Bring Z down to bare metal, what type of blasting, etc...

[Guest ON3GO]

Im about to take the plunge and do a full resto on my Z.

i want to bring it to bare metal and start 100% over.

the hood, hatch and a few other things will be carbon fiber.

the door panels will be fiberglass.

 

the fenders, floor and etc will still be metal of course.

with that said whats the best type of "blasting" to do.

Sand? Media? etc?

 

ill let a shop do this as i dont really want to deal with the mess afterwards.

 

http://www.picklex.com.. there stuff will be used after its in bare metal as ill be doing lots of welding and body work after its in bare metal.. will be worked on for along time as ill be doing LOTS of custom metal work and etc to it over along time.

 

mike

[Nismo280zEd]

lol you always keep me on my toes Mike.

never a dull moment man lol.

 

-Ed

[Guest ON3GO]

im bored what can i say.

 

is there any primers or type of sealers that we can put on to prevent it from rusting but still weld on and or lay body filler over???

 

mike

[MaTTSuN]

there is a primer u can weld on i forget the name tho

[AK-Z]

Zinc based primer can be welded on. I don't recommend using it on the whole car though, only in open areas that you clean of picklex to weld on later, used just as a short term rust preventitive.

[zed240au]

i might be wrong but all the welders i talked with suggest you want the metal as clean as possible to get the best weld like when i put my roll cage in my rally car the welder had me run the angle grinder over every spot before he welded must say ive found it the cleaner the better for welding

 

as for putting filler over primer read some interesting reports suggesting it makes very little difference between primer and bare metal though u have to rember primer will absorb moisture so the quicker u seal or top coat the better

 

as for paint stripping i find good old paint stripper best and a 3m cleaning wheel to finish off

[Jeff]

When I had mine blasted I used a company that had two booths. They hit it first with plastic media and then rolled it into the next booth with aluminum oxide, more aggressive, and only hit the spots that the media wouldn't take care of. This was done on a rotisserie so every square inch was stripped.

 

Once it is down to bare metal you want to get a couple of good coats of epoxy primer on it as soon as possible. I let mine sit a couple of days and ended up having to acid etch a few areas that developed some surface rust. Once it is sealed in epoxy primer then you can take all of the time you want for the metal work. Like zed240au said, just hit any spot you want to weld on with an angle grinder to take it back to bare metal and then when you're done just shoot that spot with epoxy primer to seal it back up.

[Boobala]

I hear that soda-blasting will do the job, and it won't warp panels. It's also nice because it can be done in your driveway.

[johnc]

I just had a customer's 240Z media blasted with walnut shells. Came out very clean and the car had a number of paint layers, bondo, and rusty rockers. I sprayed the whole car with a light mist of WD40 when I got it back to keep it from rusting. The WD40 cleans off easily with Acetone or BrakeKleen for all the welding I need to do on the car.

 

Before I sprayed the car with WD40 I called a car painter friend. He specifically told me to use WD40 and begged me not to spray it with any primer. He says he gets cars in that have been sprayed poorly with junk primer and he has to strip the car. Its much easier for him to have his laborers wipe the car down with PrepSol to get the WD40 off.

[Guest CSRC 180]

I talked to a guy near me about getting my car soda blasted. Soda blasting is nice because the soda actually coats the car after so you have a 2-3 month grace period before the car gets rusty. He told me that after just wash the car down with simple green and water, put it in the sun to dry, and then prime away.The problem with soda is that it isnt agressive enough to cut the rust it only takes off paint and a different media needs to be used on the rust. long story short, the guy wanted $2000 plus to do the whole car and I thought the money would be much better spent on a t-56. So I got a great deal on a 80 gallon air compressor 200 pounds of black beauty (it is a coal slag product, low silica ie im not going to die from silica posioning) and portable blaster. The metal came out pretty clean and it removed all the rust. I used medium grit because I was told the rough would be too hard on the metal.

[johnc]

long story short, the guy wanted $2000 plus to do the whole car

 

That's nuts. I paid $850 to get my customer's car blasted at OC Sandblasting.

[Guest CSRC 180]

one of the downfalls of living on a man-made island, my options are limited as to where I can take the car; there only one blasting place on cape willing/capable to do the whole car.

[Guest dherde26]

Im about to take the plunge and do a full resto on my Z.

i want to bring it to bare metal and start 100% over.

the hood' date=' hatch and a few other things will be carbon fiber.

the door panels will be fiberglass.

 

the fenders, floor and etc will still be metal of course.

with that said whats the best type of "blasting" to do.

Sand? Media? etc?

 

ill let a shop do this as i dont really want to deal with the mess afterwards.

 

www.picklex.com.. there stuff will be used after its in bare metal as ill be doing lots of welding and body work after its in bare metal.. will be worked on for along time as ill be doing LOTS of custom metal work and etc to it over along time.

 

mike

 

dont do it..u will warp panels get it acid dipped and after that process most shops that do it will dipp it in a nuetralizing solution and that coats it and is good for abotu 2 months

 

jsut my .02

[DemonZ]

Chemical dipping may be the ultimate. It gets in all the nooks and crannies where rust is hiding (inside rockers and frame rails). What's more important is preventing the rust from coming back, so if they have some some sort of high quality weldable primer dip aftewards that would be the ticket IMO.

[AK-Z]

Chemical dipping may be the ultimate. It gets in all the nooks and crannies where rust is hiding (inside rockers and frame rails). What's more important is preventing the rust from coming back, so if they have some some sort of high quality weldable primer dip aftewards that would be the ticket IMO.

After they dip it, they usually don't wipe down the acid residue. and trying to wipe in all the nooks and crankies is a pain especially when you don't need to do in certain areas.

 

Soda blasting is easier IMO. the soda residue thats left over is fine enough to be incorperated into a primer coat and is easy to sand level with the primer, unlike silica or walnut. It does absorb a little moisture so you would have to spray another layer of primer, but you would have to do that anyways.

 

Edit: I know sanding in ALL the areas is impossible so you would have to primer the car twice. One to primer and set the loose soda dust, two to cover the soda particals that are big enough to peak through the first layer of primer.

[DemonZ]

Maybe only the bigger outfits have the neutralizing baths. It can't be that hard, all it would take is some alkali to balance the ph. of an acid dip. If it is a basic/alkaline stripping solution, neutralize with acid. Vinegar and baking soda are cheap and readily available extemes of the ph. scale that are water soluble.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=763334

 

 

Some of those places can e-plate also. That's how the factory does it.

 

 

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

[AK-Z]

Maybe only the bigger outfits have the neutralizing baths. It can't be that hard, all it would take is some alkali to balance the ph. of an acid dip. If it is a basic/alkaline stripping solution, neutralize with acid. Vinegar and baking soda are cheap and readily available extemes of the ph. scale that are water soluble.

 

I thought baking soda was a base. Anyways, they use a solution of sulphuric acid and then the use a form of reverse electroplating to help speed the process.

 

I guess its a choice of base (soda blasting [baking soda]) or acid (acid dipping). haha

[mom'sZ]

I would like to find a spare body shell (78 280Z) to do the acid dip thing with. Thanks DemonZ for that link to the corvette disscusion group thread. That answered a lot of my questions. For SCCA ITS competition there are only so many things you can legally do to drop weight and a structurally sound unibody is a must. As a former paint and body man, I've blasted and had blasted a number of unibodies, it's a lot of work and can't get to the hidden places. Anybody know of an outfit that does this in the south east? maybe even in Florida?

[Guest ON3GO]

I would like to find a spare body shell (78 280Z) to do the acid dip thing with. Thanks DemonZ for that link to the corvette disscusion group thread. That answered a lot of my questions. For SCCA ITS competition there are only so many things you can legally do to drop weight and a structurally sound unibody is a must. As a former paint and body man, I've blasted and had blasted a number of unibodies, it's a lot of work and can't get to the hidden places. Anybody know of an outfit that does this in the south east? maybe even in Florida?

thats what i was looking for, a place in florida.

no luck yet.

 

mike

[skipzoomie]

Master Blaster of Orlando

2349 Brengle Av. Orlando, Florida 32808

407-295-7796