so correct me if im wrong:
1. strip paint (only strip what i can primer)
2. spray on acid etch primer
3. sandable primer
4. sand the puppy nice and smooth
5. very thin layer of body filler to fill in all the small dings
6. sand it again to leave it nice and smooth
7. and last but not least primer it again?

 

Ok I'm going to disagree. If you are working in a garage you can strip the whole car and leave it bare metal before you prime it. I have left whole cars bare for months. Make sure you sand it well with a da sander before you prime. Get your materials from your local body shop supply store. Those guys are usually good about giving advice if you have questions. Use aircraft striper to strip the paint. Only strip one or two pannels at a time other wise you have a real mess. Tape your gaps with masking tape so you don't get stripper in the cracks. It really depends how many layers of paint are on the car as to how long it will talke to strip. You must neutrallize the stipper when you are done with the panel. Use a scotch brite pad and warm water to scrub the panel when you are done stripping for the day. Don't let the water sit on the panel. Dry it with a towel or blow it with compressed air. Once you get the whole car stripped you can determine how much body work is needed. It will be more than you think. I like to use epoxy primer (PPG DP40)on the bare metal. It gives very good adheasion. You can also do light body work over the epoxy but for anything heavy you will need to grind it. Block sand all of your body work with 80 before you prime and use a primer filler over you body work. I like PPG K200. Wet block it with 220. One more coat of primer and block it again with 320 or 400. You should be done at that point and ready for sealer and paint. The car I'm doing now had 6 layers of paint on it. It took 3 gallons to strip it and I didn't have to strip the roof because I put vinyl on it. Don't strip outside the sun will dry out the stripper too fast. Let the stripper work for at least 30min before scaping. You can use a putty knife to scrape but don't gouge the metal. A bondo spreader works better.

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ok lets try this again...correct me if im wrong:
1. Get materials from local body shop supply store
2. Tape gaps with masking tape (so stripper dont get in cracks)
3. Use aircraft stripper to strip paint (only strip what i can finish)
4. Depending on how many layers of paint is the amount of time its gonna take to strip it down
5. neutralize stripper when your done with panel
6. Use a scotch brite pad and warm water to scrub the panel when you are done stripping
7. Dry it with a towel or blow it with compressed air
8. Once you get the whole car stripped you can determine how much body work is needed (usually it will be more than you think)
9. use epoxy primer (PPG DP40)on the bare metal (gives very good adheasion)
10. After this i got lost when 67t5ponycoupe says, "You can so light body work over the epoxy but for anything heavy you will need to grind it"
Grind what?
the surface?
and then do i block sand it at 80?
right after do i use primer body filler (PPG K200) over?
Wet block it with 220?
One more coat of primer and block it again with 320 or 400?
once im done with this, am i all done with body work?

Sorry for me being such a noob[]...i just want to do it right the first time and not ruin it...
THANKYOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP

 

There are a lot ways to do this but to be more specific, it was supposed to say You can also do light body work over the DP40. Small dings and stuff.

Once you get the whole car to bare metal you will want to get the DP40 on there and that will keep the car from rusting. You can't do major body work over DP40. You will need to do your metal work (hammer and dolley and/or welding in patches) then grind those areas before applying bondo. Use 36 to get the bondo straight then block with 80 before priming. Once the priner is dry you can wet block with 220 and reprime it. Once that is dry bock with 320 or 400 wet. your choice depending on how straight it is. Then you are done. It is more work than it sounds like.

I hope that is clearer.

 

gotcha thanks!

 

If you live in Arizona you might get away with leaving it bare metal for extended periods.Garage or not. If you live in most other states, you'd better shoot it with self etching primer. Unless of course you enjoy doing the same work over and over again.

 

I used a paint removing wheel from Autozone to strip the engine compartment and fenderwells - this thing works pretty good and doesn't seem to dig or leave trails. It took me about 4 hours to do the engine compartment and about 4 hours to do the fenderwells - this left a small trail where I couldn't get the wheel in and i will use a sandblaster to get into the "cracks and crevices" - I have sandblasted before and I would estimate that I am going to have an additional 4-5 hours at most and it will be smooth as a baby's bottom. I asked a guy at the local autobody supply store and he said to get a 8" grinder with a pad and sandpaper and go to town (of course after you have gotten the wax, etc. off the paint). I was going to do the stripper but he suggested going with the wheel and use a sand/media blaster to get the places we couldn't get to. The ultimately unfriendly environmental deal is to go stripper with a pressure washer - I new a guy back in the 80's when I was in college that took put stripper on his car and took it to the carwash and it blew all the paint off big time (but so bad and probably illegal now).

I just shot spray can primer to cover the metal and will take this off when I prime - thinking about using McMaster epoxy coating primer/paint when I put the final coat on the engine/fenderwells (industrial stuff a friend of mine uses at his pharma company for the lab - stuff sticks to metal and when compared to other metal parts they have powder coated it seems to be even stronger). Feeling Dupont or PPG for the body paint

 

BODYPUDDYLESS who makes the paint on your car or color code?? Thanks, David

 

im gonna bet his aint code is 4f its called medium lime green metallic itsa factory for color