Save a new guy, or total chassis repaint

[ToughBug]

Hi. Tom here. My boys and I are restoring a '73 super, and based on rust decided just to take the whole thing apart and do it right. I'm ok with mechanicals but have never done auto body work.

I could use a little advice to get going in the right direction.

I've read all the posts I could find here.

Body off. Need to replace read passenger pan section and want to take all the rust off the body and repaint to protect it.

First question. Pans had what looks like POR15 on them and in the centers some hard foam layers sealed on with...well, looks like asphalt. Under these there is almost NO rust. Amazing. We peeled these off. Getting the POR or whatever it is off with a wire wheel and grinder is tough in corners. Especially since body was sealed with some sort of liquid gasket along the rails that gums things up. Would PORSTRIP be ok to get this off? for general chassis areas to take off paint?

Second question. I'm learning and know the POR product line, though I've read here the pros and cons of others. Please bare with me as I use these product terms for now. This is my plan: (1) degreaser, (2) then metal strip to prep surface, then (3) POR15 pretty much the whole thing. All with a brush or the plastic sprayer - whatever is recommended.
Am I getting this wrong? this stuff is fairly expensive and I want to get it right.

Thanks. I'm learning and the boys have limited patience for "dad's staring at the car again".

Here's where I was in the process last week before getting the grinder out:

[scottmc]

Strip it all! !!!!! I just did the rustoleum paint job and now regretting not having confidence in my ability. Strip out all you can and por 15 the whole thing. Then you can stand back and say wow that's a nice looking pan. Deal with it little by little. Don't rush any of it. After all why would you want to do all this twice.

[scottmc]

Those asphalt pads are factory and the pathetic attempt at sound deadening. After all it was the economy car of its time . The more you strip it the happier you will be with the end result.

[abritinthebay]

STRIP IT. Strip off everything. Then dunk it in phosphoric acid and rinse it all. THEN use MasterSeries Silver (two coats) to rust protect (screw POR15, it's alright but it's not as good and more of a pain in the ass).

[eyetzr]

Get a heat gun and remove the tar boards. Use a grinder with a wire wheel and remove as much of the rust as possible. As you finish a spot for the day coat all bare metal with what ever product you like to use. You will have as many choices as people, you should try to be comfortable with the products you have. Great to hear a family project. Keep up the posts &pictures

[Mike Fisher]

MasterSeries also makes a gloss black to go on top of the silver if you want black. I've also heard of using dry ice to freeze the tar & tar boards to chip them off frozen.
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[eyetzr]

Dry ice, not just for Halloween. I never would have thought that.

[ToughBug]

Got the tar boards off and things set up to paint. Except for the liquid gasket goo the the PO used - nothing gets that stuff off.

Thanks everyone. It's been slow going. And I'm trying to keep my helpers motivated. Posted a few questions in the 68-super thread about paint that probably should have been here. We're learning....

I'll post some photos soon.

Tom

[skills@eurocarsplus]

honestly, I think hand stripping something like that is a waste. get it sand blasted, epoxy it, paint it and move on.

in the 15,20,30 plus hours you'll have in it, you could literally have it done in an afternoon.
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[eyetzr]

the issue with just hauling it off to the sandblaster is they will probably ask to remove the tar boards & other stuff before they blast. My blaster here at work will blast pretty much anything clean, more time he spends, more money you spend.
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I think he meant "rare", as in "not well-done"

[supersuk]

I used a heat gun and scraper to remove all the tar boards and glue from my pan. It was pretty quick to remove everything to show the bare pan. I estimate about 10 hours total for everything. It would be a good weekend project. Save the money and do it yourself. After I did that, discovered the pan needed to be cut out and replaced. Once I replaced the pan, I sent the pan to be blasted and powdercoated for about $400.
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68 Fastback Build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5396323#5396323

[oldmanmark]

Lots opinions on Samba. Do strip it to metal any way that works for you. Do searches for Masterseries Silver. Lots will come up . Great stuff. Sold by Chuck a real VW guy who answers your ?'s. Has an ad in classifieds. One time the post office damaged and shelved my paint order. Time passed and emailed i Chuck hadn't received paint. He shipped replacement no ?'s ask and THEN found out post office smashed the cans and was hiding the paint.
Strip,clean,phosphoric acid,master series,master series topcoat.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

spend your time or spend your money...don't spend both
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[67 Sunroof]

Skills-very good advice!!!
We sandblasted the pan top and bottom. Used the por15 degreaser, acid etcher, and finally por15...
Tickled to death with the stuff. I might paint the whole damn car with it!!!!
Jk!
I like how it self levels and shows no brush strokes. Amazing and hard as hell.