i'm in the process of striping my elky down, i bought a palm sander, because it was cheap, and its lot faster then sanding down by hand like i was, I'm pretty sure i could have spent more and bought some high speed do-da and would have worked 100 times better, but i'm broke and cheap, my ? is what grit should i be using? I found 60 grit gets the job done fast but for some reason i feel like its too much, any advise on what i should finish with, i plan on doing the cheap-o roller paint job, well thanks for any advise

What are you sanding down? Are you trying to get everything down to bare metal? Personally I don't think that is necessary if the existing paint is sound and no checked or deteriorating. The 60 grit is OK for sanding down to bare metal, but then you need to prime and after priming you need to go much finer such as finishing up with 320 or 400 grit.

I would not use 60 grit just for sanding for paint prep

Doug

i'm taking it down to bare metal, guy i got her from did a rattle can job and didn't even prep, or tape anything off, so theres over-spray on all the trim and glass, and some one did a crappy bondo job in a few spots, i finished the fender with the 60 grit looks good but i think i'll go over it with 320 before i start to paint, i've been working late so haven't had anytime during the week to work on her, so hopefully this weekend i can finish the rest

Since you are taking it down to bare metal you can even go courser, such as 36, 40 or 50 grit, you are going to need priming anyway.

In places where the sander can't reach, you might want to use a quality paint remover.

Doug

Don't know if you have heard this "duh" but I found that after you sand to bare metal, you will need to use a finer grit about 180 or 320 grit to get the swirl and scratch marks from the 60 grit off the metal. It help with cut down time on prepping the primer too...although its not like thats going to end soon.

Good luck

Just like dougs85 said you can use a coarser grit. 60 will work it'll just take longer. I went down to bare metal on my Elky as well. I tried many things until I found the best tool. I found the best things are either a drill bit sander attachment with sticker-like paper ( kinda makes it a cheap DA sander). OR I used a grinder attachment with 35 grit. You may not need to go as course as I did, but i had several spots that were a few inches thick of bondo.
Also as blackhellfire said you can sand out the swirls, but you have another option if you're worried about thinning out the metal any more. You can use a high build primer which is a thicker primer and fills in pin holes and swirls. But since you're on a strict budget I recommend putting in the work and sanding.

dont have cash for a da sander?.. do you have a power drill? go to your local ace hardware or place like that they make a pad that goes in to the chuck there and then buy the stick on pads work great and saves tons of time and its all EVEN! is there original paint under thespray paint? or just spray paint? if its just spray paint dont use 60 grit thats wayyyyy over kill..unless you have alot of rust..if its just getting to metal 80 and 100 grit works great and does not take materal out of the metal.. you dont wanna be having to work twice as hard getting scuffs and gouges out and using bondo to fix stuff that you cant get out from your previous sanding.

Eastwood makes a product, item # 31418, cleaning wheel kit, 3 disc and mandrel for $30. It fits on your drill motor or 4" grinder (best). You will need a couple of "kits" or about 6 disc to do an entire car. It will strip it to bare metal quickly and more easily than about any other method. When you get it stripped, it looks like it has been polished, very clean, very nice. Ready for epoxy primer. Does a great job. PACO

right on paco, i have used thoose discs too, work amazing too i did that on my 72 c10 it lookes like a delorean when i had all the paint off it was kinda cool lol!

Also used this disks, perfectly !!!

Since my car has 3 layers of paint, firts used a paint remover (make scrathes to the bare metal so the remover penetrates better) and the last original paint i removed with those disks and a grinder, al lot cheaper and faster than a sander.

Good luck with it!


Greetings from The Netherlands

Hello everyone,
I use this discs for paint removing. a combination of this 4 discs gives me the best results. They are all 4 the angle grinder.


http://picasaweb.google.de/aluwiesel/TheElkySite/photo#5175765720207903666

maybe someone have a better idea to remove the old original thermo-paint ??

i know now it dont work with the heat gun ;-)

Thank you and greatings from germany,
Jens

sorry pic dont work, see pics of the discs in my "rebuild-album" at the signature.
:oops:

thanks for all the advise guys, i bought a pad for my angle grinder works pretty good, i've been in fort polk for the past few weeks so i havent finished sanding, but i hope to get it done by next weekend, i only have a few months to get her painted before she goes to storage, i'll try and post pics when i'm done

My body man uses 80 grit for removal to bare metal, keep that grinder moving to prevent the metal from heating up and gouging the steel. Fix rust etc and fill problem areas with mud as required. Then he uses Slick Coat Primer, this is a high build material that fills smaller imperfections and is great for block sanding, a couple of coats may be required to get things straight. Next is the eurethane primer and then paint.
Take time removing paint being to aggressive will cost you hours of prep time to fix and shop time is a high $$$. I pay a shop rate is $52.00 per hour !!