blasting/bodywork order questions

[Suicide_Scott]

I have my '66 charger down to a roller. I am ready to do body work. Floors/quarter patches.

Questions:

Should I blast the car before doing the body work?

Or should I do the body work then blast the car?

Then once blasted how do I keep the rust off while waiting for paint?

Also, should I blast it with the fenders on or off?

What about the axles and k frame? Should I let the paint guys deal with that part?

 

[detmatt1]

I chose to do body work first on my `68 Road Runner, but only because I knew I was going to be replacing well over 50% of the metal including the rear frame rails so why spend the money on blasting a bunch of parts that were getting replaced. If I was restoring a car that only neede minor cosmetics and some floor replacement, I would remove the rusty panels then have it blasted and primed (I think self etching primer), then do the body work. Fenders would be blasted seperately as well as doors and hood and you will need to blast all of your suspension parts anyway , so they will get done with the rest of the car. Hope this helps and interested to know if this is how others would do it too.

 

[Donny]

Media Blasting will open up areas you never knew were a problem. Do it first, before anything else. Plus, much of the replacement metal today is already E-Coated, so why Blast that stuff off? Yeah, you will get clean junk back that will get tossed, but, no way to know for sure the underlying condition. Believe me, when I am Media Blasting these old MOPARS I find things the owners never knew were there! They are initially pissed, then glad 'cuz they know the condition of their car.

Take it all the way down; fenders, doors trunk lid, hood off the car, blast 'em all separately.

 

[mattsmopars]

Like Donny said blast it first so you know where you are. I had my dart media blasted after i totally disassembled it, and then put it in epoxy primer. I have absolutly no regrets from that.
Matt

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

I agree, disassemble everything, media blast, sand the metal surface then spray on a good quality epoxy primer, etch primers alone aren't sufficient. As the boys ahead of me stated, it is truly the most efficient way to get a handle on your project...cheers.

 

[alleyoopmgv]

Blast first so you know exactly what your working with.

 

[Suicide_Scott]

That was what I was thinking. OK thanks all!

Im just wondering about the k frame etc because for me to get it from the blaster to the body guy I need to keep it rolling. I have a great little craftsman gun that would do heavy steel with sand no problem so I was thinking about lifting the car off the k frame after primer and blasting that and painting it black.

 

[Donny]

"Lifting the car off the K Frame" makes no sense. You remove the K frame from the car, it's unwieldy and big especially if it is complete with tires etc still on it. However, a K member alone is rather light, and easy to move around with just yourself! It's best to remove the K member; all the MOPARS I Media Blast have this K member removed, leaving it on it won't come out as good, plus, having the media everywhere is a pain...I try to recover as much as I can b/c the stuff is expensive, and I re-use it many times. Good luck!

 

[Suicide_Scott]

I am confused. Let me first point out that I have a large space to work in for a couple months more and a forklift that can move 6000 lbs. I also have a steel hoist that spans about 12ft high and 12 ft across. Moving big stuff is nothing to me. But that being said, what is the diff between a K frame and a K member?

My intention is to move the car around to the blaster guy and the body guy then bring it back to the shop at which point I can lift the car up off of the K assembly and rebuild that to new. The newly revealed areas can then be blasted up under the car I assume. I can do this by lifting the car body literally over my head with my forklift. I do not have a rotisserie available at the moment. But at the same time I do not want to risk bending the body.

From there I can move the axle assemblies out and break them down and shoot the heavy iron with play sand which is certainly cheap at $4 per 50lb.

Am I crazy and ill informed?

How would this be better handled?

 

[69 Runner]

K frame and K member are one and the same.

Do NOT lift the body on a fork lift. You'll damage it for sure

 

[Suicide_Scott]

The car is a unibody. How would a forklift hurt it more than a rotisserie bolted at each end? With the forklift I can get more center mass. I could even just lift up on end and put it on floor jacks and drag out the K frame.

 

[69 Runner]

I suppose if you're really careful, making sure the forks are under the rails and even having some support blocks between the two you might be ok.

BUT, the forks WILL be in the way (hopefully all the way across the car) and will limit what you can do.

I've seen lots of cars damaged by big forklifts at the yards.......course they aren't being careful. I just think it's a really bad idea

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

I agree with Runner, unless you can lift perfectly in the torque box areas you risk collapsing some of the unibody structure...and of course make sure your car doesn't slide around on the forks! Unibodies get their strength from multiple light gauge panels welded together...no one single area is intended for lifting, except for the torque box area's, suspension mounts etc.