Media Blasting

[Donny]

The stuff I pull off ain't no skim coat! This stuff is lathered on. I guess it's best to fix stuff they can't fix the real way by hiding it under filler!

 

[Donny]

Some more and current observations over the past year I've made. Currently, I'm blasting the 70 'Cuda convertible. Where rust builds up and destroys these cars is amazing. And, the 'repairs' people did in the past is also amazing. No other method I've used can render the car as clean as this process.

Where you would use a sanding disc to remove scaled rust, you're taking off good metal too, you can't help it. One thing media blasting will do is punch the metal like a boxer punches his opponents' body with body blows, and it finds weak metal, opens it up for the repairman to see.

This 'Cuda had someone paint the floors in some kind of protective paint after they fiberglassed/bondoed in the drivers floor, but, they stopped at the dash. Once the dash came out, our friend; rust is there, but won't be for long!

Two things I wanted to do as a kid; I'm doing in some fashion now; Underwater Welder, and Archaeologist. I'm wearing a blast suit, blast helmet, hoses, limited vision, and movement, and uncovering ancient history!

 

[gerardhansen]

Soda blasted the GTX. You are right, got to get it to bare metal.

 

[Donny]

Soda is great for some applications, but, not all. I put myself in the shoes of the restoration shop receiving the car body back from the Media Blaster; either Soda or Plastic, or whatever...if I have to scrape off any undercoating, Bondo, clean the window channel out after pulling the window out, then, the Blaster didn't do his job. This is how I look at it; and, strangely-this is a recipe for success!

 

[Sixpack70]

Great thread. I am sure both of my cars that need paint removal will be scary.

 

[Donny]

I'm going to start populating this thread with pics of my current Media Blasting projects, to avoid polluting up the thread titles with GM stuff; hahaha.

I'm currently getting deep in a 69 Camaro big block car, will have it done this coming week. Here's some pics...

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Just look at the layers of Bondo on this fender, this is a SHAME, this stuff is SO heavy, it looks like the annual growth rings on an Oak tree, it's all time wearing this crap off, it comes of pretty quickly to the rookie eye, but, way too slowly to be considered real progress, and it's just dust when it comes off, no cutting qualities at all, just dust. I'll have to break out the auto scraper on this crap!

 

[roadrunnerman]

MAN!!! that's a lot of bondo.i hope the rest of the car is not like that,or like the roof on that one car you did donny.

 

[Donny]

Yup, it's fenders like these that I shiite canned fixed prices, and work by the hour/minute. I used to feel a bit of guilt when the price went to the sky, now, I tell them up front if I hit bondo, the price will be higher; here's the price you will pay per hour/minute, sign here... :evil5::evil5:

 

[roadrunnerman]

what were the holes in the fender for?they look like they were drilled or was there some trim that somebdy covered up?

 

[Donny]

The holes served two purposes; to screw the screw/dent puller hammer into, and yank the fender out to where it needs to go, or as close as it can be banged back into place. The second reason is for the bondo to squeeze thru and 'adhere' to the metal. At least these are the reasons I learned when I went to 'shop class' in HS back in 1981.

 

[roadrunnerman]

that's what i thought but could'nt tell if the holes had been "pulled" out or where someone had tapped them back down.

 

[Donny]

That car's done, and delivered! You could NOT find yellow paint anywhere on that car, the owner told me the results far exceeded his expectations. I like to hear this. Makes for good business.

Now, I'm fixxin' to start on this 70 'Cuda rust bucket, this thing is bad, not as bad as my GTX was...pics to come.

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[Donny]

...This won't be a complete blast, just a few areas that still are good, the rest they will replace the metal.

 

[Donny]

Just an FYI, some of you here were followers/fans of mine on Facebook. Facebook has deleted/disabled my accounts there, they said I violated the terms of service, but didn't say what they were, or, what I did to violate them. Several months ago I discovered an impostor posing as me; I made several complaints to them, to no avail until just yesterday my account, and my media blasting account were both disabled. Perhaps they just deleted all accounts that were similar and had conflicting information? However, there was one little glimmer of hope to resurrect my facebook pages, they send me a notice saying they need to confirm me as me and asked for an upload of my drivers license as a jpg. Sounds legit; this way they can verify a person, or, at least hope they can?

I'm working on a major update to my webpage, now that facebook has been removed from the equation, I think this needs to happen sooner vs. later. Thanks for following along!

 

[moparstuart]

Just an FYI, some of you here were followers/fans of mine on Facebook. Facebook has deleted/disabled my accounts there, they said I violated the terms of service, but didn't say what they were, or, what I did to violate them. Several months ago I discovered an impostor posing as me; I made several complaints to them, to no avail until just yesterday my account, and my media blasting account were both disabled. Perhaps they just deleted all accounts that were similar and had conflicting information? However, there was one little glimmer of hope to resurrect my facebook pages, they send me a notice saying they need to confirm me as me and asked for an upload of my drivers license as a jpg. Sounds legit; this way they can verify a person, or, at least hope they can?

I'm working on a major update to my webpage, now that facebook has been removed from the equation, I think this needs to happen sooner vs. later. Thanks for following along!

I hope they get you back on donny , I enjoy your FB posts

 

[bluefury]

Interesting info, but more data would be nice. How was the metal cleaned and treated on your car prior to application?

Media blast is an excellent way to strip paint but not very effective against rust or corrosion...or in caged, (hidden) areas.
Soda blasting is OK but one must be careful to nutralize the metal as it is very costic and will come back to haunt you in the future.
Most old cars i've been into have had some level of rust issues.... (REALLY.... no kidding...!) LOL.

The method that is the most effective is the acid dip and e-coat. It's expensive but you'll never have an issue after. The bare body is the core of your rebuild...so it needs to be right.

I have used a product that will convert rusty surfaces to carbon and stop the rust dead. I've had good luck perserving something until it can be properly treated. It is the consistancy of wated and applied with a paint brush. No other attention required, and you can even paint over it.

 

[Donny]

Blue....ah, huh?

Thanks Stuart! Tell Dallas Kerr (he's on here too I think) if you see him around here.

 

[national]

No plastic media people around me..only black beauty sandblasters..yes they ruin a few body panels around here..mostly hoods..I dont know of anyone even close doing plastic..Im 30 mies north of nashville,tn..im sure its pretty expensive to get all the equipment to do plastic isnt it? what would you recommend for a backyard guy to blast with? I dont have alot of paint on my car really..mostly surface rust

 

[Donny]

A backyard outfit, humm, been there and done that. I understand that it's hard when no one is around that you can trust etc. Couple of issues you're going to run into; you will need a good air supply, a good 30-50 cfm minimum to make any traction on parts you want to blast. I remember when I was that guy in the backyard, I spent 8 hours on a fender, 8 hrs! Was it worth it; no way. But, learning is often done the hard way. Now, a clean fender takes minimum 40 minutes, most 60 or so minutes.

Package everything up and send it down here, prolly be around 200 bucks for a pallet of parts shipped here, pretty good price considering you don't have the folks up there to do the work.

Heck, this is a good idea, I may encourage people to do this; ship me the stuff, I send it back cleaned and in self etch, humm...

 

[WmBaldwin57]

Please don't take this as gospel because I am NOT a autobody man by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I play one on tv. However I have sandblasted my Dart and had really good luck with it, I haven't seen all the problems everyone talks about but I use very fine sand. It does take a LONG time, although not as long as sanding. And it creates a hell of a mess. I was going to soda blast but before I bought a setup I talked to someone who did it for a living, they indicated for cars they preferred plastic media blasting. The soda is great if you can neutralize it, but in places where metal overlaps you can't really get it out and it will eventually cause rust. As for metal prep, I have had really good luck with a product called "Pickle X". I'm in Georgia and it is very humid, If I leave the car unattended inside for 2 days it will flash rust, so I keep on it pretty good. With PickleX it will last months, some of my pieces have lasted a year before I painted them. So take the information for what it's worth.