Stripping down to the Metal

[Balvar24]

How has everyone else gone about this? I'm going to get a quote from a local guy for soda blasting. I was also thinking about trying a chemical stripper. What have some of you folks had good experience with? Thanks.

[major519]

I have always using sandblasting myself although you need a guy who really knows how to do it correctly. Have found that most military paint jobs are multi layer requiring some aggresive action.
Sandblasting is great for hard heavy parts but can be rough on light sheet metal unless the guy is careful. Soda might be better but takes a lot longer hence is more expensive due to the increase in labour time.

Chem stripping works great but requires complete and total rinsing of the stripper followed by immediate action such as primer and paint. The chemical stripping guys up here in Canada usually follow the strip with a coating of oil etc which is detrimental to body work. It is Ok to preserve a fresh stripped body this way but is a pain when the time comes to patch, fill, sand paint etc because the oil needs to be removed with thinners.
Often times I have heard of thinner, oils or even stripper leaching out from under tight seams etc in the sheet metal, after paint and finsihing.

[idiocrates]

My experience is somewhat limited but so far here's what I've learned. Sand blasting is the easiest way to get rid of unwanted paint and bondo..and rust....but the operator has to be careful not to blast away too much metal along with the old paint. He also has to be careful not to overheat and distort the underlying metal as well. Soda blasting is even better then sand blasting since it has very little effect on the underlying metal but especially because it leaves behind a kind of coating that prevents the majority of the flash rusting that occurs immediately following the blasting..and even this coating only lasts a few days to a week at the most...and then there's the fact that sode blasting does next to nothing about removing old rust. If you are exclusively soda blasting and have lots of rust you might as well figure on a good deal of wire wheeling or gorilla hairing the rust away.....or use some kind of rust converter product. My little project so far has gotten some of everything. To save money I initially removed the majority of the old paint and rust from my tub using gorilla hair pads on a drill and grinder. These pads remove everything right down to bare metal and work relatively well on broad flat surfaces. Small pieces like floor plates, brackets, windshield frame, etc I did in my spare time with the same kind of pads but finished them up in a portable sand blasting cabinet to get into all the nooks and crannies. Finally, I had a portable soda blasting guy come over and blast the entire tub including fenders and grill....less all the parts of the tub that are getting replaced....floor pans (front and rear, wheel houses, and rear panel). My biggest problem has been flash rusting....but then I understand that's a problem for everybody (except four people who live in the desert in Arizona). Best solution I've found here for the flash rusting....Etch and Prep phosphoric acid treatment from Home Depot. Won't know how well it worked for a few years...but for now I'm going with it. One thing I know for sure.....if I ever decide to work on another one of these little demons....I'm taking out stock in 3M first......

[rdsar2k]

I hired a friend with an industrial sand blaster. As he blasted I followed with my spray rig and primered, he also primered parts as he got ahead of me. There was alot of residual sand that was painted over but as I prepped for final paint I sanded it out. I used osphro acid on all the seams to convert any rust in there washed the tub afterwords then sanded again and re-primed all of it then sanded and sanded and flattened then seam sealer then painted then sanded lightly again and re-painted. Did I mention I sanded alot? When I do the next one I will do it the same way. If I can't find another friend with a blaster I will rent one. There is just too much rust on these tubs to use soda in my opinion. Sand gets it off. I have pics on my gallery.