Sandblasting the K

[240kconvertible]

I spoke with John from Envirostrip this morning about sandblasting my shell. I wanted to know how much I would save by doing the job myself. He quoted me $2000 gst inc for a sandblast and primer of my shell. It appears I'm not saving much money at all by doing it myself and if I add in the cost of what I earn an hour plus my mates I'm actually losing money. I'm already at $1000 for primer, grit and petrol. All that's left is more petrol, food, beer and time.

Average cost is $2000 to $2500 doing the stripping yourself, cost goes up a lot if he has to remove parts.To get this price the car had to be stripped and be just a rolling shell. John also blasts at low pressure 30psi to avoid any panel distortion. This he can do quite effectively.

Also if you choose to get it powder coated he always uses an etch primer underneath. The only thing I wasn't happy with about his job was that he wouldn't get into the inside of a lot of places.

http://www.envirostrip.com.au/

Address 3 Cosgrove Road

Enfield NSW

AUSTRALIA 2136

enquiries@envirostrip.com.au

sales@envirostrip.com.au

Phone/Fax 02 9642 7533

Mobile 0410620743 or 0433176796

I have attached a few photo's of my passenger side chassis rail, as you can see the long box section that goes into the engine bay was full of rust, the big lunch box size sections next to it were fine. The driver side rail had only just started to go.

This would not be fixed by a sandblaster unless you opened up the rail for them.

Can other K owners go and check the state of their rails please, you can get your finger into the big hole without laying on the ground. I'd like to know if anyone else is having the same problem as me.

[khughes]

wow, that is a bit of rust!! i luckily didn't find any rust on the underside of my car, i do wish i POR15'd it though before i srayed 5 cans of underbody deadener under there though (if only i knew better back then )

I am pretty sure that the majority of my body should be okay, so i am not sure what would be better... sandblast (probably more $$$, and possible warping), or just scrape the hi-build off with paint stripper (should be cheaper, and i guess i can do panel by panel, and POR15 at the same time)

it would be nice to somehow treat the rails though.. not quite sure how easy it would be to get a good coat of something in there though

[skyc110]

Also if you choose to get it powder coated he always uses an etch primer underneath. .

what is the powder for ?

The only thing I wasn't happy with about his job was that he wouldn't get into the inside of a lot of places..

so dif, and he want to save time and grit..

the long box section that goes into the engine bay was full of rust, .

also me. early in the 70's & 80's our Ks weren't with enthusiasts, when the car get buncher (air out of the tyre) they rise up

the car (by jack) from any point no care wether that point is designated for raising or no, so sometimes the jack goes inside the body making bends and holes helped by the cumulated rust cos of rain and wet mud etc, also I can blame some workshop whom not care about where to rais the car from.btw I dont take my K to ws unless if I realy cant go further.

.big lunch box size sections next to it were fine...

the two perpendicular rails ? if show photo Anderw

in my opinian rust depends on

1- how far away is the K from the sea.

2- how rainful is the area which the K live in.

3- how much the owner care about his K, dont clean you car daily, do drive in muddy roads etc.

[240kconvertible]

what is the powder for ?

.

The powder is just another form of paint, do you have powdercoaters over there?

My K has lived near the sea for most of it's life, hence the rust problem. I'm confident that it will be fine for many years after I'm finished restoring her though.

To get into the rails to protect them you can wash them out (por has a product to do this) then blow them dry and spray a heap of fine mist coats into the inside. It was recommended to me to put a few nice drill size holes in them to get the spray in. If you go to one of the places that specialise in rust treatment you will see some body deadener guns with long rubber hoses on them to get into all the little hidden holes.

I've just taken squares of steel out so I can get to it all 100%. After these have been welded up I'll have to spray inside again to cover the welds. You wouldn't cut them up unless the rust had attacked a lot of the car and opened up these spots.

[skyc110]

do you have powdercoaters over there?.

am not sure, could be, but I didn't see yet. what am sure about - sb then strengh then primer and some put diluted liquid asphalt.

It was recommended to me to put a few nice drill size holes in them to get the spray in. ?.

its a good tech. doesn't affect the strenght of the rail. but the SB grit mayn't reach the inside well .

I've just taken squares of steel out so I can get to it all 100%. ?.

wont affects the strenght?

You wouldn't cut them up unless the rust had attacked a lot of the car and opened up these spots.

this what force to do that. now u need to go in the car cabinet remove the carbet and inspect what is under the driver & the pass. feet

[240kconvertible]

wont affects the strenght?

I'll be welding them back up with plates so strength won't be affected.

If your just going to drill into the rails just wash it out, no sandblasting and then coat it with a paint product. It's not the best way to do it but is better then nothing. A lot of panelshops won't even wash them out they just blow in there with compressed air and then just hit it with the spray.

[skyc110]

a rust such lik this

http://00op.com/up/uploads06-11-06/68c24c0799.bmp

make me sad, that is why in one of my threads said that sometimes

I dream if nissan made the body from ss or aluminum.

what to do ... we have to live with that (remedy, remdey, keep spending $ )

but all in all its funny. wish u good luck with ur project, wish u the best saving

[240kconvertible]

Well I have finall begun the stripping and primering af the shell. I used a pressure pot sander at 160psi from 2 foot away with no distortsion problems but only in the engine bay. We tested what it took to warp a panel and it seems to be when the steel heats up it bends, we had it glowing red on a test piece. I found a heap of accident damage to the driver side front guard, it had been in a small accident but didn't affect the chassis rails.

A lot of what you see i did by my self in about 5 hours with a heap of problems going wrong and only having a mate mix up paint for me. The blaster kept on cloggin as there was moisture in the garnet grit and the gun I was using was just spitting out paint.

I will be using paint stripper to do all the large panels as I can't risk ruining them with the blaster. In the end I'll only use the blaster for the inside cabin and under body all other bits will be done with stripper or the hand help blaster. The small hand held blaster is slow as and is only good for the hard to get to spots.

POR 15 arrives tomorrow. I paid approx $350 for 4 lt of POR 15 4 lt of metal ready and 4 lt of marine wash.

[khughes]

looking good!

did you order the por straight from PPC? what colour por are you going to use? i thought there was a white one, but there isn't so i am tossing up between clear (though, i wouldn't know where i have POR'd), or grey. POR do a very good paint stripper too apparently..

[240kconvertible]

I got the paint from Vintage vee dub supplies in Campsie as a friend and i went there recently. They had to get the Por 15 in black sent in so I guess it was coming from PPC anyway. It sprays on so nicely and is a pleasure to use, the system still freaks me out though as you have to wash it with water just before you spray. I know it works but I still don't like it.

I'll keep you updated with the progress on the PORing, I'll be using a modified body deadener gun to spray it into all the cavities which are all opened up now. We cut the gun midway along the shaft and put a piece of hose in between so that it is flexible and then start spraying and just pull it out.

[khughes]

What do you mean by "wash it with water just before you spray"? according to the directions, the surface needs to be bone dry.. but it does use humidity in the air to cure..

let us know how it goes, i might start stripping some of the small panels, and start PORing too this weekend, hopefully i can do most of it over the xmas holidays.

[240kconvertible]

If you want to go the whole way with POR you have to first spray wash it with marine wash leave for 15min-30min then wash off with water. Then spray on Metal ready leave for 30 min then wash off with water and dry straight away. The metal ready will zinc phosphate etch the metal. You can get away with only using the metal ready and POR, you don't have to get the Marine clean.

It recommends to do two coats of POR minimum maybe 3 if it's a bad area. If a coat is left for more than 12 hours it should be sanded back. I'm really looking forward to spraying 4 litres of POR onto the vert.

If you go down the paint stripper road on your engine bay keep me updated with the amount of time it takes to do.

Damn Damn Damn I just read that if the area is sandblasted you don't need any marine clean or metal ready Doh