Thread: Sandblasting Sheetmetal ???'s

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Long time since I've been on here, some of you regulars may remember me. My 53 chevy pickup is getting closer to body work, all the rust fixing , welding , mods are all finished as far as I see right now and all door and fender gaps are looking nice which was not fun at all. My next step is to clean this thing up before I start on the body filler and I would really like to sand blast it top to bottom for a nice clean start. The obvious concerns I have are warping the metal. What could I use to be safe, siphon feed only or pressure feed blasting, silica sand, soda ? Need some advice from experience, I have access to all the equiptment but a little nervous about making more work for myself. I hope to visit more often as I seem to have more time to work on my pickup lately.

Welcome back, it has been awhile!!! Not sure what to tell you on the blasting, it's the heat from blasting that warps things.... I haven't done my own blasting for years, but never had any trouble with just plain old silica sand on the heavy metal of the older cars and trucks... Can't say my technique was the reason, but I never left the nozzle aimed at one area for too long, or had the nozzle too close to the metal, and always shot at an angle to the metal and not straight on. Took a bit longer, but no warpage problem on the older stuff....

Yep, welcome back! This subject seems to come up every once in a while, and the commentary is always pretty close to the same. Some say it's the heat from friction that warps, but others say it's actually the physical peening of millions of tiny hammers moving metal, and maybe it's a combination of both. Here's a link to one of the more recent discussion threads on the methods, materials, and warnings - sandblasting ?

wear a resperator

53! The first car I worked on. Just my two cents from a build I did, clean and work the areas as you do the body work. I'm pretty sure you will be back in most of those sections as you get it ready for paint. Funny thing about this art of resurrecting old tin, the more you do the more you see as it all comes together. The first trip around is a long one then they get shorter and quicker until it looks all straight.

We all have our own little technics somehow they just seem to develop as we find our own confront zones. In the end I actually enjoyed the body work, I really thought the rust, filler and all that the paint prep includes was going to be the biggest pain. However it is easy when you get the chemistry of the filler sorted out and then realize you will be going over the areas more then once . The very biggest oh crap was the paint end of the project. Why do I say this ......... it just went way to fast for the time spent getting it ready, but that is not all bad either, primer to clear coat a couple of fast hours playing beat the clock, you will need a timer.

You are on your way now happy sanding.

The soda blasting seems to be the safest way anymore. But after it's done, the body does need to be wiped down with a cleaner like a degreaser they use in body shops before they paint. Yeras ago I used a product called Pre-cleano made by R&M. Most any local body shop supply places should have it.

Originally Posted by sunsetdart

The soda blasting seems to be the safest way anymore. But after it's done, the body does need to be wiped down with a cleaner like a degreaser they use in body shops before they paint. Yeras ago I used a product called Pre-cleano made by R&M. Most any local body shop supply places should have it.

Do I recall correctly that soda gets into every crevice, and reacts with about all paint? Seems it was stated before that blowing down the body with HP air helps, but that washing thoroughly with water & Dawn was critical? It's dangerous for me to quote from memory with the CRS syndrome of age.

i can tell you this much. first i wont touch a car that has been soda blasted and if i did i would never warranty the job. i also will not touch a vette done with chemstrip . and yes i've heard all the marketing hype and wonder products to put over it . i can do the same thing with acrylic and not have to worry about it.