Vincent -
Done right, media blasting would be my choice. If you are concerned about
his ability to perform the job without warping the panels, just give him one
panel to see how he does. Since our cars are made from 20ga steel, it would
take someone who really doesn't know what he's doing to mess things up
severely. I would be cautious about the acid bath, especially since they
admit that they've never done a car body before. That should be taken as a
warning. Trapped chemicals in lapped panels will reek havoc on your brand
new paint job.
Ron
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vincent Van Humbeeck" <vincent.vanhumbeeck@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2002 2:46 AM
Subject: [FWDLK] An important decision
> Hi all,
>
> My restoration project has started over a year ago and it has been slowly
> progressing. But I am now at a crossroad for what concerns body's
> preparation. I have dissasembled the car to a bare body and I have now two
> options :
>
> Option 1 - Take it to a local shop that will do mediablasting
>
> I know a lot of people have warned me about mediablasting because if it is
> wrongly applied, it can warp body panels. I talked to the guy about that
> problem and he told me : "Of course, but you just have to know some
basic
> things about mediablasting, like hitting the body at an open angle and not
> staying at the same place too long, and everything's ok". He told me also
> that he uses aluminum oxyde (corindon) which is a less abrasive than sand,
> though someone else told me that that stuff was still too much abrasive
for
> a body panel. Anyway, he seems to be someone who knows the job, and
someone
> else confirmed he has great experience on the subject of mediablasting
> (though largely on other jobs than cars). The bonus thing is that he can
> apply a zinc coat after removing paint and rust, which is very close to
> having a galvanized body.
>
> Option 2 - Take it to a shop that removes paint and rust through acid
baths
>
> At first, I thought that such companies simply did not exist in northern
> France or in Belgium, but it seems I was not looking hard enough, because
I
> found three of them within a 60 miles radius. The major problem is that
none
> seems to have a bath large enough for a '58 Plymouth body, but I'm working
> on that. Those companies never treated a car body, so they are a little
> dumbfounded with my demand : they could not even quote me a price for the
> operation. The thing is that some of the guys I talked to told me that
acid
> treatment may not be the best thing for a car body, because if you do not
> succed in neutralizing the acid in every part of the body after treatment,
> the acid will oxydize your good steel (mainly in spot welds area or in any
> crevices). I told them about the electrolytic process existing in the US,
> but they all told me that they did not know a company doing such a thing
in
> France.
>
> What would you choose between the two options ?
>
> Vincent Van Humbeeck (France, 120 miles north of Paris)
> '58 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe
>
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