Stripping paint/rust to metal

[Deleted User]

what do you guys do to strip a car down to bare metal. The car now is mostly surface rust and completely disassembled. I dont have a media blaster near by, closest is about 50 miles, and No chemical dippers that I have found. So my question is what would you guys do, take it up to the media blaster or use a sander in the garage? If the sander what kind and what type of paper or material? this is going to be my first complete buiild of a hot rod and am getting ready to start stripping it this summer after I do a test assembly and box the frame. The car is in really good shape, no rust holes at all, and I dont want to create more work for myself buy messing up the stripping part! any help is appreciated! Kyle this is what I have to start with.

hornet53

If you want the satisfaction of doing the work yourself, you would be best served by buying a soda blaster. I've noticed over the years that someone who buys a project like that, that needs a lot of elbow grease-type work, gets very bored and frustrated by the tedious nature of sanding the rust off a whole body. It will go faster, allowing you to see progress immediately, which will motivate you to move to the next step. Plus, you can hire yourself out to your friends when you get done with your project, recovering the money you put up for the blaster.



By the way, are those bullet holes?

rambos_ride

hornet53 wrote:

If you want the satisfaction of doing the work yourself, you would be best served by buying a soda blaster. I've noticed over the years that someone who buys a project like that, that needs a lot of elbow grease-type work, gets very bored and frustrated by the tedious nature of sanding the rust off a whole body. It will go faster, allowing you to see progress immediately, which will motivate you to move to the next step. Plus, you can hire yourself out to your friends when you get done with your project, recovering the money you put up for the blaster.

By the way, are those bullet holes?

Those soda blasters are neat units - I haven't used one yet but have been looking into the +- compared to typical media blasting tools.

1. there's a myth or assumption that using a soda blaster does not require fresh-air supplied respirators...although this would probably hold true for a small spot job - any major soda blasting endevour would release the same nasty paint/other particles that you would want to protect yourself from as sand or glass bead.

2. Soda blasting does not remove heavy-pitting style rust like we normally deal with (*this is only what I've read)

Typically a media blaster will charge by the hour - with a car like a 68 Camaro avg about 600.00+- to strip to bare metal (depends on the area of the country and media used)

A soda blaster cost is approx. 300.00+, fresh-air supply 500.00+ - AND - don't forget about your time in hours to set the car up and do the work!

If you've got the cash and will use the setup again - doing a 2nd big job would pay for the tools...I'd buy the tools and do it myself.

Then again - if a Soda blaster doesn't really get heavy rust pitting - you'd also need to buy a standard pressure blaster to get at that stuff - so IMHO you might as well buy a standard pressure blaster and a fresh-air supply first...then buy a soda blaster later on, when you feel the need for the lighter setup and to horde more tools

[Deleted User]

Other thing I forgot to mention...I only have a 1 car garage for the next few years, til the housing values and credit markets get better. I dont mind doing the sanding with a power sander if you guys think that would work, Ive got more time than money, paying 600 for someone else to do it doesnt sound to bad. I just get nervous that they would warp or blow holes in it, more than the bullet holes that are there now. I was fixing some of the bullet holes last fall and used a wire wheel on my angle grinder to see if that would work, not very well btw, but was thinking that sanding discs might work or I could buy an electric buffer and put sanding attachment on that. I dont have an air supply yet so my tools are either electric or elbow powered. Wish I had the space to get a blaster, I just dont see it til I build the dream garage. thanks for the responses so far. Kyle

hornet53

You wouldn't want to do the soda blasting inside your garage anyway, that's an outdoor job, but an air supply is necessary, just not this one...

rambos_ride

52Stude wrote:

Other thing I forgot to mention...I only have a 1 car garage for the next few years, til the housing values and credit markets get better. I dont mind doing the sanding with a power sander if you guys think that would work, Ive got more time than money, paying 600 for someone else to do it doesnt sound to bad. I just get nervous that they would warp or blow holes in it, more than the bullet holes that are there now. I was fixing some of the bullet holes last fall and used a wire wheel on my angle grinder to see if that would work, not very well btw, but was thinking that sanding discs might work or I could buy an electric buffer and put sanding attachment on that. I dont have an air supply yet so my tools are either electric or elbow powered. Wish I had the space to get a blaster, I just dont see it til I build the dream garage. thanks for the responses so far. Kyle

Sanding just won't do the trick - would consume many hours and materials and rust is still no fun to breathe either!

As far as warping the panels...

1. Grinding and/or sanding the rust off could produce enough heat to warp the panels.

2. Take a trip to the media blasters...if they have a bunch of cars sitting around waiting or done...you can bet they know what they're doing. The horror stories you hear are from outfits that normally do industrial blasting and use iron oxide or don't do enough cars to gain the correct experience.

3. I can gaurantee you as "straight" as you think the car is now it didn't get to be this old without some "mechanix butt" prints all over it and you want any rust out areas blown out anyway so you know where to patch it up.

I'll tell you from my experience it's money well spent to take the car up on a trailer - drop it off and come back a week later to pick it up completely bare metal...the most work you'll do then is loading/unloading it on the trailer!

bent metal

rambos_ride wrote:

Sanding just won't do the trick - would consume many hours and materials and rust is still no fun to breathe either!



As far as warping the panels...



1. Grinding and/or sanding the rust off could produce enough heat to warp the panels.



2. Take a trip to the media blasters...if they have a bunch of cars sitting around waiting or done...you can bet they know what they're doing. The horror stories you hear are from outfits that normally do industrial blasting and use iron oxide or don't do enough cars to gain the correct experience.



3. I can gaurantee you as "straight" as you think the car is now it didn't get to be this old without some "mechanix butt" prints all over it and you want any rust out areas blown out anyway so you know where to patch it up.



I'll tell you from my experience it's money well spent to take the car up on a trailer - drop it off and come back a week later to pick it up completely bare metal...the most work you'll do then is loading/unloading it on the trailer!

Yep, what he said.:D

Unknown

If this were my job I would find a Redi- Strip place and get it dipped. Had a 51 Pacemaker coupe striped in Jackson, MS. It came back with not a speck of rust or paint anywhere. Also took all the lead off body joints so had to fix that. But it was as clean as new metal.

[Deleted User]

I have used acid-dip stripping, alkaline-dip stripping, and media-blasting services on various projects. All of these techniques can work very well or be near-disasters depending on the skill of the operator. You must be sure that whoever is doing the work knows how to properly utilize the process without damaging the sheetmetal.



IMHO, soda blasting would take forever to remove the rust that I see on the exterior of your car. If you were blasting it yourself, you would need a good sized pressure blaster with at least a 1/8" nozzle and a compressor that could put out 25-30 CFM minimum all day. A good pressure blaster setup will run you about $400.00 minimum, supplied air will run you $500.00 minimum & another $150 for blast media. You can move fast with high pressure when doing the frame and other heavy-gauge areas, but you have to turn down the air pressure and move slower and more carefully when doing the exterior sheetmetal.



I blasted the entire unibody of my '52 hornet myself with a good TIP pressure blaster, 1/8" nozzle, and a rented towable gas compressor of 100 CFM of the type that construction guys use to run an air hammer. Did a great job but I would not probably do it again. I agree with Bent Metal that is is indeed money well spent to send the job to a competent shop, whether it is by dipping or blasting.



Tom

Ol racer

FYI

Suggest speaking with your local PerfectCoat powdercoat Dealer for blasting your car. They have several types material available. They did a nice job on my Hudson truck prior to taking into the bodyshop and were reasonable.

[Deleted User]

Have it media blasted. That way all the rust is gone. Expect to pay $500 to $1000 depending on the labor required to do the car.

Walt-LA

rambos_ride wrote:

IMHO you might as well buy a standard pressure blaster and a fresh-air supply first...then buy a soda blaster later on, when you feel the need for the lighter setup and to horde more tools

Back in my industrial hygiene days we used to call silicosis from sand blasting "bystander's disease, " because while the blaster was protected with a positive pressure external airsupply and hood, other workers on the job were not. Have a demonstrative photo of a group of guys walking through the blasting plume at a chem plant site here in LA. Add to that while silicosis in mining operations usually requires long term exposure, it has been known (although rarely) to have been caused by exposure to sand in as little as three months... don't forget the possibility of exposing others when using sand... Walt-LA

Unknown

I used a small aircompressor and portable sand blasgter and 3-4 bags of silaca sand. The compressor would over heat but I would get a cup of coffee inbetween overheating and take a lot of breaks. I did one side of my 51 hudson in a week, working on it off and on. I put down tarps to catch the sand, sifted it, so I could reuse it. Wear a good air mask/respirator unit. My hudson is still not complete but my other 5 cars could be the blame for that.



51 Hudson Pacemaker

55 Plymouth Belvedere

55 1/2 chec pickup

64 T-bird

69 Dodge Charger

73 Dodge Charger SE