint stripper and the hot water I would THEN be in!! But I just set the bottle down on the work bench and counted my blessings that I was done applying the stripper... for now anyways! Still need to strip the hood, header panel, headlight buckets, deck lid and the bumper sight shields, but those can wait until another day (and spray bottle!!).
Once I had gone over the fender with the scraper, I wiped down the entire passenger side of the car with a wet towel to remove any remaining stripper. I also discovered the ONLY rust on the entire body of my car. It's low on the passenger fender just ahead of the lower front corner of the door and just behind the rocker molding. Roughly the size of a playing card and my guess is from leaves collecting inside the fender and rusting it away from the back side.
With the stripper removed and the car wiped down, I then put a fresh Scotch-Brite wheel on my angle head grinder and lightly polished the newly exposed sheet metal to finish off any paint or body putty that might have been left behind. Speaking of bondo, the POR-STRIP will also remove it as well. Depending on how thickly it has been applied, the stripped will loosen it from the metal and it will scrape off just like the paint will, but you may have to apply several applications to remove any real heavy build up.
Next step is to take the car downstairs to the wash bay and wash her down with plenty of hot water and a good scrubbing with a Scoth-Brite pad to get all of the POR-STRIP removed from all the nooks and crannies of the body to insure good adheshion of the two-part epoxy primer I will be applying... or I should say having applied. Don't know just yet what my painting skills are. I have purchased a cheepie automotive paint sprayer as well as a touch-up gun, so I might give at least the primer a shot. I figure I couldn't mess up too badly applying the primer... after all it'll be sanded and reprimed many times until the body is straight.
That's all for now.......
ZEBRA 3 OUT!
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