Paint Stripper

Hi Graham, one of the fastest, cheapest, but don't know about its "green value" is good old fashioned brake fluid. I've used it on cars and also on stubbon signs on our local bakery window with truely amazing results.

Paint on, make a cup of coffee, come back and wash off with water (kaga pressure device helps). Thickness of paint wil determine time you have to drink coffee, but I'm not aware of too much time causing problem.

Only note I would make is that this system can get you back to bare metal and once this is done it needs primer asap or else you'll get localised oxidation aka surface rust.

Cheers

Phillip

I have spent 4 long days at mine so far i think and have one side and the back fully stripped, and have done about half of the other side and the front. I'm also on my 5th or 6th tin of nitromors too.. (and have swept up 3 bin bags of paint scrapings)

I have found that the best approach is to do it on a cool day (or move it round to work on the shady side) - so that the nitromors doesnt dry too quickly, then just keep doing one coat at a time. scrape off with a sharp bladed scraper and then repeat...

Work complete 'sections' at a time to make it feel more like you are doing something. After about 5 layers you can suddenyl start seeing bare metal in spots and it feels like you are getting somewhere.

Just stick at it, and know that you are not the only person doing it! ;) I have 8 layers on mine :(

PS - are you over in the east somewhere?. My parents went on holiday last week and said they saw someone out in the garden nitromorsing a sand coloured 101 ambi. I was going to go past next week as i'm going that way and heckle them ;)

Ah yes. You need to go and borrow a "Leesmum". These can be hard to find, however...

Painful literally... It's odd how some bits of skin seem immune to nitromors and others leave you writhing in agony. Had any between your toes yet? TIP - don't use Nitromors with sandals on...

I used 7 litres to strip mine. It took about a fortnight (no, really). In the end it was worth it, if only for the weight saving :-). I believe you about it being 1/4 inch thick... Buy the biggest tins you can find - it's much much cheaper (all relative though). I spent over £100 on nitromors to do the job.

Don't do it on a hot and / or windy day - it dries before it works. Some of the paint comes off easy, some seems much more reluctant. The black in the bottom coat was worst. Rub in the nitromors with a wire brush (gently) to get it under the loose stuff and into the stubborn areas.

First pass might be worth a go with a pressure washer to get the top layer off. Depends what state the paint is in.

By the time I'd stripped mine I was too pissed off with it to do a decent job of the repaint. Still, the prep is good so another top coat would cheer it up no end.

HTH

Hi Graham,

We have used a hot airgun on ours, with a razor sharp paint scraper, and I really mean RAZOR sharp. It took a leisurely afternoon to strip one complete side of an ambi. You heat up the paint enough to reach the base coat, and slip the razor onto the skin, then in one pass, you just chase the strip along the panel.

We also tried Eco-strip - a paintstripper you can eat, just about. Paint it on, cover with clingfilm and leave for days if you like, it eats through multiple layers of paint eventually. Not as cheap as Nitromors, but its much friendlier to you and the environment, and you end up using a hell of a lot less.

Steve

I tried a hot air gun on mine and found that to get the paint soft enough to scrape off i had to get the panel so warm that it popped out of shape. (and it didnt go back). Tried it on my most knackered door.

I reckon my electricity bill would rival the nitromors costs too ;)

take a lot of clingfilm for an ambi!. Though a big roll of pallet wrap would probably do it... would this work with nitromors too? or would that melt the wrap? I have a roll of pallet wrap in the back of the

Too much, get under the edge and you don't need anything LIKE that amount of heat.

Seriously, the ambi side would have cost less than a quid.

Dunno, my gut feeling is no.

I used a flap disc in an angle grinder to get the 10 layers off my 101, bit brutal but very fast, have to be careful not to gouge the metal. Takes the bolt and rivet heads off and I replaced with new as I went along. Dismantled the dropsides and took as many fittings off as possible to get into all the corners, using detail sanders and a heat gun as well. Replaced the door skins as its not worth stripping them. Started off with nitromors but gave up as it was way too slow. Pressure washer was pretty good at removing large amounts of loose paint though.

Sean

You are cross scoring before you apply the nitromoors aren't you? You need to give the stuff a key on multiple layers of paint.

My experience is you need to use a mix of techniques. A hot air gun can help get the thickness down, before you use a chemical stripper. Some places on my Lightweight, the cammo paint seperated from the factory paint fairly easily, big flakes just from a scraper blade.

Hmm, interesting idea, always takes it off when I don't want it to! Will give it a try.

Graham

I can sympathise, much the same here too!

Shade is not a problem, have got it in a barn. As for the rest am employing that method, just hoped there might have been a les tedious one!!

That is of some consolation I suppose. Was hoping to have it finished for Peterborough, which isn't looking likely now. What with harvest an all...

I'd say there is a minimum of 8 on mine!

Nope, in the midlands, and its a Radio body. Don't need the heckling anyway, father, brother friends etc are doing enough of that for everyone :o)

Graham

I've been using an "othahalf" which is reasonably efficient, but in prolonged use it seems to develop an annoying whining noise :o)

Graham

Its particularly nice when it gets in cuts I discovered :o(

up to 2 litres and less than a quarter of one side so far :o(

Not a problem, its in a shed. The black is a nightmare!! I counted approx

Done that, it shifted between one and all the layers in places.

Suspect that might be the case with this yet, however, I figured that the couple of coats I put on will be a lot easier to fetch off at a later date if I need to.

Graham

Had a very similar result. Didn't go out of shape, but I was concerned about the paint on the inside, I really don't want to fetch that off too!

Graham

Was trying that, did't seem to get anywhere fast. We both had a go and came to the conclusion that the result was very similar with the nitromors as with the heat, so we stuck with the chemical, basically cos I was worried about loosening the already dodgy paint on the inside.

Graham

er, no, can see the reasoning, but the last thing I would want is to score the aluminium, would rather go at it slowly. Will try just lightly scoring it, if it helps with the top layers then it would be worth it.

Graham

A conclusion am fast reaching. Trouble is, the paint is only part of the story, the list is a mile long of the things I need to get done before I can head to a show with it. Fast looking like I will just run out of time for this season :o(

Graham

Its possible, we do rent shed space out for caravans and so on.

DOH!

LOL

:o)