There's a guy with a trailer rig that hangs out at nearly every swap meet I've been to. If you go up to the Just Sell It at the Glendale College on Olive, there's a good chance you'll find him hanging out handing out flyers. I think the flyer even has a discount coupon.
I wouldn't soda blast it I ran into that problem once before that stuff is so fine it's hard to get out of the metal when done. Your best bet is to use corn cob or walnut shells. The soda ash will work it's way out of the paint
Be very careful with anyone that says they can do it, there is a tecnique to it, get him to talk about it for a bit and ask to see some of his jobs he's done, it can be done my guy out here can do it, I'd have to ask him about the shells and cobs, soda needs to be washed and washed and washed, with hot water, preferably a steam cleaner or pressure washer the heat will nutrulize the soda, I've got a bus body thats been done for almost 2 years sitting in primer here in the shop and no problems after a soda blast and wash.
I was told by several people that soda blast is the best way to strip a fiberglass body. What other ways are there and what is the best way to end up with a nice clean job with no problems down the road? Phoenix area.
As with anything else soda blasting requires some effort to be put out after the work is done along with some skills at doing the blasting. Just like having a metal car chemically stripped I don't think a lot of guys are willing to put out the effort to make sure things are clean after the stripping is done and end up with issues later. It's getting used more and more on fiberglass boats to strip the paint here in the PNW.
why don't you call some of the local corvette resto shops plus some of the local and national corvette clubs. i would call some of the guys that restore and finish boats, anyone involved with fiberglass restoration could direct you. start a thread here with some pic's that will generate some help!
Do not do what my buddy did 40 years ago. He brushed the vette with aircraft stripper,and drove it down to the quarter car wash and proceeded to wash off the paint and stripper. not recomended for the environment.
Back in the day, we DA'd them. Course we didn't have any other way other than stripper. Its a lot of work but I still do them with an orbital sander. Lippy
You ideally want to remove the paint and not degrade the thin surface layer. "Regular" stripper attacks fiberglass resins. There are special strippers available. The couple I have tried did work, but not great. On top of that, it takes quite a bit and they were expensive. For many years it has been standard practice to DA sand fiberglass to strip it. If not done with proper technique, and the appropriate grit of paper, that process can cause damage too.
Call smoky Crossman at WAT-A-BLAST SODA BLASTING, 480.620.1727. He is in Chandler. Tell him Jon from Palmer's ROMEO lunch group recommended him.
First call your local body shop supply houses and find out which of the major automotive paint manufacturers will stand behind their products if used on anything that's been soda blasted. Last I heard, none of them will because of so many prior problems related to contamination left from the soda. If its a problem to get it all off of metal you can bet its ten times harder to get it all off of and out of fiberglass.
I used plastic media on my 59 corvette it worked fine, a lot of vacuuming and blowing out nooks and crannies.
The guy they are referring to is Smoky and if you call SoCal they can give you his number. Otherwise there is a guy in Apache Junction- Tony- who does a lot of Anglias. They know him at Davis Salvage. Sorry I forgot names, but Tony did a good job on my 60 Corvette about 10 years back. Rick
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