Sandblasting! Anybody out there done any?

LobsterPimp · Post by **LobsterPimp** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 8:55 pm

I ordered the POR-15 kit ($133 with shipping) and got the call from the headstone carver. $50 an hour and $15 for 100 lbs of media. An hour should cover it, maybe 2. Should be $250 to strip and coat the whole pan. I'll take lots of pics.

Still need to remove transmission. Gotta get that 8mm 12 point torque bit.

LobsterPimp · Post by **LobsterPimp** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:16 pm

Got the pan darn well stripped for sandblasting.

I still need to:

Pull out all cables and shifter linkage
Cover or remove trailing arm bushings (how do you remove bushings?)
Remove inner rear wheel bearings (????)
Remove steering dampner
Remove front spindles
Remove any remaining rubber or plastic

I'm gonna have to cut out some rust under the tunnel too. I'm thinking I'll do that before I go to the sandblaster, and have him blast whatever he can reach inside.

Any suggestions or precautions on cable removal and which ones should be replaced (E-break, heater cables, throttle, clutch).

I have the front end and trailing arms removed (removed shocks). Steering box is still attached (remove?) Both pans have been removed, and the front firewall mount has been removed as well (all to be replaced, parts have been recieved, waiting on sandblasting and welder).

Anyone with any advice....please lend it. I'm real close to gettin this stuff done, but a few small issues are jamming my brain waves. I have consulted the Bentley (No Index!!!!!) and still need to consult my Muir book.

Once I get it srtipped and cleaned (sandblasted).... I can start the rebuilding process.

Aww hell.......I'm just gonna rip em all out (cables) and beat on those bushings and bearings with a hammer, and worry about it on the rebuild

LobsterPimp · Post by **LobsterPimp** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 3:13 am

how do I go about removing the tubes that contain the e break cables, where they exit out the back of the frame?

Shoul I just leave them hanging when I get it blasted?

There is a lot of rubber on the front suspension. Should I remove it all, or just do my best to cover it up for the blast?

B-rad G · Post by **B-rad G** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 6:36 pm

I would recommend a quality potent aircraft/automotive paint stripper followed by a good hammering with a wire wheel (you might go through a couple of them. Also, watch out for flying wires, they stick in you. The wire wheel will get a ton of stuff off of the body. Definitly wear some eye protection if nothing else. This is a time consuming process, so don't think you're going to whip through this thing real quick. Just make sure you clean up real good as to not make the misses angry. That's all I've got.

Brad

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:59 am

I wouldn't worry to much about cable tubes just tape 'em up. Sand from a blaster pretty much just bounces off of rubber so bushings and such aren't really an issue. tape up all the holes into the tunnel with duct tape and tell the blaster guy not to go nuts anywhere around any thing that concerns you. If he uses really agressive black beauty media things may be different. I'm the guest poster that used play sand on my buggy pan I didn't use anything but the POR-15 when I painted it last winter, the finish from the blaster gave good "tooth" for the POR-15 to stick to.The only thing that happened is my rite heel wore thru it by the gas pedal! For the inside of my tunnel I used something called Black Oil. Tis stuff was origenally (sp?) used for open gear and chain drive on equip. it hardens to a waxy oily kind of sealer.An 86 year old man told me about it when I was wondering what to do with my tunnel hard ware store had it rite on the shelf when I looked for it. It's the bomb toots, love the way it spreads its self and bubbles around when you spray it in all the tunnel openings. good luck, Bill.

LobsterPimp · Post by **LobsterPimp** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:47 pm

I worked aboard a fishing vessle called the "Toots". I don't hear that expression that often any more.

Anyway.....I got the rubber tubing off the clutch and throttle, and removed the break cables and lever/heater assembly. She's stripped good. For the front end, I'm just gonna have the guy stay clear of the rubber (this sandblaster is for carving headstones, I think it has the potential to destroy any rubber it comes in contact with). And I'm gonna cover the trailing arm bushings with washers. I wasn't going to concern myself with covering the tunnel holes. I was actually hoping that he could blast some of the inside, what he can hit anyway.

But I'm loading it all onto a trailer tonight, and am either going to drop it off this Sunday night, or take it Monday morning and wait for it. I should have some good "post-blast" pics by mid week next week.

Mig wleder is en route from harbor frieght, all my rplacement pan parts are in, just need to be stripped. I'm getting close........

Wish me luck

I.L. · Post by **I.L.** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:05 pm

This is for the Guest that used play sand. What kind of compressor were you using? I never thought of going that route and I could save a few bucks by using the cheap sand on my pan, wheel wells, trunk, engine area, etc. All the stuff the gets covered anyway.

southysuper · Post by **southysuper** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:02 pm

I've used "sandblasting" in many fashions. For body and pan, silica would be fine and the cheapest route to go. If you are doing this in your garage there are a few tips and tricks I've learned. Buy one of those two gallon sandblasting kits from lowes or harbor freight or whatever tool store. All you really need from this is the gun, nozzle inserts, rubber hose, and the feeder fitting. Pull all of this off and go buy a big rubbermaid trash can with lid. This is your new media container!! It holds 300+ lbs of media and can be scooted around the shop easily. With open pit blasting, the sand gets everywhere and I do mean everywhere including your buttcrack. Protect your eyes and lungs from the silica. Assemble a tent around your project to contain the sand. You don't want the sand getting into your garage door roller assemblies. Pull a double layer of galvanized window screening over a wood frame and use that as your media filter. Simply lay it over the trash can. Get the biggest and most powerful compressor your wife will let you buy. I suggest you use an inline humidity trap and purge your air tank often. One more thing, don't focus the blast on any area fro too long as this can cause warping due to the heat. That's all I care to type for now. Good luck.

Ryan Huebler · Post by **Ryan Huebler** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:52 pm

I have tryied all the types of blasting, and by far the best route it to have it done professionaly. My friends dad took me and my car up to his work (Puget Sound Coatings) and we blasted my car up in 2 hours top to bottem. He let me do most of the blasting. We used glass beed. As for things you dont want to get blasted put 2 layers of duck tape on them. The ducttape will protect anything. Also get any underbody or tar boards off as the media wont take them off without taking too much of the metal off.

FITNESSFORYOUTOO · Post by **FITNESSFORYOUTOO** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:52 pm

The only thing I really blast on my cars is the rear grill area below the window because you cant get stripper in there to the inside louvers and the pan after I have chemical stripped most of the paint off first.

Ol'fogasaurus · Post by **Ol'fogasaurus** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:53 pm

The restorers, many years ago, learned the hard way not to use sand on a car! It compacts the then metal (I think the metal in a Model A is thicker than a VW), makes it brittle and rust faster. If you do use sand, do not spray directly at the metal, but skip it along the surface at an angle. I'm in the process of rebuilding a pan and I would not even consider sand blasting it.

Almost any other kind of media blasting should be OK. A friend of mine has his car soda blasted. Messy and a big cloud flew over the neighborhood but it did not damage things. He had a mobile unit (professional) come over to his house and he put a plastic drop cloth over the door(s) and windows of his garage. The drop cloth over the door was weighted at the bottom so they could get in and out of the garage to bring more soda bags in without making any more of a mess. What was used was simple baking soda and they used many bags of it (Costco).

Duct tape will be good for protecting the tubes. I used it in a blast cabinet to cover the bearing housing on some trailing arms (I didn’t realize that they had sand loaded at the time) and the sand didn't seem to have any effect on the tape.

Strippers can be messy and hard to get out of some places. You might have to wash the pan in order to neutralize the stripper (depending on what you use) and also to get it out of the cracks so it doesn't affect the new paint. Also, you need to tape off the tunnel so it doesn’t get in there.

If you have any powder coaters around where you live, check with them to see who they use because they usually have this done before they shoot any material.

Hot VW & Dune buggies just did a 5 part article on rebuilding a VW pan. Granted it was a show pan but there was a lot of good stuff in the article. They ended up having their pan media blasted twice. The second time was before powder coating.