My 1988 Ford Mustang GT project

B

BONESTOCK

Hey all,

Totally new here and to body work. I'm good with mechanical stuff and a total DIYer. I did have the 8 point done professionally as safety and structural integrity is not something to mess with. Anyways on to my project.

1988 Ford Mustang GT.
Plans are to make the body like new!! It'll be a street strip car. Looking to run mid to low 10's in the quarter and still be able to drive it anywhere I want! It will not have a radio (I want to hear the car!), no power steering, no power breaks, no A/C, no heat, no rear seat! Ha! It's my car and I want to make it how I want! Nothing extra that is not needed!
This project will take years as it's going to be done using only extra cash I have lying around. No credit! Been through all that already in my younger years!
So....where I am right now.

I've stripped everything off the car!

Here's where it was when I first got it!
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After some fun with the car!
88GT.jpg

88GT1.jpg


Annnnndddd now!
The windshield is off now too!
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So next step is to media blast it with my Harbor Freight 2hp 30 gallon compressor and 20lb abrasive blaster in my apartment garage! 70 grit aluminum oxide.

Question:
1: For the media blasting. I was going to do it in my garage with tarps up along the rear and right side wall covering my equipment. The left side wall is bare. Then close the garage door 3/4 of the way down and tarp that side. I was thinking only covering up to about 7 feet or so. Is that enough to contain most of the mess? Or do I need to make a ceiling because the dust may fly up over the tarp? should I also get like a fan with the plumbing to draw out dust from the garage and have it go out the side to not disturb the other tenants? Or is the dust not that substantial?
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2: Media blasting the whole car, inside out and underside will probably take a while, right? I do this work very sporadically so would everything be ok to do over the course of a few weeks? I live in MA and the weather is cooling off so humidity shouldn't be to much of an issue for the exposed metal. Then I can epoxy the whole car, right? What would you all suggest? I'm very interested in using the SPI stuff. Just want to make sure I'm prepared before I start!

Very excited but nervous at the same time! Hope this is in the right forum.

Thanks,
Mike
 
Oh and....I'll have a bunch of welding to do after the media blast and epoxy. Smooth the engine bay, passenger side door handle, fuel door, rear hatch key hole. I plan to add a fuel cell in the back and old school filler neck behind the rear license plate.
 
Some of the media will go over the tarp, you could do all your welding first that way when you're done media blasting it's ready for primer. Pad that roll bar well otherwise they end up just being a skull cracker on the street when a helmet isn't worn.
 
Enough media that it's worth covering up or just dust that I could blow away when done?

I thought about welding at first but figured the blasting would show me what I needed to do first. Maybe I should do some of the welding first and then do the stuff I haven't yet seen later? I've never welded either. Just bought a 90 amp flux core welder from HF. Only have access to 120 volt outlet.

The jungle gym will deff be covered when done! Ha!
 
Considering your work space I would look into having a pro do the sandblasting. It will save a big mess and they will blow a lot of the sand out of the car when done. Your compressor is not up to the task in my opinion, so it will take a long time to get that done. You might also look into exchanging the flux core welder for a mig with gas. I have a 110 mig and it does what ever I have asked of it.
 
I was quoted over a grand to do the blasting and that didn't even include the priming. At that point I decided to just go to HF and spend the money buying up the equipment to do it myself! Now I have the tools forever! Time isn't an issue as I'm not against the clock. I figured being new to welding I'd start off with the cheaper flux core. I figure it's about the same as the mig but with just more cleanup due to the splatter.

Thanks for the replies all!
 
I would not consider doing such a large media blasting job in a residential area, inside or outside. You'll be cleaning blast media out of your stuff forever.

I know you'll probably do it anyway, so good luck! Enclose as much as you can, and cover everything outside the area as well, like toolboxes etc.
 
Ha yeah. I'll be doing it, or trying to do it anyways.
Air supplied mask? Really? Even for aluminum oxide?
 
This looks very familiar. I did my 89 in this condition years ago. I would echo everyone else here and not media blast it because of the mess and you'll be blowing sand out of the cracks forever. Your car looks to be in great condition with only some surface rust. I sanded the body with 80 grit and a DA, and did the engine compartment and underside with mostly scotchbrite pads and some paper on the rustier areas.
 
Mike,
I wish you all the best on your project. One big piece of advice is to listen to these guys as much as possible. They have been through the ups and downs of restorations/projects and can save you a ton of time. I would not be surprised if you don't get frustrated trying to sand blast with that compressor though. You will sand blast about 3 minutes, then wait for the pressure to build back and then on top of that you will be dealing with water issues so make sure you put a good separator on the compressor. With all that being said (not trying to dissuade you) you will have a great time and hopefully be proud of your accomplishments in the end.
 
Greg T.;24609 said:
Mike,
I wish you all the best on your project. One big piece of advice is to listen to these guys as much as possible. They have been through the ups and downs of restorations/projects and can save you a ton of time. I would not be surprised if you don't get frustrated trying to sand blast with that compressor though. You will sand blast about 3 minutes, then wait for the pressure to build back and then on top of that you will be dealing with water issues so make sure you put a good separator on the compressor. With all that being said (not trying to dissuade you) you will have a great time and hopefully be proud of your accomplishments in the end.
Click to expand...

I agree!
Having that tiny compressor the most you'll be able to clean is a couple of square inches an hour. The nozzle will have to be very small so imagine going over the entire care with a 1/4" diameter blasting area and having to stop every 3 minutes to wait 5 minutes for the compressor to catch up. Been there and done that. Even with my large compressor a siphon style media blaster takes forever and only works so so. A pressure blaster might gain you a little more time but they have CFM requirements that a 2 hp compressor isn't going to meet.
Check around because that is a small car and another shop may charge you much less than the first quote to blast the car.
You could spend your time getting ready to spray primer when the car returns.

By the way, you will need a bigger compressor than that to run a decent spray gun, a DA or anything else for that matter.
PSI is not as important as CFM (SCFM) output when it comes to compressors. Tank size is another consideration, bigger is better.
PSI is a measure of pressure where CFM is a measure of volume. Nearly all spray guns will require 9-13 CFM at operating pressure (18-40 PSI) in order to atomize paint properly.

Not trying to be a downer but I traveled this road a few years back and would like to spare you the frustration.
Sandblasting is dirty, messy and nasty work and will keep you from getting to the enjoyable parts of working on cars. Pay someone to get it done and move on to what you really want to do.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for the words all.

I've started and yup. Very messy but not nearly as bad as Greg T has made it sound. My biggest issue seems to be with the tips. The pretty much disintegrate before even using a full load of media. It's 70 grit alum oxide. With that do I use the smallest tip that came with the kit?

Another issue is with the pulsing. Pulses for a bit and then levels out but sometimes only air starts coming out.

I have the valve for the media just barely open with the air supply valve about 3/4 open. Does that seem right to you all? I seem to get good stripping with that setup. Also I have my compressor at 90 psi and the compressor seems to keep up. I usually have to stop do to running out of media or readjusting the supply of the air or media.
 
BONESTOCK;24634 said:
Thanks for the words all.

I've started and yup. Very messy but not nearly as bad as Greg T has made it sound. My biggest issue seems to be with the tips. The pretty much disintegrate before even using a full load of media. It's 70 grit alum oxide. With that do I use the smallest tip that came with the kit?

Another issue is with the pulsing. Pulses for a bit and then levels out but sometimes only air starts coming out.

I have the valve for the media just barely open with the air supply valve about 3/4 open. Does that seem right to you all? I seem to get good stripping with that setup. Also I have my compressor at 90 psi and the compressor seems to keep up. I usually have to stop do to running out of media or readjusting the supply of the air or media.
Click to expand...

Mike,
I was not trying to make it sound bad or discourage you in any way, I was just trying to give helpful input. With that being said I wish you the best of luck.
 
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