I'm attempting to redo a 49 Ford Pickup body, and to be honest, I have no idea where to begin. I know I want to do an off frame restoration and I definitely want to try to KILL any rust, so I assume that means that I break down the body into its smallest components. Is sanding best for removing the paint/rust buildup or is sandblasting the way to go? I know some people have their body dipped, but what's a typical cost for that? I don't have an unlimited budget for this, and I really like the idea of doing it all myself.
be real careful with how you go about stripping it around here...Central Texas seems to think that playground sand is suitable for large scale stripping...and it's not. I don't know of anyone around here with a hot tank big enough for dipping an entire cab, bed or body-if you find one, give me a call. as far as sanding is concerned, I reccomend using a chemical stripper first (to remove the bulk of the paint as easily as possible) then sand the areas to rust free by hand. work on 1 panel at a time, and when you are done with it, hit it with some self etching primer to seal the job up. - you don't have to get into bodywork right away (if the parts are stored in a clean dry environment, they will stay "clean" indefinitley) the key is ONE PANEL AT A TIME, inside and out.
What chemical stripper would you recommend? And when you say sand by hand, do you mean with a random orbital sander or actually by hand? Wet sand or dry sand?
do you have an air compressor in your shop that could run a small presure pot type of media blaster?...if theres not to much paint build up you can use soda..if you have lots of paint to remove you can start with a more aggressive media.
Hey Lug,I think I can help you out some too.I firmly belive in the one peice at a time method,J Cash had it right!I recomend a product called "aircraft stripper".I use the "Marhyde" brand,but I think they are all about the same.I would only sand blast the areas that were rusty,after it was stripped.JMO.....good luck. EVIL
I'd dip it in a heartbeat. You may need to do a search to find one within a reasonable drive but IMO it's worth it. I'd guess in the 'hood of about $300 for just a cab. Some offer an "e" coat right after the stripping process for less than you could buy the mat'ls to do it yourself. I'd look around. Your big cities will be the best bet. A lot of builders have concerns of the liquid leaching out later but after doing this on I can't count how many cars/parts I've never had an issue. Just check their rinse and dry process and ask plenty of ?s. Good luck with it. Stripping by hand is a nasty thankless job. I hate it. Sand blasting is something you don't want to be cheap about either. If someone offers a brutally low price you'd best look around at his work. A bad blaster can destroy a round cab like that in no time.
if your going to restore the truck, then media blast it. its a hundred times better than sandblasting.i made the mistake of sandblasting my car and had alot of problems fixing it and keeping it from rusting. ive used chemical stripper before and its messy as all hell. but if you want to use it its made by strip kleen its called aircraft remover.auto stores sell it here but i dont know about texas. here in california i had a whole car blasted for about 500 bux. i think if your restoring then blast if you just want to drive it and fix it,then sand it with a rotary or a da.
the stuff I like is Jasco adhesive remover from Home Depot- that said, it is pretty nasty stuff, and you dont want it on you! you can start with the d.a, but when it is all cleaned up, it wont hurt to go over it with some 180 to help remove some of the sanding marks left by the sander by hand. it takes less time than you would think, and if you use a block, it will highlight the minor imperfections you would usually miss by using the sander alone.
Well as I said before, I really want to do ALL this myself. I guess I'm just that hard-headed (or maybe I'm just stupid). Are the strippers somewhat like the paint or varnish strippers I've used to strip furniture? If so, I know what you mean about nasty. I don't mind nasty though, as long as it does a good job. I just want to do this right and not screw something up in the process.
Hey, I'd rather walk through hell on Sunday than have another car dipped! Keep in mind that not only does the dipping process strip paint and sealer from those places that you can see, but from those that you can't. How, short of a dip tank will you get into all those box section and blind areas with sealer and paint? If you think you have rust issues now, just wait! Sure they all hard sell their"Patened" coatings to kill rust, but I've not seen any that stop rust in its tracks. Rust doesn't take a day off! I'd find someone who blasts sheetmetal on a regular basis and have them bid it. Swankey devils C.C.
the best way to get rid of rust is blast it . if the only thing you want to do is get rid of paint the aircraft stripper is best but if you have a lot of rust then blast it . you can buy the blaster from eastwood and do it your self . find a good place for sand and away you go .
Once I get it down to bare metal, I know I need to apply a primer or something to prevent rust. What's best for this next step?
have it media blasted. the best any one can strip a car by hand is only 10% as good as media blasting will do.
You should use a good brand sealer primer or what I use is an acid etching primer on bare metal. You need to do it as soon as you can to keep the bare metal from rusting.
any epoxy primer will work. but just remeber that these will let maisture in after a while. they were never meant to be used as the final paint or top coat. do your bondo work ontop of this too, it helps with the adhesion. dont skimp on this step. get a real good primer rather than some cheap stuff. you want to get something that will bite into the metal likea self etching primer. but the epoxy primer will bight just as good if you geta good product.
If you can sand all the rust off of a panel with sandpaper, then your part is not rusty. In fact, that's what we in Wisconsin consider rust free. Rusty shit has pits and holes in it and will not come off without blasting or dipping. I've never had anything dipped but I'd like to try it on some smaller pieces to see how it works. PPG DP90 is, as far as I'm concerned, the best epoxy primer you can buy, but it's also pretty pricey. Something comparable would be the way to go.
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