Cost of Sand Blasting Chassis for Respray

[peterjfox69]

Can anyone give me an approx cost of what it costs to sand blast a Stag chassis ready for bare metal re spray please

[new to this]

Not sure about a Stag,but a Sunbeam tiger had the shell done for £850

[StokeyStag]

Dave's figure shouldn't be too far off the mark. It will also depend if your shop is scheduling you in or fitting the job around more 'profitable' work. You should also consider getting it sprayed in primer straight away to protect it.

Make sure you or the shop remove the sound deadening bitumen on the rear seat pan and side panels (knuckle ripping territory). Finally, any underseal etc. will take more effort to remove so make sure this is included in the price.

Good luck.

[MikeParker]

The question with any paint remover be it chemical, heat or mechanical is does it get into the box sections where the real problems lie. When I had my bodywork fixed, most of the issues where under the outer panels. So really you need to take the sills and wings off and then blast what is left. Even then you won't get inside the box sections such as around the windscreen or outriggers. I would guess that an acid dip does quite a good job but even then I am not sure it leaves a shiny metal finish. All the stripped shells I have seen at shows have been hand cleaned after treatment.

[dasadrew]

Can't help out with the price, but the different factors which I learnt from the company which did mine many moons ago were, for me, quite a revelation.

- the term "sand-blasting" made them grin a bit
- the transport to the shop presented a couple of challenges - the completely naked shell coudn't be simply strapped down on the trailer floor, so tyres and pallets were needed
- the underseal and bitumen areas were blasted with dry-ice
- the main blasting was done with blasting grit in different grain sizes
- when a delicate area showed itself (windscreen aurround and the like) they switched to nutshells (walnut I think!)
- the media-blasting was done in a temperature and humidity controlled room and the entire shell was primed immediately after blasting

finally:

- the blasting uncovered a few unwelcome surprises like filler from previous dings

- bits of blasting media were coming out of nooks and crannies for a year or so afterwards, as different stages of the rebuild disturbed little pockets of grit.

In future, I would definitely ask around what acid dipping would cost, but I anticipate the environmental costs would make it prohibitive

Drew

[Motorsport Micky]

The idea of the acid dip or any dip where the complete shell is immersed in a tank is fraught with it's own problems. Even when the shell is immersed in a neutralising tank and then power washed where you can get to it, the seeping chosen noxious substance gets into nooks and crannies and even between the seams of panels, and it doesn't stop working even years afterwards.
If you check the internet on various classic car sites you'll find a considerable number of cases where a couple of years afterwards they suffer from paint reactions as the continuous leeching of the dipping solution emerges from seams and corrupts the finished surfaces, often very expensive painted finishes. You'll now find many paintshops and refurbishment car shops reverting to the various blasting finishes in preference because despite it's limitations (it can only get where you can get the blasting gun) it's controllable and doesn't expose firms to legal claims afterwards. If I was considering a "dip" strip it's a consideration to discuss with the firms being considered.

Micky

[JeffW]

When I was doing my Mk II at Faversham, I did 2 weeks of scraping to get the paint off and they did much more, which ended up being really expensive.

I was always intrigued by pyrolysis after seeing it on one of the car show like Car SOS. Seems like a good way of doing it as it avoids the chemical seep and pockets of blasting media with other ways. It does have the same transport issues as those though.

https://www.envirostripgbltd.com/industrial/auto-restoration/

Jeff

[Motorsport Micky]

Sadly Jeff...it doesn't. The pyrolysis is excellent and available through a number of firms across the country but only heats the shell and degrades any paint remaining, then followed by an acid rinse for the rust neutralising and phosphating process...same problem. I know of a professional body restorer on classic cars who used to religiously use them as the way forward but now has reverted to soda blast etc having suffered a couple of body refurbs which were compromised by leeching out of substances. He'd spoken with the pyrolising firm and asked for better cleansing but it didn't improve. I'm into a body rebuild now and had planned to use pyrolysis for the stripping and base shell anti rust but now I daren't.

Micky

[JeffW]

Sadly Jeff...it doesn't. The pyrolysis is excellent and available through a number of firms across the country but only heats the shell and degrades any paint remaining, then followed by an acid rinse for the rust neutralising and phosphating process...same problem. I know of a professional body restorer on classic cars who used to religiously use them as the way forward but now has reverted to soda blast etc having suffered a couple of body refurbs which were compromised by leeching out of substances. He'd spoken with the pyrolising firm and asked for better cleansing but it didn't improve. I'm into a body rebuild now and had planned to use pyrolysis for the stripping and base shell anti rust but now I daren't.

Micky

Interesting, thanks Micky. I didn't know they did an after-bath, which as you say clearly causes the same issues as doing only a bath. Disappointing as I HATED scraping paint off with a heat gun. So many hours.

Jeff

[MikeParker]

I think it is noteworthy that Faversham Classics and Wards both use manual mechanical grinding technics to get the paint off. e.g. angle grinders with wire-brushes etc. The theory seems to be, if the paint isn't loose and the joint isn't blistering, why disturb it. The paint is removed off the flat panels areas so that a good paint finish can be achieved primarily. I found it interesting that neither recommended the relatively small expenditure of blasting/dipping etc.

[jbuckl]

Early on in the noughties my car had a small bit of bodywork to be finished… a door skin , already fitted but needed finishing & painting.
it was done at a private rally car workshop as they were not busy due to foot & mouth stopping most rally activity.
however, they found a full body rebuild was also necessary (!) and due to the advantageous rates, this was all undertaken…. Most other panels (!) I visited very regularly to check the work.
towards the end, I went over to see to the underside.
only small areas underneath needed metal repair, so mostly there was old under seal & muck.
they had an industrial hot pressure washer.
the car was taken outside & lifted up on commercial vehicle axle stands.
the whole of the underside was blasted using very hot steam cleaning at pretty much max temp & pressure if I recall correctly. I was the willing victim to do this…. Took about 5 hours.
the complete underside was left without any muck or under seal afterwards, most loose paint had gone too.
the car was brought back inside & dried over 24 hours using a space heater & 27kgs of propane. Only areas left damp were the upper rear subframe pockets. Some wire brushing was needed but not that much.
red oxide was applied after that.
then 3m underbody sealer.
pleased with the long lasting protection that’s given since.
accept that other cars may need deeper methods, but the hot wash technique worked well for a car with sound metal on floors .
after the car was painted, the cavities were wax sprayed.
suspension parts were done off the car.
afaiaa, deeper techniques sometimes have to be undertaken twice…. Once before repair & again afterwards….. can cost £5k + transport for that.
Imho that’s what makes a properly documented stag restoration such an appealing proposition at around £30 odd k.

[trunt]

My experience was that the media blasting worked well on the body and it "found" the rusty bits easily. However no amount of media blasting would have removed the underseal on my 73. As noted It took months to get all of the media out of the box sections, even with it being on a rotisserie. For the underseal a hotgun and scraper was employed to get the worst off, and wire brushes on a grinder finished it off.. a very messy job. I covered the underside with a few coats of epoxy then 3M "rocker shultz" followed by some colour paint. Box sections were wax sprayed.

[JOHNS]

Three years ago mines cost £1100 to blast the whole car with front wings already removed. The car had been Dinitrol treated from new and removing the underseal pushed the cost up. See pics

IMG_0166.JPG IMG_0167.JPG IMG_0168.JPG

[The G Man]

Mine cost this year was just less than a thousand.

before and after pictures, found a lot of issues after media blasting, like rear wing repair panels stuck on top of the originals and then built up with filler to the point earlier very quickly painted with etch primer after media blasting

94E45977-8EF2-415E-9A76-051D7C09A271.jpeg
2391381F-3B3E-4049-B248-523723453BB9.jpeg

C8A88E5D-4AEA-499A-8E9F-8F4F437745C8.jpeg
4E69AC20-EFBE-4DC0-9FF3-122CD560A122.jpeg

[peterjfox69]

Thanks for all your time in replying.