While exploring my recently acquired Spider, I'm finding that it is skills coated in many areas with 1/8 inch of bondo. In an effort to strip it back to bare metal, that will have to come off. Does anyone know of a way to soften it enough to take it off with a power scraper?

If I have had to remove a large amount of bondo, take a torch, either acetylene or propane, and heat the putty. Then take a stiff scraper and scrape it out. It doesn't take much heat to loosen it, so you don't have to get things real hot, just a couple of passes will do it. Experiment a little, but it usually goes soft and scrapes right off. Finish up with your favorite wire wheel or sanding device, and always use eye protection.

Thanks, that sounds workable. I've got a section with stripper on it and sealed for a day or so to see if that softens it, but I hate using stripper. I like the idea of using heat much more.

dont know what kind of shape the body is in. My 80 had a skim filler coat that was factory. when i got down to metal it was very wavy and required me to replace the coat.....wish i would have left it alone.

azruss wrote:dont know what kind of shape the body is in. My 80 had a skim filler coat that was factory. when i got down to metal it was very wavy and required me to replace the coat.....wish i would have left it alone.

I had not really considered the possibility that this could be factory. There are some spots that have cracked and are rusting underneath. I'll have to take a closer look to see if it could be factory. If the original color is over top of the bondo, it might just be.

fiat did use filler in the original build up of the car