To Blast or not to Blast

I am in the process of doing my first restoration on my 1970 GS455. I have decided to do a frame off restoration. I am about to separate the body from the frame. I would like to get some advice on media blasting the body and frame. I have time and space to do much of the work my self. I would like to media blast the body. I would like to find out some of the pitfalls or do and don't before I go full throttle.
Thanks

 

First off, let me start by saying I am not a bodyman, blaster or professional auto restorer. That said i am also in the process of restoring a GS myself and have watched the process very closely. From what I have seen I would just use a DA on the sheetmetal. I have watched the bodyshop that is doing my car strip a number of cars down using a DA, you stated you have time and this way you don't have to worry about warping,etc. I believe sand blasting would be fine on the frame, there is enough thickness and structural reinforcement that you won't have to worry about wrecking anything. I have also been told that soda will not remove rust. Blasting is messy, the best thing to do is to take your parts to be blasted to a professional and let them worry about the mess/cleanup. I had my firewall and undercarraige blasted, once again there is enough shape to these parts that they're not real easy to warp. I hope this helps you out or at least gets some good discussion started. If you're going to DA the body wear a respirator, Good Luck:TU:

 

I used to believe in media blasting, and took fenders, a hood, and a cowl to a "professional".

The hood ended up ruined from warpage. I'm sticking with sanding from now on.

 

Have someone else sandblast the frame and suspension components....it's just not worth the time and money to do it yourself when you can have a pro do it for $150 + whatever the A-Arms, etc cost.

Chemical strip the paint yourself and then DA sand the metal and put it in epoxy primer (you can do one or two panels at a time so you don't get ahead of yourself and have a bunch of bare sheetmetal parts laying around).

There's PLENTY of stuff YOU can do but the time spent and cost of sand, cleanup, etc just doesn't compare to having a pro do it, IMO. They will knock it out FAST and you can take it home and prime it (REMEMBER: It's winter so you need to watch the cool temps for painting).

You could do the suspension pieces yourself in a blast cabinet or with an outside blaster...but even those take plenty of time to get nice and clean....like this:

 

Okay, you have the time and space to do it yourself....what is your budget?
I like to do everything myself as well!
I blasted my frame with a pressure sand blaster in a weekend, then prepped and painted it the next weekend.
Same with the underside of the body,
Another couple of days to do the interior.
I got a lot done in that first summer!

Now for the finances:
Do you have a good compressor yet? $800
a pressure sand blaster? $200
To blast and paint, you should have a supplied-air respirator. $350.
$100 for sand. more if you don't collect it and re-use it.
primers and paints for frame and underbody $200.
Do you have neighbors that will complain about dust, noise and Paint fumes?

But sending the disassembled frame and suspension pieces out to be blasted and powder coated is a great alternative. Prices vary WIDELY, but figure $600-1000 to have it done. That's a deal when you consider the time and effort it will take you to do the same.
Body shell could be $600+ to have media-blasted. +primer and paint costs.

It really comes down to what condition the car is in, how much time you want to spend to complete it, finances, and the quality level you want..

Joe has a great thread on the driveway restoration of his 65 GS here:
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=163064
The body shell media-blasting is scheduled for this week:beer . Progress will be picking up once that is done. Check it out!:TU:

 

I was leaning toward soda as the media to use but I have never done this. I have access to a high cfm compressor. I was wanting to find out if there are any major problems I could create doing it myself or is it best to pony up and let an experienced man do the job.

 

Soda will do nothing for the frame and/or suspension pieces....it won't strip off rust. As far as body panels do some research....there are SPECIFIC and IMPORTANT steps you must follow if you are going to use soda. Fail to do that and you can have paint adhesion problems.

Find someone with a sandblaster for the frame and suspension stuff.

 

Right, don't sandblast the outside body panels with sand, they can be warped beyond use.
But you can sandblast the underside of the body, and the interior of the car without damaging it.
To blast with baking soda, you need to use a different style of blaster than one used for sand.

Here is an awesome site with TONS of info on blasting:
http://www.consolidatedstripping.com/

 

Patton, those A arms would take me about 6 months to get that clean.. My next major investment may be a 2 stage compressor....


DL

 

:TU: That one's on your car Don! More air! Bigger blast cabinet! I'm with you on that.

 

I agree on paying someone. I blast small stuff in friends blast cabaonet but after spending 2 hours on 1 "A" arm. The rest went to the blaster. I had door and one fender blasted with fine sand with no warpage but would not try hood or trunk lid.

 

Lots of great advice posted so far. I would not use anything but soda to blast the body (top side) and that should be done by someone who does it everyday. There are places that are mobile and can come to your house if you have the space. Since the soda is completely inert and washes away, there is no cleanup or environmental concerns.

Just for s---s and giggles and make me feel better about doing more work myself, I got quotes from 3 high end restoration shops for the bodywork. After picking myself up off the floor, I questioned them a bit on their methods and they all used soda blasting as a primary method with a combination of other medias depending on the specific location on the body.

Plastic media blasting is another option that is acceptable for body panels but as with most medias, it can get into undesirable places and not easily removed.

I got a ballpark price of $1200-$1400 to soda blast the body. The cost of blasting is all about how much time it takes. I talked to my blaster and decided I am going to chemicaly strip all the easy access large surface area panels which is probably 90% of the total sq inch area of a body. I'll stay away from seams that could trap the chemical stripper and cause problems down the road. After that, I'll take the body to a soda blaster to clean up the surfaces and get the remaining areas like trunk lid underside, door and trunk jambs, hood edges, firewall, door bottoms etc. They said the $1200 cost will be cut in half and likely even less than half. I'll also strip the undercoating off the bottom which will save a ton of labor for the blaster.

If you strip the paint either chemically or with a sander, you still need some degree of blasting done to get in all the nooks and crannies if you want to do it without cutting corners.

I just bought a nice sized 19.1 cfm@125psi compressor and blast cabinet to do everything under 60" in length. It was a painful expenditure and won't pay for itself on this project but will on the next. A part of the reason I invested in a blasting setup was for the convenience of being able to blast something on the spot and not relying on someone else or wasting time driving stuff back and forth. So for me, doing it myself wasn't completely about saving money.

 

Well i'm no body guy either but have to say soda is the way to go.

I'll be posting pictures of my body blasted a little later.He's here right now doin it in my driveway!!!!!

 

I slightly warped a hood from blasting it ...ya learn and live

blast frame and hard parts...the trunk pan and floors you could

....I wouldnt blast body panels

 

Depending on what's in your area, you might also consider dry ice blasting. Check out You Tube. Like soda, it will not remove rust, but the dry ice evaporates completely. You will not have to worry about soda hiding in your body seams. Price wise, I have no idea how it compares to soda, sand, etc. Good luck. Rudy E.

 

Sand blast the frame with fine white sand and chemical strip the body it gets messy but works fast. With the price of DA paper a couple of gallons of chemical strip will work. Then just finish it with a DA. On the other hand I Sandblasted my frame and had it painted in one weekend. I did not have a real high cfm compressor I blasted at a fairly low PSi (75-85) works great.

 

whatever you decide to do, keep us updated with pics. Looks like you have a very solid car to start with. Makes me jealous.