sand blasting question

[87454westernhauler]

im buying this 87 R10 350 auto 118k on it for 600. runs good and the body is fairly solid all around. major problem with it is almost all of the exterior paint is gone and has surface rust all over it. would you guys recomend sand blasting the body or just wire wheel the entire thing? don't have the money for a frame down restore.

[jaredts]

I don't have a sandblaster and have instead used alternating wire wheel with rust converter, then back to the wire wheel.  It takes forever and you still have some small amount of rust in the pits that's difficult to see.  I'm o.k. with that on some things, but you've got large areas.  I think I would lean toward por15 or similar product and high build primer and paint over that.  It wouldn't cost you much and should last longer than the wire wheel approach.  You can do the sandblast thing, but watch who you take it to.  If they aren't accustomed to sheet metal on cars/trucks they will likely warp your panels and blow holes everywhere.  There's soda and glass bead and other media that is less aggressive than sand replacements that should probably be used.  Looks like a great deal BTW.

[Canadian 4X4]

you can use muriatic (sp?) acid it will clean the rust up and for any of the paint that is left there is a paint stripper called "tal strip" it works well just brush it on and scrap off the paint.

[87454westernhauler]

i have cheep or free acces to a sand blaster that a friend has. what do i need to do to prep it, and what would you guys recomend using for blasting materials? basicly i have to pay for sand if i borrow his blaster. cheep is of the essence here!

[Captkaos]

What kind of sand blaster does he have, one of the small 5 gallon containers?   you will ruin the body if you sand blast it.

[VileZambonie]

[VileZambonie]

frame down restore

Is the truck on its roof?

 

[1980c10]

I have a heavy duty wire wheel cup that goes on my 4" grinder; It works very fast- I have used it on a few rust buckets.
something like this
wire cup
http://www.412anglegrinder.info/2010/08/angle-grinder-wheels/wire-cup/
my '82
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=580831&l=1bb35e385c&id=1537832444

I used one of these on my 82 then a coat of self etching primer and spray painted the rest. I took longer to spray paint than to get rid of the rust.
the wire cup was the only thing I used-no sandpaper etc. big rust to shiny metal in no time, complete paint project in one day.
I painted the bottom in black-if you look close; it is to hide the holes in the body down low.

[bake74]

     I have a good friend that owns a powder coating/paint company, also owns a media/sand blasting company.  He does cars and trucks for customers.  He has told me that the media used on the vehicles body is a special media that is a lot softer than what he uses on say the frames and harder metal.  I have seen some vehicles after they were sandblasted and no pitting in the body panels, so I would say do your homework first and if sandblasting is the route you are going to go, make sure you get the right media for the job you want to do.
     I have also used the aircraft stripper that vile suggested, it takes all paint and primer off to bare metal with 1 or 2 coats, but it sure does make a mess, and all the stuff from your vehicle will now be considered hazards waste and will have to be disposed of properly.  Sand IMO is easier to contain and clean up.  Just my 2 cents worth.

[87454westernhauler]

i know all about wire wheels, i have been head of operations in restoring old m farmalls the last two years at our high school and am the master of using them, but was looking for a faster and easyer solution

[jaredts]

You'd better have a massive air compressor and a big area to work in if you're going to blast that yourself.  Not to mention you need good personal protective gear.  I used to work for a guy that restored antique tractors and he was good with his blaster.  Unfortunately he still practically destroyed every thin sheet metal piece he blasted.  If you do it there is a good chance you'll cause damage, so be careful.  Glass bead and soda are the gentle media I know of, but I'm sure there are others.  A wire wheel will not remove all rust from the bottom of pits.  With hours of work you can get close, but its not perfectly clean.  Only you can decide if that's good enough.  Its worked fine for me but it will be many, many hours of work on your rig.  A rust converter helps to soften the rust so the wire wheel gets more of it off and turns it dark so you can see where to concentrate on.

[87454westernhauler]

it is a very big blaster, and he has all the gear. also there is a head stone place that does cheep blasting too that we usually used for tractor parts. what would i need to prep on the truck to blast it if i do that?

[jaredts]

Maybe someone else knows.  I've never been around an assembled vehicle being blasted.  I've only seen things disassembled and then blasted piece by piece.  Seems like duct tape would be no match for it, but you'd have to seal it up and mask it off somehow.

[bake74]

     People should not blast a vehicle with any windows, door handles, etc,etc on.  I would not recommend it.  In any project, the prep work always shows in the finished job.  Your call, but I personally would at least take the windows out and all the handles and trim.

[thirsty]

I did alot of blasting at my previous job with a commercial blaster. Our blaster was too strong for any light metal. I do know that blasting with regular media creates alot of heat and can distort sheetmetal (usually ok with a small blaster though). I had to stand back about 6' with ours to do anything light. Also after you blast it you should sand it down to make the metal smoother. I would look for some replacement parts and only blast what you can't replace.

This took about 1/2 hr to blast.


We used to use duct tape to protect anything that could not get blasted. 2 layers of gorilla tape or 3 layers of regular duct tape. This pic shows putting the tape on, I added alot more before I blasted it.