stupid question of the day - dipping the tub

[jackag91]

I am about two weeks out from taking my TR6 down to a buddy's shop and pulling the body off the frame. My intent is to get the tub dipped, so I can see what I am dealing with.

I have tried looking around the web for places that can dip the body but I am not having much luck.

I know there are a few places that do this.

Any suggestions on what to search for? Or does anyone know of a place in San Antonio or Austin that can do it?

 

[71TR6]

I was faced with the same decision 3 years ago and posed a similar question. The general consensus at that time is that when dipping the tub, the paint remover will get into a number of little cracks and crevises. Which cracks and crevises will become apparent after the car is painted and the compound leaches out under the paint.

I would suggest getting it soda blasted instead of dipping. I went the soda blast route and was very pleased. The soda blasting removes the paint and light rust so you get a better view of what you're up against. Since soda stripping is gentler than sand blasting, I had no warping of the panels and was left with clean metal even where there was rust. Chemical stripping does nothing for removing the rust.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Ron W.
71TR6

 

[jackag91]

Thanks for the input, mind if I ask what you paid for that?

 

[crj7driver]

Just had my TR6 soda blasted. Frame, body, suspension everything ran $1200. It is very nice to deal with clean metal. The nice thing about dipping the tub is it strips everything, where the soda blasting only gets where they can shoot. But that is also a positive, because if the blaster can't get to it, then you will still have paint on it, this is not the case when getting it dipped (unless you get some sort of rust treatment).

 

[71TR6]

I recall my soda blasting was originally estimated at $900-$1000 for the entire body but ran over that due to the 3/8"-1/2" of body putty that was all over the place. The additional needed to deal with this significantly slowed things down. Even so, I think the total bill came to around $1300-$1400.