Modern Vespa

So I'm taking my old VBB down to bare metal. I've read that one method is to scorch the paint with a torch until it bubbles, then just scrape it off.

I tried that, with a butane torch, on the VBB's old, crushed fender. The paint bubbled quickly and came off easily, but the metal became dark and discolored from the heat. I.e., not shiny like where it has been sanded or ground.

Is the discoloration a problem? Will it affect the primer or paint? The paint came off so easily that it was a real "Eureka!" moment—I could see how I was gong to get paint out of tight edges and difficult spots.

But the discoloration gave me pause. Heat is tempting, but I don't wanna use it if it's gong cause problems later in the painting process.

Anyone have experience with this??

Thanks!!

Butane is pretty inefficient at producing heat. I doubt you'll get the metal hot enough to deform it.

Actually, that hadn't occurred to me. I wasn't worrying about deforming. My concern is that the heat made the metal darker than if I sanded/ground paint off, which leaves the steel all shiny.

Is the darker metal a problem in any way, as far as primer or paint is concerned? If not, I'm tempted to go at a lot of hard-to-reach places with the torch.

Thanks, SoCal. I really appreciate the input.

Don't think so. Post a pic. The darkness may just be surface staining that can sanded off. Either way you'll be priming before your paint, which will cover any discoloration of the metal.

Does the dark discoloration wipe off with some solvent? It may be just soot from the gas/paint combination.

Well, I tried some lacquer thinner on it, and scrubbed with steel wool. A LITTLE change, maybe 30% better, but no a lot

Here are before and after pix, plus a pic from the top of the leg shields where I took a little paint off with heat. Thinner & steel wool did a little bit, but not a lot. The discoloration seems to want to hang around.

If you sanded it, you would end up with clean steel. Even if you heated it enough to weld it, the surface discoloration would sand off.

I'm gonna give that a try. Thanks!!

For starters, you don't need to get it anywhere near that hot. Just hot enough to soften the paint so it scrapes off. It will leave some residue that will com off with a wire brush.

That's true. The goal is that heat the paint just enough to make it soft enough to scrape of remove with a wire brush. Heat can be used to remove paint from wood without damaging it. In the case of lead paint, you don't want to get it hot enough to actually burn.

The best way I have found is to use a
disc like this on an angle grinder:

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-half-inch-nylon-abrasive-wheel-94017.html

It makes a lot of heat so you have to keep it moving. Not all the paint comes off in one pass. The idea is to keep going over it until the paint is gone. I use a wire wheel on a drill for small spots. If I am repainting, I often don't remove all the factory paint if it is well adhered. It's bulletproof and unlikely to react with anything you put over it. I use sandblasting to get rid of rust pits that nothing else will get out. Sparingly because my set up is too small to strip a whole bike.

^^^ the nylon abrasive wheel probably is also a good tool here, but I like the coarse twisted wirebrush cup wheels for getting heat softened paint off of old bikes. Seems like they might clog up less?



https://www.harborfreight.com/3-inch-twisted-wire-cup-brush-47927.html Harbor Freight only lists 3" but 4" available elsewhere is better for this.

Thanks!

Yes, I've been using those abrasive disks. They're great—on a grinder, they just rip the paint right off. (Tho sometimes they seem to mark the metal a bit, which may need to be sanded later). You can get them in 5- and 10-packs on Amazon

I'm trying heat for the tighter areas when I can't easily get the grinder wheel in or on. (Also, the grinder is driving my neighbors nuts . . . thought I'd try to give them a break).

I'm also ordering a quart of Aircraft Ultra paint remover. From what I've read it seems likeliest to give me the best shot at removing the paint chemically.

So, building an arsenal. Thanks again. Onward!!

I easily removed the paint of a Lambretta a couple of years ago and I did so with a paint removal chemical paste. It was cheap, effective and easy. All I needed to do was to apply this clear gel with a brush and in 5-10 minutes the paint was completely peeling off through bare metal. I also used a brushed metal rotating and circular brush on a drill but the easiest part was just buying a can of chemical paint removal gel. Almost hassle free and very fast acting and satisfying to watch too.

I would love to know what product you used because most every stripper I have tried in the past 25 years has sucked. ( I'm just leaving that there.....) The old Methyline Chloride worked the best.

I don't think there's a stripper on the market today that works worth a damn on OG Vespa paint. Leaded paint is just too damn tough.

When I stripped the Boobadge, I used a big propane torch and after I'd burned the paint (OG paint with rattle can over that), it pretty much fell off when I hit it with the wire wheel.

The entire process took less than half an hour for both the frame and the mudguard.

I almost think the Max Meyer Bi-lux that Piaggio used on the old scoots might be the same formula Germany used on Panzer tanks during the war. It's freaking indestructible.

You're my kind of neighbor.

Imagine a whole neighborhood of scooter guys…

It'd be one giant Superfund site, but yeah, it'd probably be a fuckin' blast.

Sorry for the late response. This is what I used and it worked so well and so easily. It peels off the paint as if you are burning it with a torch and you are watching it in Timelapse. You just apply it with a brush, it is a clear paste, jelly like and after a few minutes the paint softens so nicely that you can remove it with a scraper or a rotary metal brush. I stripped a entire Lambretta and I had a lot left on the can.

Was your scoot already been stripped and repainted ?
I agree with SoCalGuy, OG paint and especially OG primer is very tough.
It needs at least 4 passes (with brushing in between) to get a good result. I'm exactly into the process right now !
My scoot was repainted (few times !) but over OG paint

Depending on where you live you might not be able to get methyl cloride stripper. A bunch of states outlawed it and most auto parts stores stopped carrying it anywhere.

It's still legal in PA and I can order it through McMaster Carr.

If you spread it on, let it bubble up, and clean it off with a pressure washer it's pretty easy. I do it outside where there's weeds I'm trying to kill.

Good to know and I believe what you are saying. I got mine in Arizona in a Acehardware store but I totally get it, there are some states that have more restrictions than others.

I know the brand and that's the formula without Methylene Chloride. Most contemporary strippers just seem to soften paint layer by layer instead of lifting all of them at once like they used to do. Or they just take a stupid amount of time and dry up. I'll give Strypeeze a shot next time.

^^ It wasn't a perfect paint removal of apply and forget it. I had to use the metal brush in some places and my lambretta had 2 paints in the past but it was definitely an agresive paint removal paste. I would recomend it.