Factory Hard Top Cleanup

[Tullamore]

I want to clean up the factory hard top for my Midget, it is red plastic that had been painted black. Anyone know what I should use to remove the old black paint without hurting the plastic?

 

[tony barnhill]

I'm gonna assume its a factory hardtop? If so, its like an MGB factory hardtop, its fiberglass.....we sand all mine till we find the original color & then do any fiberglass work but I'm sure somebody has used some type chemical stripper.

For what year Midget is the hardtop?

 

[Tullamore]

The hardtop is for the Mark II Midget / Mark III Sprite. I believe that is the only ones that it would work on.

It should be the factory top, it looks just like the one in the book Original Sprite and Midget. It has a nice glass rear window.

 

[JPSmit]

I have heard that the problem with using stripper on fibreglas is that it goes into the 'glas and keeps working. On the other hand I've seen car shows where they use stripper on Corvettes - I'd at least check it out

 

[Lukeee]

Last summer I spent WEEKS working solidly on a fibreglass racecar body, I used paint stripper to get the 7 layers of thick paint off.

If you do choose to use paint stripper be careful not to leave it on for a long amount of time, it will eventually eat into the gel coat, and fray the fibreglass.

If that happens dont panic, the original fibreglass can be saved using a few layers of resin and some woven fibreglass.

Take time and make sure you apply as many layers of resin, bondo, filler, and primer that you can before paint!

good luck, and wear a mask!