Before and After Pic Request of Doing it the Hard Way

[zerfetzen]

Hi all,
So now that I have a 69 Charger, I'm considering all options of course.  I'm shying away from dipping the car, because it will eat away good metal as well, and from media blasting the car, because I don't see how they can get nooks and crannies like between the upper and lower roof, and well, expense.  Instead, I'm trying out the approach of using a wire wheel on a drill on the underside, then using POR-15, then sanding it smooth, etc.

I'm sure some will definitely argue in favor of media blasting or dipping.  But what I'm curious of, is has anyone taken my approach, and do they have before and after pics?  And of a car that had some rust to begin with, you know, not a show car to begin with.

Another qualification of doing it the hard way is, has anybody done this without the luxury of a rotisserie?  I have only a few inches in front of and behind the car in my garage, so I'm going to put it up on jack stands, as high as they'll go.  So far, the only metal work I see (unless I've forgotten something) on the rear is lower rear quarter patch replacement, possibly trunk floor (that really scares me, I'm not a master welder), rear valence and crossmember, and I don't know how I'll work little holes around the window by the sail panel, but hey, just happy to be here...finally.

I'm sure the easiest thing to do is take it to a shop and pay for it (nope), then media blast and use a rotisserie (nope), but uh, any pics of someone else's project who worked the hard way?  Thanks.

[BlueSS454]

FWIW, here is my 69 before and after I had it sandblasted.  The car came back to me spotless.  I've been there, done that with the wire wheel on a drill...never again.  I'll send all my stuff out now to get sandblasted.  That way takes forever, sandblasting took 8 hours, cost me $700, and I didn't have to do anything except drop it off and pick it up.

[justin1987]

FWIW, here is my 69 before and after I had it sandblasted.  The car came back to me spotless.  I've been there, done that with the wire wheel on a drill...never again.  I'll send all my stuff out now to get sandblasted.  That way takes forever, sandblasting took 8 hours, cost me $700, and I didn't have to do anything except drop it off and pick it up.

I did the same thing. It took the guy 8 hours and cost me $495 and he even came to me. It was a mobile glass blasting service. He had a pretty cool setup.

[zerfetzen]

That's not a bad idea at all  , how do you look something like that up in the yellow pages?

[rrockchrger]

I'm in the same boat you are Zerfetzen with my '70 charger.  It's cost between $900 -$1300 to have it blasted plus $200 for a wrecker to haul it back and forth.  Then another $1000 to have it primered at a shop.  I'm looking at trying to do it myself. 

BlueSS454, how did you transport your car without the wheels?  Or did you put them back on for the trip?

[69hemi]

Go to my website at http://www.69hemi.com/ and go into "Restoration", "Sheet Metal" then you can see the car before the dipping and after.  You are wrong in saying that is will remove good metal as well as bad.  The process only removes the rust and leaves the unrusted metal untouched.  Do not confuse this dipping process with the old Acid Dipping which was used to etch the metal to make the cars lighter.  Also on the rotisserie question, build a longer garage.  That is a tool that is so handy it is worth a little wood working to get it to fit.  Besides that you are going to need room in front and back of your car if it is on a stand or not.

[zerfetzen]

Go to my website at http://www.69hemi.com/ and go into "Restoration", "Sheet Metal" then you can see the car before the dipping and after.  You are wrong in saying that is will remove good metal as well as bad.  The process only removes the rust and leaves the unrusted metal untouched.  Do not confuse this dipping process with the old Acid Dipping which was used to etch the metal to make the cars lighter.  Also on the rotisserie question, build a longer garage.  That is a tool that is so handy it is worth a little wood working to get it to fit.  Besides that you are going to need room in front and back of your car if it is on a stand or not.

Nice website, great project!  Thanks for the correction, I didn't know the dipping process has changed.  At the moment, we're in a condo, so of course I can't extend my garage, so I have to work with what I have.  I could occasionally back part of the car out to get more room, but must pull it back in when finished.  I'd like to avoid as many of these expenses as possible, even if it means 1,000 hours of effort on my part, I have all the time in the world, but in many respects, it really seems like dipping is the way to go.

If I do go this route, how do you guys look up these services?  For example, I'm new in CT (well, 1 year now), and have tried looking up media blasting in the phone book to no avail, or some quick Internet searches.  Am I missing something?  Is there some key word search I'm not using?  Thanks.

[BlueSS454]

BlueSS454, how did you transport your car without the wheels?  Or did you put them back on for the trip?

The rotisserie I made that the car was mounted on has casters on it.  I just winched it up on my open trailer and hauled it on over there.  Once it was on the trailer, I dropped the body all the way down so there was no flexing while I was transporting it.

[Rack]

FWIW, here is my 69 before and after I had it sandblasted.  The car came back to me spotless.  I've been there, done that with the wire wheel on a drill...never again.  I'll send all my stuff out now to get sandblasted.  That way takes forever, sandblasting took 8 hours, cost me $700, and I didn't have to do anything except drop it off and pick it up.

Wow. $700? That's it?! That's inside, out, and underside, right?

WHere do you live?

FWIW, here is my 69 before and after I had it sandblasted.  The car came back to me spotless.  I've been there, done that with the wire wheel on a drill...never again.  I'll send all my stuff out now to get sandblasted.  That way takes forever, sandblasting took 8 hours, cost me $700, and I didn't have to do anything except drop it off and pick it up.

I did the same thing. It took the guy 8 hours and cost me $495 and he even came to me. It was a mobile glass blasting service. He had a pretty cool setup.

Same question, where do you live?

There's a guy in San ANtonio (150 miles from me) that wants to charge me $2200.

[Charger-Bodie]

we have a guy in ne iowa here , he comes right to the shop and charges 600 to do the floors jambs and gine comp.

[justin1987]

FWIW, here is my 69 before and after I had it sandblasted.  The car came back to me spotless.  I've been there, done that with the wire wheel on a drill...never again.  I'll send all my stuff out now to get sandblasted.  That way takes forever, sandblasting took 8 hours, cost me $700, and I didn't have to do anything except drop it off and pick it up.

I did the same thing. It took the guy 8 hours and cost me $495 and he even came to me. It was a mobile glass blasting service. He had a pretty cool setup.

Same question, where do you live?

There's a guy in San ANtonio (150 miles from me) that wants to charge me $2200.

The guy is based out of Shawnee, Oklahoma. It's about 30 minutes east of Oklahoma City.

[The70RT]

When you do your welding do the trunk first then you will have some experience to do the other places. If you see small holes around the back window you will have a fit after you remove the back glass  . If you do any cleaning at all underneath it will take forever on jack stands and you will eat a lot when you are underneath it. If you are not putting it on a rotisserie no one will be able to blast the bottom...and the undercoating would have to come off first anyway or it would cost a lot more. You may be better off not removing any undercoating underneath. The easiest way to remove the undercoating is with a propane torch and a putty knife....not to desirable if you are laying down.

[Rack]

FWIW, here is my 69 before and after I had it sandblasted.  The car came back to me spotless.  I've been there, done that with the wire wheel on a drill...never again.  I'll send all my stuff out now to get sandblasted.  That way takes forever, sandblasting took 8 hours, cost me $700, and I didn't have to do anything except drop it off and pick it up.

I did the same thing. It took the guy 8 hours and cost me $495 and he even came to me. It was a mobile glass blasting service. He had a pretty cool setup.

Same question, where do you live?

There's a guy in San ANtonio (150 miles from me) that wants to charge me $2200.

The guy is based out of Shawnee, Oklahoma. It's about 30 minutes east of Oklahoma City.

It's sad that I could probably have my car shipped there and have it blasted and primered for less then what the guy in San Antonio is charging JUST to get it blasted.

[zerfetzen]

When you do your welding do the trunk first then you will have some experience to do the other places. If you see small holes around the back window you will have a fit after you remove the back glass  . If you do any cleaning at all underneath it will take forever on jack stands and you will eat a lot when you are underneath it. If you are not putting it on a rotisserie no one will be able to blast the bottom...and the undercoating would have to come off first anyway or it would cost a lot more. You may be better off not removing any undercoating underneath. The easiest way to remove the undercoating is with a propane torch and a putty knife....not to desirable if you are laying down.

So blasting can't remove undercoating, what about an acid dip?  It looks like I'll get a good supply of propane and get acquainted with my creeper.

[The70RT]

When you do your welding do the trunk first then you will have some experience to do the other places. If you see small holes around the back window you will have a fit after you remove the back glass  . If you do any cleaning at all underneath it will take forever on jack stands and you will eat a lot when you are underneath it. If you are not putting it on a rotisserie no one will be able to blast the bottom...and the undercoating would have to come off first anyway or it would cost a lot more. You may be better off not removing any undercoating underneath. The easiest way to remove the undercoating is with a propane torch and a putty knife....not to desirable if you are laying down.

So blasting can't remove undercoating, what about an acid dip?  It looks like I'll get a good supply of propane and get acquainted with my creeper.

Yeah it can be done but is slow going. With it not on a rotissorie you would be paying a lot more too.

[zerfetzen]

When you do your welding do the trunk first then you will have some experience to do the other places. If you see small holes around the back window you will have a fit after you remove the back glass  . If you do any cleaning at all underneath it will take forever on jack stands and you will eat a lot when you are underneath it. If you are not putting it on a rotisserie no one will be able to blast the bottom...and the undercoating would have to come off first anyway or it would cost a lot more. You may be better off not removing any undercoating underneath. The easiest way to remove the undercoating is with a propane torch and a putty knife....not to desirable if you are laying down.

So blasting can't remove undercoating, what about an acid dip?  It looks like I'll get a good supply of propane and get acquainted with my creeper.

Yeah it can be done but is slow going. With it not on a rotissorie you would be paying a lot more too.

Thanks 70RT.  So I'll aim at lengthy prep process without a rotisserie (unless I can make one fit).  Any idea at a ballpark of what to kind of cost range to expect for blasting without a rotisserie?

[The70RT]

I got screwed but mine was 1400 on a rotisserie. Inside and out and disassembled

[BlueSS454]

I live in South Jersey.  The guy charges by the hour.  If I'm not mistaken, it is something like $125 per hour. I did all the prep work on it before I dropped it off to get blasted.  I removed all the old plastic filler, all the old undercoating, ALL bolts/nuts/screws/anything that can be bolted down.

[hemi-hampton]

And how much did it end up costing you total at $125 a hour? LEON.

[VPFD13]

BlueSS454, how did you transport your car without the wheels?  Or did you put them back on for the trip?

The rotisserie I made that the car was mounted on has casters on it.  I just winched it up on my open trailer and hauled it on over there.  Once it was on the trailer, I dropped the body all the way down so there was no flexing while I was transporting it.

Where did you fine plans to build the Rotisserie?

[six-tee-nine]

Here


Check under rotisserie


http://www.69hemi.com/

[VPFD13]

That is a great site thank you.

[70charger_boy]

That is a great site thank you.

[BlueSS454]

$750 total cost, no plans for building the rotisserie, just got some pieces of steel I had laying around and put them together and welded it.