sandblasting concerns??

[ncz]

All of the above are good points. Also about using different solutions for different areas. I didn't want to get media in every crevice on the car. On areas such as inside the rocker panels, inside the air vent channels, inside the front frame rails and over the rear wheel arches and inside the doglegs, I used a couple of products that supposedly eat the rust and leave a finish that you can prime over. I used the Oxi-solve from eastwood and a similar product from perma-tech. I injected it with the same system that Enrique used(I bought it from eastwood, undercoating sprayer). It was messy and get good rubber gloves. Seemed to do a good job. Had to use inspection mirrors and good lights to see in all of those areas. still can't see all of them. I am going to follow with eastwoods rust inhibitor spray to seal it all up. Jim wish I could drive down the road and hang with you, E and Gary to get some good pointers when you guys are getting it done!!

[ZSaint]

Painters hate media/sand blasting. No matter what they do, sand will still get into the paint at some time. You simply cannot get rid of it, everywhere. We had a 450SL dipped to get rid of the paint, filler, rubber, rust, etc. It was the cleanest car I have ever worked on. The only problem is rust. This was a racecar so we did not worry about rust in the distant future. I guess there are downsides to every option when it comes body prep.

[shamus11]

Painters hate media/sand blasting. No matter what they do, sand will still get into the paint at some time. You simply cannot get rid of it, everywhere. We had a 450SL dipped to get rid of the paint, filler, rubber, rust, etc. It was the cleanest car I have ever worked on. The only problem is rust. This was a racecar so we did not worry about rust in the distant future. I guess there are downsides to every option when it comes body prep.

Yes I agree about dipping, I've seen a datsun 1600 after dipping and as amazingly clean as it was the thought of having no protection on the inside of every rail, pillar and other unseen areas makes me shudder.

Anyone know if there's something you can dip them in after the acid that will dry and protect from rust like a paint will?

[26th-Z]

26th was dipped and de-rusted by electrolysis. The initial dip that took off all the paint was pressure washed clean before the elctrolysis dip that took off all the rust.

Keep in mind that the original sheet metal inside the frame rails etc. was never painted and protected to begin with. All this worry about protecting the inside metal from corrosion is overblown. One of the main reasons these cars rust so badly is because they were never protected or sealed properly. My suggestion is to spray the inside metal with self-etching primer. I used a thinned solution in a pump-up garden sprayer - the kind that has the long plastic wand and spray nozzle. Self-etching primer because there is no way to clean and prepare the metal you can't reach, let alone see. In my case, the thin primer solution dripped out the bottom of open seams and made a big mess.

Most of the threads I read about sand or media blasting come from people trying to find a cheap, easy, less time consuming way to solve an inside rusting problem by attacking the outside. Painters don't like sand blasting because silica is embedded in the metal and without proper cleaning, paint doesn't stick. The bottom line is that there is no cheap easy way to get rid of the rust. Proper preparation of the body metal involves a lot of time and it ain't cheap.

[agemeansnothing]

You know I was about to ask the same question because I just bought some headers that have some surface rust on them that needs to be takin off. Does this whole post come in contact and relation with bead blasting too?

[ZSaint]

I have a bead blaster and it works great on small stuff. You need to replace the glass beads frequently when you use it on steel parts. The beads turn to powder and do not work as well when they are "used up". I used it on an old rusty set of headers and it cleaned them right up. Bead blasting however works the best on aluminum pieces. Keep fresh glass in your blaster and it works very well.

I did not do anything special on the steel parts after blasting. I cleaned them with an industrial spray cleaner, rinsed them and dried them. I had them powder coated or painted. The coating sticks well in both situations.

[agemeansnothing]

yeah I don't have a bead blaster and dont know anybody who does so I have to take it to a shop here in NM.