Tim,
Every now and then a question comes up that I have some experience with.
My opinion is that media blasting is the best solution, especially if
you are going to do it yourself....but the debate would be between that
and chemical dipping. Dale's Restorations typically dips I believe and
he obviously knows how to build a Tiger, but in many states, the EPA and
other federal regulations have outlawed this process due to the chemical
hazard. Here in Oklahoma there is no one that will do it at all. The
chemical dipping is very thorough, so much so that occasionally you will
lose material in the body that you otherwise would have kept. I had a
friend who dipped his car in Dallas, and knew it had a small amount of
filler but when he picked it up it looked like swiss cheese. Often the
chemical stripping process will have a second stage that is a metal
primer/sealer/etcher. This is a good idea to give you some time to work
the body while unprotected. I don't recommend purchasing a chemical
stripper and doing it yourself, as it is difficult to fully remove the
traces of chemical stripping from the body seams and therefore poses a
risk to paint lifting at a later date. I hear that there are some
chemicals out now for the do it yourselfer that will neutralize the
acids and also seal the metal like the two stage process that commercial
dipping uses.
Sandblasting conventionally produces too much heat and will likely
distort the body, this is why media blasting was created, because the
media, weather it be plastic beads, glass beads, nutshells and such will
not build up and transfer heat into the material. (the car) You do have
to take special care to remove the traces of the media after blasting,
but your going to have to deal with that regardless of which approach.
You could use sand to hit some of the structurally tougher areas like
suspension, frame rails, floorboards etc, but I would highly recommend
staying away from the body panels with the sand.
As for your last question regarding leaving the filler, if you
chemically strip you have no choice, it will be removed. If you media
blast it will likely need to be at least touched up or added
too....which is the beauty of body filler, you can add to existing
without complication. Time and money permitting though I would recommend
removal of the existing filler and replacing it.
Hope this helps.
Cullen
B382001452 LROFE
Replying to:
Subject: [Tigers] Body prep and Bondo repair?
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