Dipping vs. Blasting a Bugeye

[kurts100]

Have a '59 Bugeye finally torn down to the shell and can't decide whether to have it chemically dipped or blast it with either sand, soda or plastic media. Any thoughts or past experiences. Seems like lots of places sand, soda or plastic media can hide. Chemical dipping would probably give me the cleanest job but I'm worried about the rear fender seams and the beading trapping the chemical. Can you get the beads out of the rear without damaging them. They are original so I hate to ruin them. Also not sure I want to remove the original primer that is on the inside of the rear shroud. What have others done?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Kurt

 

[Bugzy59]

I/We did mine the old fashioned way. Sanding etc. To strip the bonnet I used chemical stripper. I have heard that dipping has residual chemicals. A local restoration shop refuses to dip tubs for that reason. I looked at soda blasting and thought it was a good idea. I excluded sand blasting after hearing that it can warp or stress the metal.
I also used a lot of "Great Stuff" which chemically removes rust.
There are some pictures of my restoration on spritespot.com. Album "Maryland Bugeye Rebuild"

 

[Hombre]

Soda blasting is about the safest. Media is ok but hard to get all the stuff out of the cracks and crevices. All I've had blasted with media always blew some out somewhere when painting. Dipping, the same problem. The acid and residue always seem to seep out after painting. At least with soda you can use a pressure washer on it (HOT) and any that you don't or can't get out will usually just harden from the moisture. Then if it bleeds after painting it won't take the paint with it, tho I've used soda on many and never had any problems. What ever you use, treat the bare metal with a good strong phosphorous acid water mix (I use an all plastic garden pump sprayer) that usually will take off any light surface rust and leave a white residue on it that kind'a keeps it from rusting too bad till you can get it primed. I wipe it down with a weaker mix of the same stuff and prime with DP40 before doing any body work. Definitely no sand blasting on sheet metal !!

 

[Whitephrog]

I had the same problem with the media. Near impossible to get all of it out. It finds lots of places to hid until it's time to paint then it magically reappears. The Whitephrog has been back at the paint shop for the last two weeks correcting that and a few other things.

 

[kcbugeye1275]

The underside of my bonnet was undercoated when it came into my life many yrs. ago. That was ok until I did the SC. What a pain to remove undercoating in that spot. A lot of stripper, pro media blasting at a shop, and then media blasting in the little spots that were missed. Then grinding anything that was not cleaned. Amazing how many pieces there are to a bonnet. But it got done, and it sure is nice.

 

[zblu]

Well at least the sand blast shows all the weak spots that will turn into holes, methinks the dipping is not as agressive or definative

 

[Midget78]

I agree that the soda blast is the safest and might also be the cheapest with the result of the paint being gone down to the metal. The only thing is all the paint that is removed is messy yet easier to clean up then fine sandings that get left behind from other processes to remove paint. I was looking in a magazine (Hemmings) the other day and saw the compressor and soda blast unit all for $300. It could easily pay for itself if you had multiple cars to do or someone else in line that needs to use it. From what I can see it is a bit more gentle on the metal especially if you have some "thin" spots or bondo areas.

 

[tosoutherncars]

I'll add my vote for dipping, particularly if you can find a place to e-coat. Environmental regulations have pretty much driven them out of business up here, but if it were an option for my bare-shell resto, that's what I'd be doing. I find sandblasting too rough for large panels, impossible in shrouded areas and so on.

I think the 'leaking acid' thing might be a bit of an urban myth, or the negative experiences of customers who went to a disreputable company. Has anyone here actually gone to a GOOD dipping company, and had the stripper seep out of the seams and ruin a paint job?

 

[histerical]

I can tell you that having had my Bugeye completely blasted ( American Dry Stripping) and then epoxy primed ( by others immediately after stripping) , I would have wished that a lot more of the media had been removed from all the pockets and traps especially in the rear wheel well areas. I turned the body over and spent a day, it seems, blowing and sucking that stuff out of everywhere. I had to sand down a lot of the trunk area due to the grit's being in the primer. Came out fine in the end...
I would think that if it had been dipped, some temporary drain holes might be needed in some spots, or I can't imagine what would be sitting at the lower parts of the rear wheel areas.
Bill

 

[MikeP]

I know several who do Sunbeam restorations and exclusively dip the shells, hardtops, suspensions, etc and have never complained of problems with acid later leaking out, but I do think their dipper also uses a neutralizing bath as well. And you talk about nice clean metal where every flaw is exposed, that's it. Costs them a couple grand per shell and can take anywhere from a couple weeks to several months depending on how big the dipper's backlog is.

 

[kurts100]

Thanks to all for the feedback. Guess I'll have to give it some good thought. Seems like there are pro's and con's to all. Maybe I'll dip the front bonnet and fenders and the doors and soda blast the rest. I've been told that soda blasting does a nice job on paint but isn't real aggressive on rusty areas. Not familiar with e-coat. Is that dipping with an electrical charge? Back in the 90's I had my AH 100 dipped and it turned out great but I was able to remove all the fenders and shrouds. Never been up against a car where the shroud and rear fenders are spot welded together. Another adventure!

Thanks,

Kurt

 

[Midget78]

Kurt, I feel your pain on the issue with everything being welded together. I have to strip all my paint and honestly will start with paint remover and sand paper yet it would be so much easier to take everything off. Soda blast I understand you can leave all the trim and stuff on and it wont hurt it as long as you dont hold the gun on it for days on end.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

For the big areas and there are lots of those that are accessible this way, a cheap angle grinder from HF, usually < $30.00, sometime < $20.00 with a flapper wheel will take care of large areas in very short order.