Stripping a car body. Dipping or blasting?

[transamfan]

Stripping my trans am down to bare metal and there is alot of rust in areas I could never get a blaster into. Figured I may try chemically dipping it but have heard stories of problems. what to do? take the chance of a future problem or leave rust inside areas and know for certain there is a problem. seems simple to me. weigh in here on your thoughts. Plus if any one knows of a stripper in southeast missouri?

 

[930dreamer]

No expert here, but I had a convert body dipped in the 80's. If you chemically dip it can you reapply primer/paint in all those hard to reach areas?

 

[54FordPanel]

I know I had a body dipped once (I can't even remember what it was......I think it was my panel truck) and the problem with that is the minute it comes out of the tank, it starts rusting. They use water of course to rinse it off, and blam, there's the rust. Which you can deal with on body surfaces you can see and abrade again, but not the nooks and cranies you can't see.

I think it's about the same price as media blasting, which is $1000 or more.

With media blasting, you get sand in places that you'll never get it out of. But as long as they can see the problem and point the nozzle at it, they can blast it to clean metal.

I wouldn't have another vehicle dipped. I think it was the big deal 20 years ago, but it seems to have never taken hold as the thing to do.

I'd go with blasting. Hopefully Robert (MP&C) sees this. Whatever he says is the thing to do.

 

[930dreamer]

Check out this You Tube video on dustless blasting!

 

[SM Racing]

http://www.metalfinishings.com/index.html

These guys have it right. Burn off all the stuff, then dip it, then e-coat it. Best way to assure it is protected from the inside out.

 

[transamfan]

http://www.metalfinishings.com/index.html

These guys have it right. Burn off all the stuff, then dip it, then e-coat it. Best way to assure it is protected from the inside out.

WOW, thats the very place I had in mind but its rather far for me to drive, 12 hrs round trip plus another 12 to go pick it up. the ecoating should address any concerns over priming into the areas that cant be reached. they quoted me to strip and derust the bare body for $1395. E-coating is $1295 additional. really wanted to do metalwork after stripping then take back to have ecoated but thats too much driving and I dont want it bare that long. I will just have to spot prime the areas I repair till it goes to paint.
Appreciate the opinions folks, keep em coming.

 

[ng8264723]

Had a lot of things dipped years ago. There is no better way. Having said that if the car isn't it poor shape the factory coating are fine. If you dip the car sparay the entior chassis with epoxy primer. I use Southern polyurethane. I have to tell you this stuff is tough. I sprayed my 427 in my Cobra with it and it looks great a few years later. It doesn't come off!
chris

 

[BCM]

Dipping and e-coating is the way to go. If you can't e-coat, you have a lot of work ahead of you with spray wands and such to get paint and sealer inside frame rails and to all the spots you can't easily reach.

 

[PCO6]

I dipped about 5 or 6 cars (MG's) during the 80's and 90's and in each case paint was removed from areas that it didn't need to be and they were a real pain in the **** to prime and repaint. A worse problem though was that fluids were trapped in cavities that leached while I was priming the bare body. These would be areas like door pillars and stampings up under the dash and in the trunk. I could always fix it but it was more work than was necessary.

I sand blasted several cars too and, although it was more labour intensive, I would generally say that's they way to go. I really like the dipping and e-coating idea though.

 

[Kevin54]

Burning the paint off seems to be the going thing today. There is a large powder-coating firm a couple of towns over and that is how they do it. I don't think I have ever been there when there wasn't a car ready to go in or to come out of the ovens. I also believe another reason they go this route now is less EPA problems with baking the paint instead of all the huge vats of chemicals to strip them plus the trouble of getting rid of the waste vs. getting rid of ash.

 

[A**holes Garage]

I know of someone that dipped his BMW that he used for racing. The chemical got into the nooks and crannies of the welds and deteriorated the welds over time. He had an expensive junk body when it was done.

 

[Davo J]

I took my dual cab body to the blasters on a portable roll over frame I made up out of steel I had around. It worked out great with the blasters being able to get everywhere and getting the sand out when I got home. I found 99% of the sand came out when I had the body at different angles repairing it and the knocking from the panel hammers worked with this. The basters had never had one turn up with a frame, and they loved the idea. Usually they rolled in over on tyres, but that can create problems with damaging panels.

I would recommend cutting out the rust patches before blasting so they can get into those areas. I had to replace one rear pillar panel, but after cutting it out and finding surface rust I cut the other side out. When I replaced the panels I hole sawed a few 30mm holes to paint the back of the welds after they where done, and then placed rubber block off grommets in them after woods. I also made up a spray head and long tube attached to a cheap degreaser gun to paint down in the sills. This worked great and I got the idea from a mate who did fish oiling with a similar gun.

Good luck with it all, I know from experience it's a long process.
Dave

 

[rsanter]

Lots of show cars were dipped in the 80s.
Problem was that if the place didn't do a good job of neutralizing and washing the car out then the car would be left with chemical in between the spot weld seams and then rot out over the next few years after the expensive restoration was done. I have seen a few rare cars that were destroyed because of this.
Because of this I am very afraid of dipping anymore unless I really trust the people.

That e coating deal sounds great if you can afford the price. The trip dosent sound too bad

Bob