zggill04

Ok, what I got. I got a guy who wants his 68 Firebird stripped down to metal and repainted. I've did autobody about 4 years ago, and I'm looking to get back into it as just a hobby, starting with this car. 4 years ago, I was blasting cars with sand... bad idea as the sand heats the metal so fast, but we didn't have all this media blasting stuff. My question is, HOW THE HELL MUCH DOES IT COST???? How long does it take? Hopefully quicker than sandblasting?!?! Anybody dealt with this

4reboy

"media blasting" can be a number of things depending on the type of media you use in it. I had my whole car media blasted for about $550 I think it was, "gothand" had his done at the same place. The place there called it sandblasting, but they used some green silica or something like that. If done right sandblasting won't heat up the metal enough to do any damage, never shoot it straight on, always at a sharp angle, and don't keep it in one spot for a long time.

and before someone mentions soda blasting, here's my opinion on it based on some info while researching sandblasting myself. Soda blasting will definitely not damage your car, however it is so gentle that it takes a few runs over the car if you have a lot of paint, and it is not course enough to remove rust. Plus, the media itself is more expensive and you will be using more of it so you are looking at more money.

zggill04

Thanks 4re. Yeah, I know about the sandblasting and how to do it. It's pretty hard to heat up the older metal to warp it, but it doesn't take much on newer vehicles. I've heard some stories about people having their newer car stripped for whatever reason and it warping. And now that you mentioned it, I do remember reading an article maybe a year or two back about the soda being good, but not able to clean out any pits or old body work.

I remember the last job I did was a 65 GTO, car was sweet, but tearing that paint off was a royal PITA sandblasting. Afterwards was alot of fun though. Tore the car all the way down just to build it right back up.

Fordication

There are different kinds of sands that can me used to keep down the warping effect yet cuts right thru the paint. Black magic is a bit expensive but can be reused a few times where sand tends to absorb water from the air and is not worth a damn after one blast.

1slow67

The truck my dad and I are restoring had the body soda blasted and the frame sand blasted.

Soda works really well.

Cruzzar

Had my '53 Studebaker soda blasted and it did a good job of removing paint but it does not remove rust! You have to go back over the rusted spots with some type of abrasive. You also have to make sure you get all of the soda out of the crevices so later when the car gets wet the soda doesn't start to bubble up.

clemmerj

I am in the process of media blasing my 67 mustang. I am using a 30 -60 grit crushed glass to do mine. As long as you can keep the pressure around 90 - 100 psi you should be laughin'. It's very time consuming and messy. Spend a few extra bucks and get the sandblast hood, some extra shields for it and bring another air compressor to feed cool air into the hood. The sand costs me about 8 CDN a bag, and I expect to use around 25 bags. Other then that, have fun!

mortman

try dry ice, cheaper and safer if you can find a company that rents them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_9nI...eature=related

Fordication

dry ice sucks in a blaster!!!!!