Hello,
Just weighing in on the body stripping issue. I had the '57 body stripped with
low pressure plastic beads. The finished product looked great, with no metal
hardening or ripples in the finished surfaces (a big problem with high
pressure media blasting). This process is good for removing paint coatings,
but won't get the heavy surface rust. Even with good masking it did take some
time to remove the extra plastic beads from the quarters and rockers (I made
up some vacuum attachments for the shop vac). There's probably plenty of old
junk in there anyway that needs to be cleaned out
For the separate panels like the hood, inner and outer fenders and small parts
that looked rusty or covered with old undercoating, they got chemically
dipped, and again the results were good.
The underside and frame rails were particularly nasty and got the regular
sandblast treatment. There was just to much surface rust and factory
undercoating to try anything else.
I think the problems with dip stripping could start later. I haven't
experienced bubbling of the new paint from chemical residues (I rinsed and
metal prepped the heck out of them). The problem is trying to get a finish
back on the insides of the parts. In the salty midwest, you just don't take
any chances with bare or poorly prepped metal. You west and south guys get
off easy on this issue! I owned a Ziebart Rustproofing shop for a number of
years. After my car parts were prepped, primed and finish painted I coated the
insides with our light colored rustproofing process and it was difficult (even
for us) to get complete coverages on the inside of the small boxed-in areas.
I was glad that I had not dip stripped the whole body. Without some type of
follow up primer dip I don't know how all the inside sections would fare later
on. The separate parts and panels were easier to handle and the dip strip was
ok (but I had an advantage with my business).
If anybody has any rustproofing questions as it may apply to preserving old
cars (and without showing the coatings) e-mail me and I'll tell you what to
look for.
The car has been complete now for 4 years. No problems yet!
Jim
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