I am starting to tear down a pretty rusted 68 coupe. Have always wanted vintage stang and someone gave me this one.I amgoing to replace or restore everything ground up. My husband got a complete 351C 4V CJ from a friend he drag races with so that is going in and entire suspension, interior etc is going to be upgraded. It is way to rusty to donumber matching rebuild so it will be modded.We are planning on soda blasting it but has anyone ever done adip on these guys scared i wont have any car left lol going that route but at least wont have any rust. appreciate any ideas on this

 

If I were doing it, I'd blast. Going by what the guy on Muscle Car (tv program on SpikeTV) said, you'll get a better idea of the rust issues you have by blasting as the dip will clean the rust v. knock it loose.

But, I've never done either, so what do I know.

BTW, welcome to the forum, it's nice to have more women on here.

 

I highly recomend blasting. Dipping is great for getting rid of rust in all of the areas that you cannot get to. However it will also remove the paint, seam sealer, and everything else in those areas that you cannot get to. Dipping also removes good metal as well as bad. In the old days, oval track racers would dip their cars to make them lighter.
Try and locate a blaster that can do 3 things for you.
1) Light media blast (preferably plastic) for the upper surfaces just to remove paint.
2) Heavy media blast (sand, black beauty, etc.) for heavy rust, undercoating seam sealer etc.
3) Epoxy primer everything - so it won't start rusting again while you get repairs done.

Here is what ours looked like before and after blasting and priming.


Hope this helps!

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Soda blasting will not remove the rust, it is really good for removing paint and not damaging the metal. The advantages of dipping are: It will get to the rust and paint that you would not get to and they can dip it in zinc sealer to keep it from rusting.
There has been some talk about the acid being left inside the frame and starting to corrode.
It would be cheaper to sandblast and easier, unless you have a facility close by. Plus you could blast it yourself, it's a lot of fun.

 

I blasted mine and it worked great. I don't think I would have dipped mine if I had the choice. If it's that rusty, alot of it will be replaced anyway, so why dip it if a lot of the metal will be new? I'd blast it.

 

we just had our '69 soda blasted and then they sand blasted the rusty area. This inmo is the only way to go.

 

thanks guys for help. blasting is the way we were planning to go. We will probably do ourselves as no reliable places nearby i have found. Plan on soda blasting then sandblasting any areas that need extra work thats not going to be completely replaced. I have had fun with disassembly so far trying to do as much as i can by myself then get hubby to help with areas i cant handle. this is supposed to be my car so I want to know as much about it as i can. He will do most of suspension and motor work and I am having to fight him to keep it looking as 68 as I can. If our marriage survives this it will be strong lol

 

I blasted mine in my garage with a cheap harbor frieght blaster. The biggest drawback is the mess. You will have sand coming out of all the nooks and crannys. I had to remove the undercoating with a screwdriver and a putty knife prior to blasting or it would have taken alot more time to blast. If you do it yourself you will neeed a good compressor. You might consider renting one. Going rate for paying to blast is around 500. here is right after i blasted mine. The pic of the garage was after I took the car out and pulled the plastic down. Have fun with it though and welcome to the forum.

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Here is usually what I do. I DA all the areas that are flat and I can get to (down to metal). I use aircraft stripper in the spray can to loosen the paint in the concave (gutters, cowl grills, engine bay, pinch welds, trunklip, door grained areas,etc.) areas that the DA will not reach. This will loosen the paint and removal will be easier. I would say that theDA willwork on around 80% of the car unless you do the inside,cutting downon the blasting time by the same. If you sub out the blasting, this will save you also as they will have only a few areas to do. As soon as you get her cleaned up, I would wipe the bare metal down with a "Metal prep" that contains Phosphoric Acid, this will clean any oxide and leave a protective phosphate coating untill youget the primer on.Good luck, have fun, and wear an approved respirator.

 

I removed most of the paint on the flat areas with a razor knife on a scraper. Still leaves the primer and bondoon the car but took the top 3 layers of paint off in chips and saved me from sanding with a DA.