Hi all, I have a ribbed mango 58, when I bought it it had a repaint in the states years ago, but it looked good in the pics. Turns out its a mango on the bottom half and God knows on the top.

Curiosity had gotten the better of me as to what the original paint was like underneath, so on the rear off side I picked a bit of paint off with a blade, and the mango looked not too bad underneath, it got me thinking that I would undertake a "scrape the repaint off" mend and blend anything that needed it.

now I'm quite a way into taking the red paint off and at the point of no return!! I've only done 70% of the belt line down so far. Most of the red paint has been really difficult to take off, I've tried all sorts to assist with the removal..........
Just a blade
Oven cleaner and blade
Wire wool and oven cleaner
Low quality paint stripper and a blade
A DA
And nitromors green and a blade with wire wool.

The repaint has proved to be rock hard, prepped very well and not your typical US repaint. There is quite a few bite marks from the blade too. And as for the roof, well that's solid and something I am dreading!! It seems just as solid as OG paint and nitromors did nothing on the small flat patch I tried.

Thing is, I'm now thinking its might have too much to mend and blend and I may as well blow the whole lot over, well, the belt line down for now, in mango, and maybe age the new paint to suit the van.

If I go down this route it would be done by me on my drive with my gun. I'm certainly not after a shiny van by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to know other people's opinion. What would you do in this situation, mend and blend? Carry on scraping? Blow it over in new mango and age it? Or something else completely?

Here is a few snaps of what I mean. Let me know your thoughts guys.

Wax an drive!

Keep at it.
Wire wool and thinners worked best us, 5 layers of paint

masterjedi wrote:Keep at it.
Wire wool and thinners worked best us, 5 layers of paint

5 layers!! Your making me feel bad!! What was your thinners technique? Doesn't it run everywhere?

Hi
i would totaly remove all the aftermarket paint on one panel and wax it to see what it looks like nitromores isnt good in cold air it will better now its warmer.
You could try using paramose stripper it has more bite.
I did 5 layers and lots of filler its worth it in the end

Nice one Ben, paramose is now called enviromose, I'm gonna pic up a litre today and give it a go. Watch this space!!

I had sills repaired on my mango a few months ago and was really worried about paint blend, however the paint store where i live used my aged paint filler cap to get a match and work is pretty much invisible, a fantastic match to old faded paint i was so pleased. will post some pics up when i can or will be at stanford hall in it in a few weeks.

Stripped a nasty looking deep green, nearly black repaint from my 59 panel, back the factory sealing way red using medium wire wool and standard thinners (not coarse as it doesn't work and not fine as it clogs too quick)

Work on an area around A4 size at a time, apply, agitate, let it soak in a bit and evaporate some, but not dry, then hit it again with more thinners and the wire wool, working from the top down as the run off irrigates the drying area immediately below and allows you to move straight on to it.

From this:



Via this:



To this:



Three gallons of thinners and around 100 hours. Needs some blending on panels let in, but I got the paint suppliers to match the faded shade.

Hope this helps.

Nik.

Doesn't the wire wool really damage the original paint underneath?

Would it make any difference if you were only having to remove red oxide primer that's been put over the original paint?

If you're just taking off thin primer to properly prep for paint then some tissue or a rag with plenty of standard thinners on should take it off ok.

The wire wool doesn't seem to have a great effect on the factory paint beneath as its so hard it seems.

Once the wire wool has opened the surface of the paint you're trying to remove up, it mainly acts as a medium to carry the emulsified paint off which I rinse out in the ice cream tub of thinners I've decanted from the can. It also acts as a sort of sponge to carry more fresh thinners back onto the panel. You will experience some run off, but it serves to soften the paint you want to remove below it as you move down in strips.

A wipe with successive pieces of blue tissue roll until the surface is pretty clear of smears and that's how it looks in the third image above.

I also hit the front panel near side with some compound and a machine polishing mop just to see what it came out like and you can see the result below the screen with just a two minute go at it.

Hope this helps.

Nik.

I agree with the wire wool and thinners or acetone I have been using for the majority on my split. It is a long and painful task but well worth it when you find the OG paint.

Would scotch brite pads work, or is wire wool better?

I haven't tried scotch brite pads, will give them a go. Just with water ?

Scotchbrite pads seem more aggressive than the wire wool.

The wire wool doesn't seem to take off any of the underlying paint, whereas the scotchbrite does and significantly dulls/keys the surface.

Hope this helps.

Nik.

It damages the OG paint ?
Must be careful then, wire wool can be slow when multiple layers