Blasting

[Ryans67]

I have been working on a car and we have used mostly chemical strippers and sandpaper to get the old coats of paint off. In the engine bay, we resorted to blasting at home, which was very time consuming. This car is for my younger brother, so I don't mind him doing hard work. I'm getting ready to pull a car apart that I plan on restoring, where labor will not be free. I am going to send the stripped body in for complete blasting. The company wants $1500 to strip and $750 to epoxy prime it afterwards. I really don't mind the $1500, but to me the cost of priming seems high, especially since I will still have to coat everywhere that is primed with the finish coat.

Is it worth taking the car home stripped and coating it myself? Should I be worried about anything since it will likely take 48 hours after stripping to complete the priming. Is there any questions I should ask in regards to what primer they use?

Any other issues people have had with stripping? I am not worried about warped panels or shoddy work. The guy is top of the line in his trade.

Thanks for any input.

 

[ForceFed70]

$750 for primer does seem steep. I would certainly attempt to do it myself. Avoid all moisture. rain drops = rust spots in only a couple of hours. Try to get it in primer ASAP.

 

[rbohm]

$750 for epoxy primer isnt bad. it gives you a sealed surface that will accept any body filler you plan to use, except lead. i will say however it isnt necessary to use an epoxy primer if you get the body in a primer/sealer when you get it home. dont use a regular primer as it will allow moisture to get to the metal over time. it has to be a primer/sealer.

 

[mustangdave]

Eastwood sells a product that will prevent flash rust for a couple of weeks, check them out. Also, those prices are high but I'm in NC where I can get stripped down Mustang blasted for $500.

 

[Tony R]

1500 seems awful steep. I looked into having mine done before I settled on doing it myself and it would have cost 500. You should shop around a little on that. priming cost seems a little high too.

 

[kilgorq]

I was quoted $700 for blasting here in Idaho. I opted to do it myself because I could do it for $125 including purchasing a decent blaster.

Epoxy primer DIY should not run more than $150 for the primer and then however much time it takes you. Epoxy is not imperative. A primer sealer will work. However try to scratch epoxy off compared to a primer sealer. You will find that the epoxy once cured is much more durable.

If you do it yourself do you have a way to do the bottom of it? Are they sandblasting the interior and undercarriage.

The $700 I was quoted was everything. Inside, out side and underneath. It also included all of the bolt on body parts. Doors, hood, deck lid everything and every part of it. This guy told me to basically disassemble the whole car and bring me every metal part I want sandblasted. In all honesty the amount of time I spent on front end parts, hinges and interior would have been well worth the $700.00

 

[rbohm]

you guys who are saying that the prices he was quoted are high, note where he lives. yep thats right in the middle of the republic of commiefornia, and with its draconian environmental laws everything he wants done is going to be expensive.

 

[Ryans67]

The price included inside, out and underside. The price seemed high, but I kind of expected it since they have such a great reputation. I also asked for a price break if I brought in 4 cars at a time... He said no. I just recently found another place in town that is capable of doing the entire car. They will use a bead blast, and then epoxy prime the entire car and want $1200 for everything.

I do not know of this guys quality, or process. But the price is tempting. I'm gonna bring a fender and deck lid to his shop and see how they come out before I give him an entire car. I'll let you guys know...

 

[1sick65]

where is the second place you mentioned

 

[Ryans67]

Both are in Sacramento, CA. One is American Stripping. The other is Perfect-It.

 

[Ryans67]

Went and picked up the pieces I took to the cheaper shop as test pieces. They did two fenders, headlamp buckets (extension, rings, etc) a deck lid, two of the rear interior panels, and a couple other odd pieces of metal for $440. This was blast and prime. I thought the price was a little high, considering I was quoted $1200 for the entire car. Well the owner (i presume) said $1500 for the entire car (blast & epoxy). Not real fond of any company raising the price after quoting. Also, when I asked why so much for the pieces considering he would do the entire car for $1200, he told me it is alot easier to do the car as a whole then the individual pieces because he has to deal with each individual part. He told me to leave all of the parts on the car when he does it. This I do not like... How can you do a good job with the parts on?

I'll probably end up having the more expensive place blast the next car, and I'll spray the primer myself. These parts look great, but it also got me thinking that I would like to look at the raw metal and see what kind of damage I am dealing with, before it is covered up again. Make sense?

 

[kilgorq]

I would be cautious of the Blast and prime. If I was having some do that I would want to look at it after blasting. To make sure they are not covering up shotty work with primer.

The whole intention of blasting the whole car is to get the rust out of the little nooks and crannies. You can not do that without completely disassembling the car. I would be curious to see what the blasting looked like prior to primer on this one. It almost sounds like they just want your money and don't care about the quality of their work. Just my opinion!!!

"Costs more if you bring it to me in pieces because it is more work". If I were blasting your car it would be more like "It will be cheaper if you bring it to me in pieces". It would save you on the labor of taking it all apart.

 

[wades67]

I just did this on my son's 70 Mach 1. He had stripped most with chemical and sand paper, then went in the Army. We wanted to complete the job quick and coat with epoxy to seal it for long term. The local Chevy dealer had a trailered soda rig, and they would come to my house as I recall the quote was less than $700, but after reading some bad results with having to be careful on cleaning off the soda residue on some other finishing forums, I bought a used blaster and we did it ourselves with regular media from Northern. I still have some if you want to know exactly what it was. It took the remaining paint and primer off fast as well as areas he had not finished. Then we bought epoxy from Summit Racing , you can see it on their site. Gallon was $50 and the catalsyst was another $40 and I sprayed it myself with a low end gun I already had. We got three coats on the whole car ( minus doors and hood). One suggestion, I preped the whole car with Eastwood Pre before primer, but I suggest using a tack cloth after to remove any cloth lint before you spray. ( ask me how I know this)