acid dip vs. sand blast

i recently aquired a 62 galaxie in need of a full resto. i've almost got it completely gutted out. i'm not sure what route to go as far as acid dip or sandbasting the body. its got the original paint that is so weathered it looks like primer. also quite a bit of surface rust underneeth and inside the panels. any input would be appreciated.

also, does anyone know where to get a car acid dipped in southern california, orange county or los angeles area?
[addsig]

Acid dip removes too much material plus it's a real bio-hazard nightmare to get the car completley clean afterward, IMHO. Soda blasting or, if you can find it, dry ice blasting is effective but not hard on the sheetmetal.

Thanks for the input fxcomet. I'll steer clear of the acid. This is my first real project and I haven't done much bodywork in the past, but I think I might be able to just rough up the exhisting paint with 100 grit paper and shoot paint over that. There are a few spots where the paint is completely worn down to metel with slight surface rust on it. The front of the hood for example. Should I media blast the whole body for a clean view or do you think I can rough up the paint on it and deal with the rust spots individually?
[addsig]

A lot of the resto guys around here use a plastic media blast to strip cars....it really works good and does not distort the sheet metal at all......

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DynoTom on 10/30/04 12:34am ]</font>

Depends upon how much time you have and how much you wanna spend. Complete media blasting will reveal where it's been hit before, rust etc. The "cleaner" the car to begin with, the better the finished product.

I've used the chemical strip (not an acid dip) with no problems before. It will remove the rust completely so you end up with little pits in the surface where the rust used to be and need to carefully prep and fill them to get a smooth painted surface. There are primers that are like liquid body putty and will fill those pits fairly quickly.
The dry ice or CO2 blasting is getting some play as the cost of the machines comes down. You still need some skill since the media is sub-zero CO2 and you can crack the cold steel if you aren't careful. A buddy of mine worked at Cold Jet, one of the first companies to sell those machines.

I've heard that plastic media will remove the paint, but the fillers stay put. Is that true?

My boss had his 70 dodge challenger convert dipped to expost &amp; remove all the rust. Is now having the main body panels fixed &amp; replaced- then he plans to have it dipped again and have it ecoated.

The other guy I know(know him online) has a 71 GTO hardtop- they did all their panel replacement, then had it dipped &amp; ecoated.

After seeing the process and the results- If you have the time (took my boss about a month &amp; a half to get his car back) I'd say its the only way to fly. No way you can blast every nook &amp; cranny of the car, and even if you could get some of it- you'd never get it all painted &amp; protected. By dipping &amp; ecoating, its all totally covered, better than the factory ever could.

Now having said all that- Blasting a car around here is about $600- vs $1500 to have it dipped. The cheap part of me thinks that blasting would be OK to save the time &amp; extra cost.



[addsig]

My concern with acid dipping is that it thins the sheetmetal. I could be mistaken, but acid dipping race cars to reduce weight was common back in "the day". What's currently being done may not be the same as then, though. I'm pretty sure Foose uses baking soda blasting. Small media insures low damage to the sheet metal plus it's environmentally friendly. Gotta keep the tree nazi's off yer back.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Soda is the way to go, &amp; take the car there on a rotisserie so they can turn it upside down &amp; sideways to get at everything. As soon as ya get the car back shoot the entire thing with *Yellow Death* (Dupont Vari Prime).. ya get a lung full of those fumes &amp; you'l understand where the nickname comes from...

talk to charlie at strip clean in garden grove. he only did my 460 block and heads, but does lots of bodies too. i'm not sure of the exact chemicle dip used but the cars i saw looked great![img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tup.gif[/img]