Re: Sandblasting Chassis

["Dave Swingle" <dswingle@xxxx>]

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx, "Steve Rubano" <srubano@xxxx> wrote:
> Has anyone had their Chassis Sandblasted to remove the old Epoxy 
> Paint off of it? I want to have the entire chassis stripped down so 

You will get conflicting input on this. 

When I restored mine, I tried just about every method to remove 
epoxy. It easily scrapes off the areas that are rusty. Once scraped, 
sandblasting is fine except that you will find may areas that you 
cannot get the blaster aimed at. Where epoxy is still attached to 
sound metal, it is extremely well-attached. I tried sandblasting (a 
good test piece for all of this is the fuel tank cover). The epoxy is 
rubbery enough that sandblasting had almost NO impact on it. I used Silica sand, walnut shells would be even less effective. 

The best thing I found was to CAREFULLY use a propane torch. When doing this the metal did not get all that hot, you are only trying to soften the epoxy a little, not burn it off. I only did this to remove stray epoxy in the middle of the rusty areas, and to get back far enough into clean metal to be sure that I had eliminated the rust. I only did this on areas where I could get to both sides of the metal. If the expoxy was sound I left it there.

There are many boxed in areas where you can't easily get to the back. 
If you use the torch on these you may end up with loose blobs of 
epoxy that you can't get out, and now the metal inside is 
unprotected. Between the front lower control arms, either side and 
below the engine, and along the upper edge of the fuel tank area come 
to mind. 

The method I used in order:
--Remove ALL the detachable parts
--Scraper
--Torch
--Wire wheels
--Laquer Thinner
--Phosphate Etch (Wurths Phospate Etch, Martin Senour(NAPA)Triple 
Etch)
--POR15/Wurths Rustguard (Black)
--Rustoleum (for color)
-----and many swear words all throughout the process. Wear Eye 
protection/respirator etc. Get some books on antique auto 
restoration.