I am stripping a 74 Grabber to the bare frame. I need advise. What is the best way to strip the paint from engine bay & interior metal? If I need to use sand blaster what media is best to use? What type paint etc. should I use on interior metal that will not be seen just to preserve it? What type paint to paint undercarriage? Please give me your opinions. Thanks,
I believe I used "00" (Called double ought) sand. Its pretty aggressive so keep away from exterior panels. I did my whole shell with the stuff excluding the roof, rear & quarter panels. When done I primed and painted it with the same stuff I shot the car with. Only thing I would do different is scuff up the new paint on the bottom and then shoot it with bed liner. Dont ever paint the bottom of a car white. Its the stupidest thing I ever did. Well, one of the stupidest.
i would suggest...having a water source to pressure wash it (3) times when finished.. ...sand will be in every crack...you don't want it coming out when your paint gun goes across them. steam cleaning would be better...it will heat the metal and it will dry faster...less surface rust i would use...Rust Bullit...on all unseen metal there is a ton of seam sealer in the car that the blasting will remove. putting it back will be to do if you want to. when i did my engine bay i put back about half of what i removed. ......
I use these: http://products3.3m.com/catalog/ca/...neaero_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html There not cheap, but amazing, much better than a wire wheel or grinding disc. Then when it's all clean, a little Prep-Sol (cleaner) and PPG epoxy primer or Por15.
I'm really on this Soda blasting kick right now. You can use it on exterior panels, there is virtually no clean up, and since baking soda is chemically basic, it actually prevents rust by acting as a sacrificial annode. It's more expensive than sand, but I think it's worth it.
Can you elaborate on this? It sounds interesting. Can it be sprayed with a regular Sand Blaster or is there one special for Soda? Thanks,
The soda removal sounds great! I have always sandblasted or chemicle striped, wich is very messy. Im up for something new!
We have some experience using baking soda as a blasting agent. The first time we had something blasted with baking soda was on a pair of 56' F100 fenders. It did an amazing job, but we ran into an unexpected problem. We did not know that the parts had to be absolutely clean of every trace of the baking soda that we couldn't even see. We sanded and washed the fenders down with cleaner before they were primed, just like we always do. When the primer dried, it peeled off the fenders in one big, grey sheet. We never had that happen before and we were totally baffled. We then found out the fenders had to be scrubbed down 2 or 3 times with soap and water to remove every single little trace of the residue from the baking soda. Then they had to be washed down again with a pre-cleaner before they could be primered. We did that and had no more problems. I still like the way the parts come out after the soda blasting and would recommend it, just keep in mind that there is a lot of cleaning to be done after the blasting is done. A pressure washer with a good , strong detergent and plenty of clean rinse water should do the trick on large parts.
Armex is the official name of the blasting media. It's made by Arm & Hammer, same people that make the regular baking soda in a box. From what I've read, the feed rates are different than sand, and it's not as aggressive, but will work with a regular sand blaster. You might need a different nozzle though. Of course, the blasting companies distributing the Armex want you to buy their special blaster though. You can also use it in pressure washers. There is a form of Armex that is water soluable. They also recommend that you use a device called a WADU in conjunction with the pressure washer. For easy baking soda cleanup, you could make the rinse slightly acidic with vinegar or chlorine (bleach) or something along those lines. That'll neutralize all the baking soda and then a detergent rinse afterwards will take care of anything else. Did anyone else ever do the baking soda and vinegar volcano science project?
Many people advise against soda blasting, cause of the potential problems it can cause, as jean experienced. If you do blast with silica sand, you absolutely must use a respirator, the fine silica dust it creates is very hazardous to inhale. At work they have an air supplied blasting hood. I've used a bit of silica sand in the past, not being aware of the dangers of it. Each way of removing paint has its own advantages and disadvantages. I think your safest bet would be media blasting, (other then soda) or physical removal, even though media can get in everywhere and hard to remove even blowing out forever. Cover areas and holes that you don't want media getting into. Other methods such as soda blasting and chemical stripping getting into seams worry me if it didn't get properly neautralized only to find new paint later. Here is a discussion on soda blasting. http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/soda-blasting-83749.html
I wish I had read that before we had those fenders soda blasted. As I recall, the peeling primer really messed us up for a few days. Lost time is lost money when you fix cars for a living .Soda blasting was a fairly new way to strip cars at the time we had those fenders done. The guy who did the stripping was just starting out with the stuff. I doubt even he knew of the potential problems soda blasting would cause. After reading that forum concerning soda blasting, I'm not so sure I would recommend it now. If missing one small spot when cleaning the soda blasted parts is going to result in lost time and having to buy more costly materials, then I think I would go with glass or sand blasting if I absolutely have to have any parts blasted.
