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luke44
Jedi Warrior
Offline
Some of you may have been following my progress in restoring TS31577LO in this thread here: https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthreads.php/topics/671768/1
The last entry showed the results of my disasterous move from CA to NJ where the car was damaged in transit - the hood flew off, and worse than that, the entire body flash rusted. The worst $500.00 I ever saved (non-enclosed trailer vs enclosed - what <span style="font-style: italic">was</span> I thinking?) Anyway here is a pic of that:
After a lot of though, and consideration of my options, I have decided to re-dip all the body panels and the tub back to bare metal. I considered media blasting and/or hand sanding, but decided to go the full bathtub dip. If you check the internet you will find there is some controversy about this process, but imo most naysayers (I think it'll rot your car out!) tend to be people who have never done it. I also have found some of the British "specialist" restoration shops will pooh-pooh it in favor of their "hand job" at $75.00 or $100.00 per hour (not that they have any <span style="font-style: italic"> biased </span>or personal interest in the decision.... :smirk:. But in the end I concluded those that have actual experience with the process seem totally happy with it. I also had first hand experience years ago from my ground up '66 Sunbeam Tiger restoration doing it this way, and I couldn't have been happier. Anyway, that decision made....
I chose Quiktrip in Allentown PA (610-437-7878) because a) it's relatively close to me, and b) they use a unique "preheat oven" (800F) to carbonize the paint and any organics before the 3 stage dip process. This improves the paint removal step, but because of the temperature, it is mandatory any wood, plastic, aluminum, s/n tags be removed before the car is processed.
To co-ordinate with my paint shop, I decided to do the dip in 2 phases - first the loose panels (15 pieces for this step), followed by the tub.
Enclosed are some pix of where I am as of today (4/1/10). I will pick up the stripped panels this Monday, and drop off the tub at the same time. It takes about a week, depending on when you drop off parts and where John is in his cycle. I'll post some pix as this phase of my project continues....here are a few pix of where I am so far....
Removing Wood pieces from the doors and the underdash area....
Loading the parts into the rental truck....
The preheat oven at QuikStrip....today the oven was loaded with some misc non-car parts he was processing....
The dip tanks - an acid batch followed by 2 alkaline rinses tanks...not the nicest place to hold the company Christmas Party Dance...
The final step (after another rinse step with a pressure washer) is application of a phosphating layer... this gives you approx 1-2 wks to apply primer befroe re-rusting starts - depending on humidity in your area.
My TR3 bits in line waiting their turn...
Another interesting project ahead of mine was a Plymouth Barracude AAR Clone. Apparently the tub was bought in CA, and was perfect, but the new owner wants a color change, and is going back to bare metal...not my cup of tea, but I appreciate any gearheads efforts....
There was also a very sad looking Healy 3000 tub sitting there that had been dipped a long time ago, but never picked up....the car has now re-rerusted pretty bad. This guy better wake up - not the kind of place to leave such a valuable piece laying around....I'll try to get a pic of it next week for you Healy nuts...
Today I finalized the tub, and got it ready for the move Monday morning. So, stay tuned and I'll update the thread when the parts come out from the other side....
The last entry showed the results of my disasterous move from CA to NJ where the car was damaged in transit - the hood flew off, and worse than that, the entire body flash rusted. The worst $500.00 I ever saved (non-enclosed trailer vs enclosed - what <span style="font-style: italic">was</span> I thinking?) Anyway here is a pic of that:
After a lot of though, and consideration of my options, I have decided to re-dip all the body panels and the tub back to bare metal. I considered media blasting and/or hand sanding, but decided to go the full bathtub dip. If you check the internet you will find there is some controversy about this process, but imo most naysayers (I think it'll rot your car out!) tend to be people who have never done it. I also have found some of the British "specialist" restoration shops will pooh-pooh it in favor of their "hand job" at $75.00 or $100.00 per hour (not that they have any <span style="font-style: italic"> biased </span>or personal interest in the decision.... :smirk:. But in the end I concluded those that have actual experience with the process seem totally happy with it. I also had first hand experience years ago from my ground up '66 Sunbeam Tiger restoration doing it this way, and I couldn't have been happier. Anyway, that decision made....
I chose Quiktrip in Allentown PA (610-437-7878) because a) it's relatively close to me, and b) they use a unique "preheat oven" (800F) to carbonize the paint and any organics before the 3 stage dip process. This improves the paint removal step, but because of the temperature, it is mandatory any wood, plastic, aluminum, s/n tags be removed before the car is processed.
To co-ordinate with my paint shop, I decided to do the dip in 2 phases - first the loose panels (15 pieces for this step), followed by the tub.
Enclosed are some pix of where I am as of today (4/1/10). I will pick up the stripped panels this Monday, and drop off the tub at the same time. It takes about a week, depending on when you drop off parts and where John is in his cycle. I'll post some pix as this phase of my project continues....here are a few pix of where I am so far....
Removing Wood pieces from the doors and the underdash area....
Loading the parts into the rental truck....
The preheat oven at QuikStrip....today the oven was loaded with some misc non-car parts he was processing....
The dip tanks - an acid batch followed by 2 alkaline rinses tanks...not the nicest place to hold the company Christmas Party Dance...
The final step (after another rinse step with a pressure washer) is application of a phosphating layer... this gives you approx 1-2 wks to apply primer befroe re-rusting starts - depending on humidity in your area.
My TR3 bits in line waiting their turn...
Another interesting project ahead of mine was a Plymouth Barracude AAR Clone. Apparently the tub was bought in CA, and was perfect, but the new owner wants a color change, and is going back to bare metal...not my cup of tea, but I appreciate any gearheads efforts....
There was also a very sad looking Healy 3000 tub sitting there that had been dipped a long time ago, but never picked up....the car has now re-rerusted pretty bad. This guy better wake up - not the kind of place to leave such a valuable piece laying around....I'll try to get a pic of it next week for you Healy nuts...
Today I finalized the tub, and got it ready for the move Monday morning. So, stay tuned and I'll update the thread when the parts come out from the other side....
