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MG TD TF 1500 - Paint Striping Body Panels?

Having the body dipped would not concern me if it had no wood in it, but seeing how it does, what is the best method everyones found to strip the car body panels without damaging the wood? The wood in my car is in excellent shape. PJ
Paul Jennings

I used aircraft stripper from ACE Hardware store followed by acetone soaked 3M pads to get the primer off. Stripper had a hard time with the primer probably because it was epoxy based but the acetone turned it to a brown liquid? Then a heat gun & old rounded chisel to pop the bondo off. Took a few hours over a few days for the whole tub. Next step will be to get all the little nooks & crannies with glass beads using my pot blaster outdoors. But I'm waiting till closer to painting time to avoid any flash rust, although it doesn't appear to be a major problem where I live.

Archives are full of advice on this topic. Happy reading.
efh Haskell

Worst case scenario.
About thirty years ago I was called to look at a TD at another major shop that did not want to do the restoration.On inspection I found the the owner from new had his local preacher start the job. This guy had dismantled everything then had it acid dipped and followed by galvanizing everything. To top it off all the wood was still left in the body tub.
It became a challenge for me and I created a vat to neutralize all the galvanizing. In the end it turned out as new.The engine had been rebuilt with .040 pistons. It had been assembled dry and never turned over for over ten years. I had to rebore to .060 to clean the rust grooves where the rings had been setting.
On completion I delived it to the customer and his wife commenced crying. Apparently she had purchased this car in RABAT Morroco in 1951 and had driven it for about 15 years when the preacher dismantled it . It went through many attemps at restoration but was never completed . She honestly thought that she would never see her car again.
Sandy
SANDY SANDERS

Sandy,

Loved the story.

Paul, we used an air grinder with small 3M disks. Used the paint like a blocking coating tapping up and down the low and high spots as we went. Did it with the car disassembled. I would not hesitate to use a stripper as Ed did, being sure to use something that can fully rinse off.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Dave.
The saddest part of that story was that her husband had paid two different people ove $6000.00 and had nothing but galvanized parts to show for it. None of the rusty areas had been repaired,They had been stationed in Rabat during the SUEZ crisis.He was telling me how he was doing a low angle photo run on ships in the canal and his wife heard him. She said "You told me you were at 10,000' plus".He just grinned.
He purchased the car but was away when it was ready for pickup. She had to drive all over the place on the way home at night with the headlights pointed way up. That was apparently during one of his flying forays.
We meet the best sort of people all over the world that have MG's. It is a universal language.
Sandy
SANDY SANDERS

Sandy Sanders, could you please contact me at
beemers2up at yahoo dot com

Thanks -- John
John Brickell

Aircraft stripper does a great job. Fairly fast, and will not harm the wood.
Bruce Cunha

Aircraft stripper, acetone, 3M pads, and glass beads.
Best words of warrning I can give:
Keep a bucket of water and some wet rags near when working with airplane stripper. At some point you WILL get some on you, and you WILL know that you did so!
Second best warrning:
Fans....keep fans running 24/7 once you get it down to bare metal...it will really help keep the flash rust down.
David Sheward

This thread was discussed between 31/05/2010 and 01/06/2010

MG TD TF 1500 index

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