Strip to bare metal or not

[7D2N]

Hey guys heading in the direction of body/paint on my Blazer. The blazer has been painted twice and the old paint jobs seem good from what I can tell from some sandblasting and panel replacement. Should I take it to bare metal or scuff good and paint again?

thanks 7D2N

[Foot Stomper]

Scuff and paint.
Tightly adhered coatings need not to be removed!
Loose coatings, rusty bits etc... need more attention.
Lots will say take to bare metal but they aren't the ones paying for it nor are they responsible to any rust that may start on the bare metal...

[Accelo]

I have worked closely with my painters for years. They will not do a paint job, on a classic, that has had a repaint. It has to come off. If it flakes or peals or chips easy it's always the painters fault! The materials cost is so high it's just best practice to take it all off. The policy is partly to protect their reputation. Almost 90% of the time there is a bad repair under the paint that needs to be repaired correctly. When complaining to buddies the owner invariably forgets to mention the paint was over the top of old paint. The chances of it blowing up by reacting to the old paint is also gone if its on bare metal. If it blows up who pays the $2K in materials. I was at the shop today, and an gallon of hardener went up in price $100 from the last order. Just finding a painter that will do a complete is difficult and one that will go over old paint can't be found in my area.
The paint will look better and last much longer when applied to clean metal.
Cheers.

[LS short box]

On all my hot rod projects I took them down to bare metal. The painter/body shop I used would not consider anything else. To keep the project moving I would strip panels one at a time and the take them to the body shop and they would epoxy prime them. Then I would take them home and store them in my cold storage shed out of the weather.

[7D2N]

Thanks for the replies. I know that paint and body is fairly expensive and not many shops will even entertain stuff like this. I'm exploring options and plan to try it myself. I can make a lot of mistakes and do over's from the price quotes I have got.

Thanks Again.

[LS short box]

I'm not a body/paint body expert but I play one for 8 hours per week. LOL. Two four hour days per week helping out a local body shop. It's all my back can take. My doc said I need to lose a few pounds so I thought I might as well make some car parts money.
The body shop has a couple of resto projects that I've been doing the block sanding. Good for the shoulder muscles. It's hard dusty work but kind of cool seeing panels go from wavy to really straight.
It's the same shop that let me do all body work on my 68 C10 with their supervision. Prior to that I never did any body work. Saved me a ton of money. Maybe that's an option for you?
As said above material costs have gone thru the roof.

[kev2809]

^^ one of the reasons ill probably try to do mine myself, and why i went with flat black paint. good quality paint jobs are ridiculous right now, and i think even more for these old trucks. at least a flat color is a little more forgiving

[LS short box]

Pic of my 67 Nova with a flat black single stage paint. Didn't do any body work. Never had to wax it. Just soap and water or Windex.

[Richard]

I work for a paint and body part time myself. The one that did paint on my truck. No expert myself, IME see the 40 year owner of shop just wet sands and applies sealer to existing pant if it is not lifting or cracking. You could be opening yourself up to a lot of surprises and extra work (cost) by stripping to bare metal. An older Ford van in the shop now would be in the crusher if we stripped it. The owner would not pay to make the existing metal straight under old repairs.
Noting another post, flat finishes can be hard to apply even. A while back we redid a flat paint job on a 63 vette that had what appeared to be tiger stripes.

[MP&C]

One of the tell-tale signs of pits/rust coming through from the back side of vintage sheetmetal is a dark grey circle as compared to the rest of the metal surrounding it. Here's a sample of rust coming through from the inside, some are far enough along for holes..




Your paint materials and application labor are going to be the largest expense in these repairs, it would be a damn shame to scuff and paint only to have pits come through within a year or two. Fix the rust while it's cheap, ie: before the paint goes on. Without stripping to bare metal you will miss the opportunity to better see where the rust is going to come through before it happens.

[LS short box]

Not a great pic of the Nova sunlight wise. In full sunlight it looked pretty even. The body shop that sprayed the flat black paint was shocked on how mottled the paint was when they sprayed it. It smoothed out as it dried. I wasn't looking for perfect. At the time I didn't have the time to strip the car. It had a really bad base coat/clear paint job and a totally hacked LS swap. But totally rust free. Better pic of the Nova. Pic of a totally hacked LS swap.

[theastronaut]

The only paint job that I've ever done over old paint was on my own car, and it has had problems with what seems to be the underlaying paint absorbing solvent from the primer I used, causing the old paint to slightly swell, then slowly outgassing and shrinking after it was painted. So now there is texture coming back through the new paint. Take the extra time to strip it and do it correctly.

[72c20customcamper]

You have two repaints with unknown quality and or even the type of paint that was used . I would strip it to metal . You would be shocked at what some painters did in the 70s and 80s . I’ve seen guys spray shallac over enamel to paint with lacquer and then dry spraying to keep the checking down to a minimum. Way too many variables to spend the money on paint to have it fail in a few years.

[7D2N]

I have been preparing areas to start bodywork. The 2 paint jobs seem to be done correctly. Here is my plan. (yes way more sanding.)
1. Rattle can expoxy on repaired and sanded metal.
2. Body filler.
3. Primer coat on those areas?
4. Value your opinions

What filler should I use?

[Willowrun]

What type of result are you looking for in the finished product? More driver or more show? Are you sticking with white for the color?

[bad6772]

I would always 100% of the time strip to bare metal and build the foundation. Especially in this situation. How old are the prior paint jobs? What products was used? was it laquer ? enamel? urethane? IF you cant answer any of these in confidence, then strip to bare metal and epoxy. Why would you put your hard work, time and materials on something you are uncertain of? Thinking that the last person didnt fill rust holes with mud or pile mud on small dents that can be metal worked out is insanity to me. I would never put my work on someone elses paint job or body work ..

[7D2N]

Thanks guys, No show truck just a nice driver. I'm going to stay with the white and plan to paint it myself so no one to blame if I have problems.

[LS short box]

Again my.02.
Looking at the current pics I would pull the fenders and doors and go down to bare metal.
Then using a dolly and hammer or dent puller get them close. Then a couple coats of filler sanded down to nothing. Then a coat of spray poly sanded down to nothing. Then two rounds of 2K sand able primer. I've good luck taking parts to to local body shop and having them spraying them with primer as needed.
Then bolt them back up and see what the look like compared to the quarters. Then work the quarters to match the doors. Or you could do just opposite and do the quarters first.

[7D2N]

LS, I think the sand-to-metal sounds like the best way to go but didn't want to go that far. The blazer has its original paint and a repaint. I have had the panels off a bunch of times and I think the body lines up well.
Thank you

[Richard]

IMO do not see a problem. If original paint is not lifting there is no reason to strip. One thing the painter I work for (my friend) has done for his entire career painting over 40 years is to apply a non sanding sealer like thinned DP50 just before paint application. Wet sand primer or existing paint down to 500 or lower, apply sealer, allow to tack up then apply the color. He does this on every paint job. Bare metal job or over existing paint, single stage, two stage or three stage paint. Costs more but it is extra insurance for top coat to stick and anything under it to stay there.

[7D2N]

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to take it apart to paint the inside of the doors and fenders. I have some bare metal areas I'm going to spray can epoxy on to seal. I painted the dash area with the 521 white I had the paint shop mixed and put in a spray can.
Thanks again, guys.

[7D2N]

Sanded the repair areas and got some epoxy primer on, body filler soon.

[7D2N]

Few more:

[ghackett1]

Per post title I did strip mine AND painted it Hot Rod Satin black.
If it has one coat of solid paint and there is no body work on the piece I will clean well, scuff, prime and paint. If not I will strip, epoxy prime, primer surface, base coat, clear coat or single stage.

[7D2N]

ghackett1. I did mechanical sanding to the areas that needed work, did you sand or use a chemical product?