MGA Forum

Has anyone had any experience with glass blasting the mga to remove rust before the bodywork. I found a guy that does the low pressure dustless blasting with the rust preventative in it.

They say the dustless blasting is done with water and rust preventative solution, so that cuts down on the heat that causes warping.

He said the recycle glass is 70 to 100 on the size. Was going to have it dipped but I'm trying to save time.

He also said he could primer it for me. What kind is best to use Epoxy primer???



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-04-14 05:08 PM by Weatherby5.

Epoxy primer is likely the most durable.

Be careful with media blasting sheet metal - especially the aluminum panels (bonnet, boot lid, & doors). Even gentle blasting can warp the thin metal. I'd suggest hand stripping the exterior panels & careful media blasting of the inner structure (sills, pillars, boot floor, inner fenders, etc).

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Eric Russell ~ Mebane, NC
1961 MGA #61, 1̶9̶8̶1̶ ̶A̶l̶f̶a̶ ̶R̶o̶m̶e̶o̶ ̶G̶T̶V̶6̶, 1984 Alfa Romeo Spider, 1991 Honda ST1100

As Eric said, no media blasting of the aluminum stuff. Soda is okay, but not the glass. A good media blaster who has plenty of experience with car bodies can blast with glass without the need for the water deal. While others have had great luck with phosphoric acid, which will be the metal prep the guy is talking about, I avoid it like the plague since I avoided a lawsuit and judgment on a job that I declined because the car owner's liberal use of it and refusal to remove it with media blasting before I would begin repairs. My advice would be to find a media blaster who is confident using the dry method.

Madison
I just had my body shell (glass/water) dustless blasted and it did just fine on the sheet metal. The owner swore it will not warp aluminum but a couple of those pieces looked like a washboard. He said it must of been the previous owners fault. I guess that is possible but I still wonder. Fortunately I had spares and they were stripped by hand so all is well. I did use a etch primer and base coat clear coat in OEW. I let my painter use what he is most comfortable with and I am pleased with the results and the price.

The dustless blasting was about $1600 total. A little more than I expected in materials (over 50 bags of media). Cost was based on hours of blasting and materials. There were over 20 separate pieces and the shell was done inside and out top to bottom.

You should get it primed ASAP.

My 2 cents.

Ron

You do not want to blast the doors, hood, and rear deck lid. Use a paint stripper and do it by hand on these parts.. On the body I would try to find a Redd-i- Strip to dip the body shell. If you can find one . I know what your going through on finding someone who can do a decent job. I took a left front fender to American Strippers in Norfolk. He swore they could do it with out warping the sheet metal of the fender. When I picked up the fender and a couple of the fender braces I gave them. They had brought the stuff up to me with bare hands. (This is a no-no because of the oil off your hands will cause rust.) That and I had to have them do the fender braces over again because of a poor job done. This was after they gave me a shocking cost of $200 for the fender blasting. I'm use to paying around $50 to $75 per fender back in Ohio.

On Soda blasting It's not the greatest item to use. You have to make sure everything is spotless after words. If not the soda will bleed through primer and paint. Think of the the chemical reaction of the Soda and the etching primer.

On a good Epoxy Primer. I see your living in the south where the humidity is high. I suggest you try Southern Polyurethanes,Inc southernpolyurethanes.com spiuserforum.com 7 day Technical support 404 307-9740 . If you have a problem or a question you can call the owner of the company anytime night or day and he will answer the phone. Corp headquarters number is 706-781-2220
I've used his primers and love the stuff.

Had mine done at redd I strip many years ago,very happy with the job and has held up excellently.

One thing I forgot to mention on the American Strippers in Norfolk, Va. was they warped the heck out of the fender. I believe the nearest chemical dipper around me is in South Carolina. If anyone knows of a place closer to the Outer Banks (around a 200 mile radius) please post it.

Thank you.

Carolina Chem Strip in Burlington did Jim Brown's 1600 Deluxe and he was pleased. ($700) Just remember the stripper eats aluminum , ask me how I know. OK I'll tell you, I took a 100-4 body there in the 80s and left the aluminium hinges on the car. When I picked it up all I had were four shinny screws in there place.
Obviously they have been in business for a long time.

http://chem-strip.com/

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Gary

Murphy's law

Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe, and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he'll have to touch it to be sure.

Hi I'm new to this forum. I do soda blasting for a living, so I had to respond to this. I have never done an MG but I have done old jaguars with aluminum hoods and never had any problem with the panels warping.the sheet metal does not warp from the heat it warps fro the pounding of the media being used, the constant beating on the metal pushes the metal in and out which stretches it. baking soda explodes on contact so it does not pound the metal. A job like an MG should run around $750 and use about 3 bags of soda.and take about 4 hours. I have never used 50 bags of soda on any job Ive done and i have done log homes and commercial buildings. Before you put any primer on, you must prep the metal just as u would on any fresh metal. 95% of any good paint job is the prep.The metal must be clean. with soda some people use vinegar or chemicals like hold tight which is what they use in the dustless blasting system. I have several restorers that I work for who will only use Baking soda to strip there projects.and these are some high dollar cars. check out my web sight (aasoda.com)

I media blasted my own car including the aluminium panels without any problem. I wouldn't trust commercial places to do that though. As Tony says, soda blasting should be OK, but maybe not strong enough for the heavily corroded stuff?

I used an epoxy etch primer immediately after blasting.

Tony
I had a guy do some soda blasting here a few years ago and agree with you that its really good stuff. I would of done mine with it but he moved on. I also thought 50 bags was a bit much but I saw the whole pallet gone and it was on the ground when they were done. His blasting hose was the size of a fire hose so lots of volume. It could of been less than 50 bags but i don't want to go back and look at the bill. Water under the bridge now. I like your prices better too.

For you guys at home don't soda blast in or around your yard. It will kill all the grass (or anything green) for months. A ph thing. Don't ask my wife how i know.

Neil
Nice job and agree if you give it to some ham fisted blaster you might regret it.

Ron

Niel
Soda blasting has gotten a bad rap lately But i prefer it over other media I also do crushed glass and your right about killing the grass I do some blasting in my back yard nothing will grow there.

I have always been a car guy I got tired of using strippers and razor blades to strip my cars that's why I got into soda blasting. I do a lot of cars and when I do I treat them as if they are mine. you don't get a lot of guys who really care about the customers cars they just treat it as another job. I have the best of both worlds I get to meet a lot of nice people and see a lot of neet cars.

Here's a photo of the soda blast that I had done on my TD....Turned out great....As far as paint goes, you just wash the parts in 50/50 vinegar and water , then rinse....Dry and prime with epoxy . The great thing is no rust worries, until you wash...Which in my case was about 4 months....Paint turned out great.
Edward

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"It's not a car....It's a CAREER!"

Glass bead does a horrible job of removing rust. Its too big to get into the crevices, so tiny bits of rust are left behind, under your new paint. Soda is much finer and should remove 99+% of all rust. A good chemical rust remover should be used as a 2nd step for 100% removal where pitting is present.

Yes, you can blast flat panels and avoid warping IF you know what you're doing. The air pressure used and the angle of attack are critical, as well as time spent in a certain area (limit heat development.) Sharper media is usually better, like aluminum oxide, but can develop more heat.

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jeff@advanceddistributors.com