Anyone regret having a car blasted?

[NJ John]

I just got this 1970 chopped bug. It has a 1996 inspection sticker, so I assume it’s been sitting outside for about that long. It’s solid in all 4 wheel wells. Driver’s heater channel is the worse of the two. I know ill be doing at least pans. It was red, now it’s white. I talked to a blast company, he uses glass and it’s $160 an hour. I’m just scared of bringing home Swiss cheese. It’s probably just going to be a flat or satin black lowered cruiser, not a show car.

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1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[viiking]

In reference to the Swiss cheese comment, are you worried about damage caused by the glass beads or what you will find underneath?

You don't show pictures of the outer body. These areas are the ones most sensitive to warping etc. As far as underneath and in non visible areas, you want some aggressive media blast to get rid of undercoating or really rusty areas. These areas are far less likely to be affected by aggressive media blasting. Glass beads are far less aggressive than say aluminium oxide or garnet.

It depends on your time frame. If you have the time I would remove paint on the outer body in sections and immediately epoxy just that section. Your removal process could be to sand back to bare metal or to use paint stripper followed by correct neutralisation then epoxy. As I have found rust spots under filler that has been applied to the bare metal previously, all filler needs to be removed to ensure you have no problems down the track.

If you don't have the time, then you have to use a media blaster. Given the issue about possible warping you should get a recommendation from a couple of people who use a specific media blaster. It's easy to do media blasting. I have done it. But if you get a cowboy to do it, you might end up regretting that decision and taking far longer to repair than if you took your time to do it yourself and remover the paint manually.
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1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[NJ John]

My concern isn’t warping. This guy is a one man shop and claims to not warp metal. Just pin holes or bigger. As I mentioned the roof is chopped, but the bondo cracked and water did get under it. I may end up refilling the center with another roof.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[viiking]

Whether you want to or not you have to address the underlying problems otherwise they will become evident after you spend a lot of money painting the car.
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1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[Puppy67]

I had my floorpan and shell soda blasted before I started work on the restoration. It uncovered lots I was unaware of that needed to be repaired/redone, but I don't regret it. Yes, more work before paint, but I now know I have a solid car. I would have regretted it far more if I hadn't found the problems and had them show up a year or 2 after paint and re-assembly.

[esde]

The problems are there, whether you see them now or not. I have blasted a half dozen cars, and do not regret any. You need to get some ospho into the seams after you clean all the grit out of every nook and crevice, as there is no way to address rust between the layers.
I stay away from the door skins, and blast the hood at a low angle to minimize heat and raising the metal too much.
Starting with virgin completely clean metal makes the welding go so much better, you won't believe t till you do it.
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[NJ John]

All points noted. Thanks.

_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[orwell84]

I have done a lot of sandblasting at home. There is nothing better for getting metal rust free. If I had a better set up, I would do more of it. The only downside is getting all the sand out of the car.

Unless the sandblaster exclusively works on cranes or bridges, he should know how to run a blaster to avoid warping. Of course some of the car might disappear as it pinholes through punky metal, but that’s what you want to have gone.

[NJ John]

I’m going to look into mobile dustless blasting. There’s a local guy around.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[lqqkatjon]

I am doing a resurrections over the past 8+ years.

I home sandblasted... I am still cleaning up grit. that stuff gets everywhere! shop vac at arms length, been pressure washed a few times, had to take dash all apart and vacuum and clean grit out of there.

last week I had it hoisted up on a crane and flipped car on side so I could do some work on the bottom, and more grit fell out of the master cylinder hole in the napoleon hat that I had take my shop vac and hose and shoved it down there many times!

so I would be doing some sort of different blasting then just dry blasting. do a better job then I did taping up areas you don't want grit in.

[bruceo98]

as for as swiss cheese . if it came out blasting it , it needed to be done. if you don't remove all the rust it will come back to haunt you later down the road. rust never gets better over time, only worst. if you're going to do it right you need to start with a clean slate. after you're done with all the body work and paint , drown it with some body cavity wax.rust needs 2 things to continue growing, air and moisture . so make sure it's covered in some type of coating.
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I may not be the best, but when the top 10 get together, they all talk about me.

[swharris]

[NJ John]

Thanks. I actually may be making an appointment to have it blasted in the near future.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[Dusty1]

I wouldn't blast that. Somewhere under the several layers of paint is the original German primer. You can't beat that stuff.

I would wire wheel the rough spots on the roof. Nuthin' chews through Bondo like a twisted stainless steel brush on an angle grinder.

Bet you a dollar there are things under that paint you don't want to see.

Bet you another dollar that it's a bigger project than you hoped it would be in bare metal.


.
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[NJ John]

I know. I was just in the trailer looking at it today. I haven’t had it out since I got it. Just don’t have the space or time.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[oprn]

There is a strongly believed myth that a proper restoration means the body has to be taken back to bare metal. That is the worst thing you could ever do. The original primer and paint durability is very hard to duplicate and makes the best base for a new finish.

The only time it is right to "take it back to bare metal" is to remove rust or fix collision damage. Blasting the whole body to remove all the paint will create untold hours of unnecessary hard work to get the panels straight again, imperfections filled and ready for paint. Or it's the right thing to do if the original finish has suffered a catastrophic failure but that is extremely rare.

Properly done blasting of a rusted area will not create swiss cheese, it will expose the swiss cheese that already exists. And that is a good thing.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[NJ John]

Sometimes, hidden Swiss cheese is bliss. Lol
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[esde]

[oprn]

There are 2 kinds of rust,

1) surface rust. You can see that and yes stripping to bare metal is the only way to deal with it properly.

2) rust from inside the panel. If it has not yet broken through to the paint no amount of stripping or sand blasting will find it... ever! Do whatever you want but it will show up when it is ready to show up. It might not be for years and it just might pop through a week after you painted it. Sand blasting to bare metal will accomplish nothing to prevent it.

If there is multiple layers of old paint, just grab some coarse sand paper, elbow grease and have at it. If your method is correct it doesn't take that long. Just go progressively finer as you reach the original finish. Save that as a base. If it takes hundreds of hours you are doing it wrong.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!