Help: How to Remove Stainless Steel Body Panels?

[TripleZeroFilms]

Hello all,

While this might seem a bit basic, I'll be darned if I can't find a single guide across the entire net. My car is currently painted red, but eventually I'd like to change that. That being said, while I'm looking at all my options for removing said paint (suggestions welcome btw) I'm also weighing the pros and cons of doing said work either on or off the body. Off would seem to be the cleanest method, but since I'm not really sure what all is required to remove them (i.e if it would be more work than it's worth) I'm at an impasse. I'd love it if someone with experience could post up a guide for how to remove all of the stainless body panels from the car (quarters, doors, t-panel, ect). Pictures along with the text would be invaluable, were anybody in a position to take them of course. This is by no means a an urgent request as I'm still out a ways from actually removing the paint, but the knowledge would come in very useful for both informing my decision now and during the ordeal later.

Thanks so much everyone!

[jawn101]

Hello all,

While this might seem a bit basic, I'll be darned if I can't find a single guide across the entire net. My car is currently painted red, but eventually I'd like to change that. That being said, while I'm looking at all my options for removing said paint (suggestions welcome btw) I'm also weighing the pros and cons of doing said work either on or off the body. Off would seem to be the cleanest method, but since I'm not really sure what all is required to remove them (i.e if it would be more work than it's worth) I'm at an impasse. I'd love it if someone with experience could post up a guide for how to remove all of the stainless body panels from the car (quarters, doors, t-panel, ect). Pictures along with the text would be invaluable, were anybody in a position to take them of course. This is by no means a an urgent request as I'm still out a ways from actually removing the paint, but the knowledge would come in very useful for both informing my decision now and during the ordeal later.

Thanks so much everyone!

Section P:02 of the workshop manual is dedicated to the removal and reinstallation of the body panels. There are a bunch of guys on here who have stripped the paint off their cars so they will have more info on the actual paint removal.

My thinking is that you'll probably get a cleaner result stripping them off the car, but I would leave the doors in place.

[Michael]

Section P:02 of the workshop manual is dedicated to the removal and reinstallation of the body panels. There are a bunch of guys on here who have stripped the paint off their cars so they will have more info on the actual paint removal.

My thinking is that you'll probably get a cleaner result stripping them off the car, but I would leave the doors in place.

Yup, definately leave the doors alone if they are working correctly. Most likely they removed seals to paint, so you will have to do the same to strip(and most likely replace the rubber that was affected), so removing the panels is probably best since it allows you access to all the tight spots.

If you can get your hands on one, use a paint gauge(make sure it's eddy current capable since stainless is non magnetic) and go over the car before you start stripping to make sure there are no suprises under the paint.

[Kenny_Z]

Even a paint gauge won't reveal all the surprises. This was all hidden under primer.



I'm going to be stripping the paint from my Delorean eventually. Test out methods on the Tpanel. It is the easiest to remove from the car. I haven't decided if I'm going to be taking all the panels off or not. When Red was painted they didn't bother with any of the jams or removing the trim. They just painted around everything. How is yours?

[TripleZeroFilms]

I'm going to be stripping the paint from my Delorean eventually. Test out methods on the Tpanel. It is the easiest to remove from the car. I haven't decided if I'm going to be taking all the panels off or not. When Red was painted they didn't bother with any of the jams or removing the trim. They just painted around everything. How is yours?

Same here. They just painted around everything - I'm hoping this means it was just a quicky paint job by the dealership (i.e. perhaps the stainless wasn't roughed up for better adhesion).

Section P:02 of the workshop manual is dedicated to the removal and reinstallation of the body panels. There are a bunch of guys on here who have stripped the paint off their cars so they will have more info on the actual paint removal.

My thinking is that you'll probably get a cleaner result stripping them off the car, but I would leave the doors in place.

Oh, nice. Yeah, my workshop manual is currently with my car in another state hence why I couldn't look it up in there. Nice to know that info is all there though

As far as door removal, I was leaning a similar way - thinking I might just leave them on but remove the other panels if they were accessible enough. I just want to make sure that once I go for paint removal I get it all. No sense in half-assing a job like this. Still looking for the best removal method though - media blasting and chemical stripping (the two main categories of removal from what I can find) both have their advantages but neither one is really appearing to be head an shoulders above the other. Not to mention the varied types of each one or the virtues of a DIY job vs a professional one. Hopefully someone around here who has had these same issues has found the preferable method.