Fuel Tank Pinhole- Best Fix? Sealers?

[Exotexs]

sounds great, where exactly do you get it?

right now I'm trying to refinish a sunroof panel, and I tried power-sanding the paint and primer off, no luck; I used paint stripper (yes, outside with plenty of ventilation) which melted the old paint coat nicely but did not affect the primer coat at all. Tried again to power-sand the primer coat, it's coming off but very slowly. Then I started getting dizzy I think from the paint stripper fumes, so the whole project came to a halt, I got sick! No more stripper for me thank you, (except the female kind).

 

[TRMark]

Soda blasting is a commercial venture like large scale sand blasting. I am not sure if there are home size systems available. There should be some shops around that to it. It is safer than sand, no silica in the lungs and it will not warp panels. If you need just a small panel cleaned, schedule it in when they are doing larger jobs. It is not as effective on removing deep rust as sand. The Lancia I referred to had very bad paint with surface rust showing through, the soda blast cleaned it up very nicely, bare metal. It will blast out old bondo if you want it removed, let the operator know.

 

[Keoke]

Hi Exotex, Your symptoms were directly related to the paint stripper. Susceptibility varies among people. However, the principal ingredient in liquid paint strippers is Methylene Chloride which is a hazardous material requiring special masks and filters. Further, you have to be medically cleared to wear these filered masks.---Fwiw--Keoke

OH! be careful of them other strippers too they can also be hazardous- /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

[JamesWilson]

I've found that really hard to remove paint will generally succumb to THIS and if its really rsistant then I can use THESE. They're good if the surface is steel or iron, but don't use them of plastic or fiberglass and be careful if its aluminum.

Keep any body parts out of the way too. Don't ask me how I know this....

 

[Exotexs]

Hi Exotex, Your symptoms were directly related to the paint stripper. Susceptibility varies among people. However, the principal ingredient in liquid paint strippers is Methylene Chloride which is a hazardous material requiring special masks and filters. Further, you have to be medically cleared to wear these filered masks.---Fwiw--Keoke

OH! be careful of them other strippers too they can also be hazardous- /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

Keoke: haaaaa! yesssss, I will! But seriously, my symptoms lasted at least two days, first time I use paint stripper, and the last time. I threw away the remaining stuff.

 

[Exotexs]

I've found that really hard to remove paint will generally succumb to THIS and if its really rsistant then I can use THESE. They're good if the surface is steel or iron, but don't use them of plastic or fiberglass and be careful if its aluminum.

Keep any body parts out of the way too. Don't ask me how I know this....

JW: I like the first pair of THIS, they seem gentle enough, what are they called and where can I get them? the second set of THESE would be too harsh, I have one of them, very rough for what I'm doing. Fortunately the sunroof panel is British Steel, not aluminum. I've gotten the factory primer mostly removed using Fine sandpaper and a power sander because I just don't want to make any mistakes which I might regret, so I'm going slow, but I'm getting tired of sanding, I want a faster result! (don't we all!). Please remember this: I'm handy with tools and repairs, but I'm not a paint and body repair expert, I'm doing this myself as a temporary repair until I decide to repaint the whole car (1984 XJ-6), and that's going to be a while. the rest of the paint is good enough.

the sunroof panel's paint started to "check" all the way down to the primer, very weird.

 

[GregW]

I like these disks for my angle grinder. They come in fine and very fine. I get ‘em at a welding supply store, but you can probably find them online.

 

[Exotexs]

Greg, thanks for the tip!!!

 

[Exotexs]

soda blaster: coca cola?

Soda blasting is like sand blasting. Instead of sand it uses baking soda to remove paint. Much more enviro friendly. Does not damage chrome, rubber or glass. I have had two cars blasted, a Lancia HPE and an aluminum bodied race car. Works great. All you have to do is wash the residual soda off.

TRMark: I found a very negative article about soda blasting, from military mechanics who work on aircraft; they say that the soda doesn't really come off, it stays on the surface 'invisibly' and then the paint does not stick, peeling off.
One mechanic said that they had received a "Directive" to use soda blasting only, and later they had to reverse the directive because of the above problems.

 

[TRMark]

I soda blasted my Lancia Beta before I did body work and painting in my garage two years ago. No problems yet, I will keep an eye on it. With the price of paint I don't need it peeling off. I did wash off <u>all</u> surfaces very carefully after blasting, the soda was everywhere, the air pressure from the spray paint gun will stir up the residue; the same reason as you wet down the shop floor before painting. The down side of that is the bare steel quickly acquires a characteristic orange color, almost over night. I am retreiving a 39 Ford from a shed on the farm this summer, the first place it is going after diassembly is to the soda blaster. I have sanded, chemically stripped in the past, don't like it much.

 

[TRMark]

oops, don't mean to beat this one to death. I forgot to mention that I wiped the car with preps all before priming. It removes oils and grit from sanding and of course soda. Just don't want to give anybody bad info.

 

[JamesWilson]

JW: I like the first pair of THIS, they seem gentle enough, what are they called and where can I get them?

They're made by 3M and sold as "Clean and Strip Disks". I'm sure others make them too. You should be able to get them in a good hardware store or by mail order.

I find they work really well, but avoid sharp corners or they'll chew themselves away on them. I too prefer them to the twisted wire ones, they're not so aggressive and easier to use in a drill rather than the angle grinder. FWIW I've also tried using the drill-type twisted wire ones and found they weren't as robust as those for the angle grinders. The wire ones are best if you've got rust to remove as well as paint.

 

[Exotexs]

I haven't found the disks yet, but I did find some 3M sanding blocks in 3 different grits. I got the FINE one and by golly it erased all imperfections without any effort. leaves the surface smooth like glass! cuts like h****! It's also washable and treated so it won't clog. Going to check Lowe's for the disks anyway. Yes, I need to remove some surface rust and paint.