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ekesz13

New Member
Hi, new guy here. After a lot of reading on this forum (which is a fantastic resource), I think I have a plan and would like to run it by you guys. Background, restomod’ing my first car, a 1969 Chevelle. About to send it off to the media blaster and want to be ready to roll when it gets back. Media blaster has 30 years experience and does the work for a couple custom shops in the area, so hoping no issues with that bit, but who knows.

Here is my plan when I get it back:

  • Blow it out until I get all the excess media out. It will be on a rotisserie, so hopefully I can get most of it.
  • If the surface does not appear to be equivalent to an 80 grit scratch, then I will DA all the surfaces with 80 grit.
  • If any flash rust appears (because I am slow), I will scuff it with red scotch brite. Did I read on here that a little flash rust is ok and the epoxy will seal right over it?
  • Blow it off, wipe it off with 700/710 (optional it seems) and put it in epoxy. I will have a lot of metal repair to do, so will be in epoxy for several months.
  • Bodywork / filler will be done on top of epoxy. If longer than 7 days, I will scuff the epoxy with 180 and then apply the body filler.
  • After filler work done and panels replaced, I will scuff everything in 180 and then seal with one wet coat of epoxy (reduced).
  • I will then move straight to 2K Primer for blocking out. Looks like there is a 2-48 hour window for reduced epoxy as sealer.
All recommendations welcome. This is what I believe I read and pieced together so far. Just want to make sure I didn't get off track as I read a lot of stories on here about "I wish I found this forum before I ......".

Thanks!!

Erich
 
I'd only degrease a blasted body if you first went over it with 80 grit DA, otherwise your shop towel will leave lint all over it (don't ask me how I know). The sand gives more than enough profile for the epoxy to adhere but I had a much easier time just smoothing the entire thing out with 80 grit on DA. It removes the media profile and allows me to use WGR.
 
“After filler work done and panels replaced, I will scuff everything in 180 and then seal with one wet coat of epoxy (reduced).”

I would not reduce epoxy at this stage. I only reduce epoxy when using it as a sealer for basecoat. This is recommended practice.

Don
 
Lizer said:
I'd only degrease a blasted body if you first went over it with 80 grit DA, otherwise your shop towel will leave lint all over it (don't ask me how I know). The sand gives more than enough profile for the epoxy to adhere but I had a much easier time just smoothing the entire thing out with 80 grit on DA. It removes the media profile and allows me to use WGR.
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I'm with Lizer. I just always DA it with 80 grit, no matter what and then clean with 700 WG. Just because.
Should only take about an hour to do a whole 69 chevelle body, maybe another hour or so with 2-3" 80 Roloc discs for the jambs and smaller areas.

You mentioned "metal work," so here is another thought. Hold off on the epoxy, IF (and only IF) the car will be stored in an enclosed shop.
I've got parts that were blasted 3 years ago, in the shop, in bare metal, and not a hint of rust, flash or otherwise.
If you are going to be cutting, welding, grinding, etc you are going to be grinding off, then respraying, then grinding off epoxy ad nauseam.

And speaking of nauseous, the "smell of burning epoxy in the morning," does not "smell like victory," it makes you feel nauseous.

I'm no pro and the real pro's here may have different and better ideas.
 
so hoping no issues
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you'll be one of the Very Few if "that" happens.
Blasting has a way of finding things you would never thought in a million years of.
Rear window glass Chanel is a prime area with lower quarters both front and back of the rear wheel well.Front rear of the wheel well,trunk floor.
Just so you won't be all giddy with excitement until you lay eyes on It.
You don't have any or just very minor,You better head down and buy a lottery ticket or two.
Roof joint at the sail panel could be interesting. Our 69 had Brass brazing in It.
 
@Lizer Thank you. I will just plan on hitting it with the DA and then cleaning it with W&G.

@dhutton01 Thank you, I will not reduce it at that point then.

@Dean Jenkins It will be in a 2-car garage that get's opened daily. I live in Charlotte, NC and the humidity can get rough. I will be ready for epoxy but monitor it to see if it starts flash rusting. Would be ideal to not have to shot and re-shoot, but I don't think this environment will allow that.

@MikeK I meant no additional problems such as warping panels that are not already warped. I have plenty of rot and thus my comment about 'plenty of metal work to do' Both rear quarters have rot behind and in front of wheel wells, rear window channels, rockers, floor pans.... thus why I want to have it blasted to see what I am dealing with. I am under no illusions here. lol I did think about manually stripping the rear quarter to roof joints to see if they were leaded / brazed. I might still do that before blast.
 
ekesz13 said:
Both rear quarters have rot behind and in front of wheel wells, rear window channels, rockers, floor pans.... thus why I want to have it blasted to see what I am dealing with. I am under no illusions here. lol I did think about manually stripping the rear quarter to roof joints to see if they were leaded / brazed. I might still do that before blast.
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With that much rust, have you considered a full car "dipping" process? Looks like you have one in Burlington.
http://chem-strip.com/
I had it done to my el Camino and could not be more pleased. This process reveals EVERYTHING.
Some guys are leary of this process and that is fine, but the top restoration shops I have gotten to know won't do it any other way.

Just tossing out ideas . . .
 
I would recommend tearing into and replacing all the obvious rusted areas before hiring anyone to blast or dip the body. Get yourself a portable blaster. Took me about a year before my Falcon was ready for dip and it was an extremely good shape before I had started... I work slow also. Dipping versus blast is a tough one to decide. The biggest downside to dipping is everything is exposed afterwards and it's damn near impossible to properly coat everything. If you have the car dipped you will need to apply some sort of cavity wax in all the enclosed places after the car is fully painted. Blasting on the other hand can and will WARP stuff. I spoke to a number of guys that wet blast. Supposedly that does not warp panels. One of them told me that claim was total bullshi* and if he did the car there would be many areas where there would still be paint remaining. He was the only guy I would have trusted.
 
Toolin said:
I would recommend tearing into and replacing all the obvious rusted areas before hiring anyone to blast or dip the body. Get yourself a portable blaster. Took me about a year before my Falcon was ready for dip and it was an extremely good shape before I had started... I work slow also. Dipping versus blast is a tough one to decide. The biggest downside to dipping is everything is exposed afterwards and it's damn near impossible to properly coat everything. If you have the car dipped you will need to apply some sort of cavity wax in all the enclosed places after the car is fully painted. Blasting on the other hand can and will WARP stuff. I spoke to a number of guys that wet blast. Supposedly that does not warp panels. One of them told me that claim was total bullshi* and if he did the car there would be many areas where there would still be paint remaining. He was the only guy I would have trusted.
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Blasting will only warp panels if you don't know what you're doing and are pounding the media on. There's a local industrial blasting company I frequent where I do all my big blasting jobs, and they taught me how to blast properly so it doesn't warp panels, which is keeping several feet distance of the blasting nozzle from the panel, hitting the panel at a 45 degree angle instead of straight on and not dwelling on a spot too long, but instead moving over the entire panel very quickly. The goal is to not strip everything in a single pass. It will take at least 3 passes to properly blast a panel doing it like this.
 
@Dean Jenkins I spent several weeks researching and talking to custom shops, dustless blasters, conventional blasters, and chemical dippers. Decided to go with media blasting on all the reinforced areas at a minimum. I was leary about the larger panels (roof, quarters, etc) but had a good long talk with the guy and he brought up all the pros and cons and we decided on a path, so that is set.

@Toolin This is my major debate right now. After a couple days thinking, looking, thinking.... I believe I am going to start on the metal repair first as the job keeps getting bigger the more I look.

@Lizer This seems to be what I heard from all the people I talked to. Gotta find that person you think you can trust, then hope. But after I get done with all the metal replacement, I will mechanically strip the roof and fenders. Won't be much left to warp! (new hood and new deck lid).
 
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