Removing Carpet Adhesive - Blast Media?

[LanceLyon]

Hi Everyone,

I've been sandblasting my BJ7 frame & inner body the last few weekends using standard blasting sand. It goes slow because my compressor will only sustain 90 lbs @ 7CFM, so I strip a little at 50 lbs and wait for the pressure to come back up when it drops below 25. Anyway, as I work on the interior spaces in the cockpit and the trunk, the remnants of the adhesive will not come away with the sand. Should I use a different media for this, or should I try to remove it with solvent or a wire wheel instead?

Any experience in this area? Thanks in advance!

Lance

 

[John Loftus]

Lance,

Home improvement/hardware stores carry contact cement thinner which should work good. Lacquer thinner can also be tried but make sure you have ample ventilation/fans with these products and no flames/pilot lights to ruin your day. I had my frame and panels professionally blasted with plastic media and sand for the tougher areas but it would not go through the carpet cement or the black tar like sealer used to seal the front shroud. I ended up using a heat gun and scraper to get off the majority of the shroud sealer and then followed up with Laquer thinner.

Cheers,
John

 

[Dave Russell]

I have found "3M Adhesive Cleaner" to work pretty well. It won't remove paint though.
D

 

[AUSMHLY]

Hi Lance,
I removed my glue with Colemans white gas. I was turned on to using this product by my interior upholstery guy. You can buy it by the gallon in sporting good stores. It's cheap. And yes, make sure the area is well ventilated. Seems fitting that I used a camping product, being that, as the saying goes, we are camped out on our cars. Good luck. Roger

 

[dklawson]

Coleman fuel sounds interesting. It's basically highly refined gasoline so be sure to use the same cautions you'd use with the lacquer thinner.

I've grit blasted panels like that to remove most the paint then treated the remaining "goo" with paint strippers like Bix, or StripEze. That, combined with some ScotchBrite left the panels clean. If you need a uniformly blasted finish you can always re-blast the panel once the stripper residue dries.

 

[whit_iii]

I would like to sand blast the interior floor as well as the car was inhabited by some unwelcome guests that left quite the odor. However, I don't want to get sand everywhere. How much did you remove prior to sanding the floor? I took out the seats, but still have the body, dash and unfortunately some holes to the undercarriage where sand might make it into the rear axle and other areas.

I would be curious to hear your approach in sandblasting these areas. May I also ask what type of compressor you have?

Thanks.

 

[LanceLyon]

Whit,

Sandblasting, unless you are talking about small parts that can be done in a cabinet, is not a casual exercise. My car is a full body-off restoration project. Sand will get everywhere: inside panels, behind trim, into moving parts etc. if you were to try to use the technique on anything but a completely striped car.

I am blasting outside with a 20-gallon tank compressor and a Harbor Freight 40 lb pressurized sandblaster. The volume of air produced at varying pressures is the way they are rated. Mine will produce 7 Cubic feet per minute at 90 PSI and is actually pretty light for the use I am putting it to. A better job could be done with at least twice that volume, but there is always the cost-benefit ratio to look at!

Good luck with your project. I'm going to try the solvent approach tonight and see how fast it goes, and then blast the surface to see if it does the job.

Thanks for everyone's input!

Lance

 

[LanceLyon]

Well, I tried a couple of solvents, including Laquer thinner and white gas, as well as a wire wheel on my grinder. The wire wheel was by far the fastest as well as the cleanest for removing the old adhesive. When I am done with that I will then go ahead and sandblast the rest of the paint and any rust off that remains. Thanks for everyones input into the process!

 

[SHG]

Believe it or not, I used this stuff called Super Citrus, which is non toxic and actually smells pretty good. It melted the adhesive with no problem and I just scraped it off. It really worked well.

 

[dklawson]

SHG, where do you get "Super Citrus"?

 

[SHG]

I have to ask my wife to be sure, but I believe she got it at BJs or Cosco.

 

[whit_iii]

I was going to ask you to include a picture and now I noticed that you did. I figured as much regarding how you stripped the car first as the books I have read state that one needs to be very careful when sand blasting. I am trying to do the same so it is nice to have a baseline.
Thanks for the picture and advice as it definitely helps.

 

[Andrew1]

I completed this project myself last year but my intent was to remove the adhesive and the paint in order to remove some slight rusting and strip to bare metal and repaint.

Without using solivents, I found that a high speed angle grinder using fine brass wire cup brush was the best solution and event better than sanding disks. There is a safety issue, because of the 4000 - 5000 rpm of the angle grinder and the fact that the brass wires will eventually fall out. Wear heavy leather gloves, and A+ eye protection. It works well.

From there, I used a great product called POR 15 rather than primer, which permenantly seals metal from rust. There is a lot of prep work in degreasing the metal and an acid prep. Then it allowed me to use standard body colour paint as an overcoat.

- Andrew -

 

[Keoke]

Yep Andrew, that works,but did you know that you can purchase wire wheels that have the wires tightly wound and epoxied into the wheel hub much safer and longer lasting.However, they do not invalidate your safety precautions for gloves and protective eye wear.I might even suggest a bullet proof vest and face mask--Fwiw---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif

 

[dklawson]

Like Keoke said, ask for "knotted" wire brushes. They're a bit more agressive than crimped wire brushes (so you may want to buy ones with finer wire). BUT, it takes a lot more to break and throw the bristles off. Before I switched to them I found myself picking broken bristles out of my shirts and arms.

 

[GregW]

I recently found these surface preparation wheels at a welding store. They fit on a 4 ½” grinder and strip paint down to bare metal “like nobodies business”. I think they leave the metal with a smoother finish than wire also. They’re good to 13,300 RPM. And don’t forget the lung protection. Inhaling glue and paint dust – no good. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazyeyes.gif

 

[dklawson]

Is that like a ScotchBrite disk? Those are quite handy... just keep them moving over the paint. If you hold them in one place too long the panel can get awful hot!

 

[GregW]

Hi Doug,
Yeah, it's like a fine scotchbrite pad. If you press too hard, it will bubble paint on the backside of the panel you're working on.