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I got the car back from the dipping facility today, they actually dropped it off in an enclosed trailer at no charge. It is a multi-stage process starting with an caustic bath that eats the paint, a pressure wash, acid bath that eats the rust, another pressure wash, then it gets hosed down with a rust inhibitor and finally dried. After looking it over I am glad I had this done. If anything, its the peace of mind that you know exactly what you have and all the crevices that you can't reach have been cleaned out. My car had a lot of surface rust that looked bad but after getting the car back it is much less intimidating. There were several spots that looked a lot worse than they were. With that said, I'm going to be replacing a lot of sheet metal. Here are some before and after pics.
In one of the "after" pics, the roof looks rusted but this is just the lighting. I am told that the rust inhibitor should last a year if the parts are kept dry.
Last edited by Natedawg; Nov 11, 2020 at 01:00 PM.
Wonder how my 73 X-body will look like. Just dropped it yesterday at a paint stripper shop. The body, doors, fenders,... are slowly and evenly heated to 420 ° C in a closed oven chamber. A powerful fan ensures that the temperature is evenly distributed. After a few hours, all that's left of the paint is ash. Post-treatment is media blasting to get rid of the rust
In one of the "after" pics, the roof looks rusted but this is just the lighting. I am told that the rust inhibitor should last a year if the parts are kept dry.
What did that set you back if you dont mind me asking?
Wonder how my 73 X-body will look like. Just dropped it yesterday at a paint stripper shop. The body, doors, fenders,... are slowly and evenly heated to 420 ° C in a closed oven chamber. A powerful fan ensures that the temperature is evenly distributed. After a few hours, all that's left of the paint is ash. Post-treatment is media blasting to get rid of the rust
Never heard of that. Interesting. Any chance of warpage?
It's incredible what the dipping process does. We had that done in Portland, OR, for a Corvette frame and other parts and they came out incredibly clean and ready to work with. As I recall the cost was a little high but it sure did save time on restoring the frame and getting all the underneath work done before the body went back on the car. Enjoy the rest of your restoration!
Randy C.
"68 4-4-2 convertible (Best in Class at the 2011 OCA Nationals in Reno)
'69 4-4-2 convertible (a real nice driver)
Thanks for the comments everyone. For the body shell, doors, and the trunk the total was $2200 and I had to wait about 8 weeks. To me, that's well worth saving up the cash to know that absolutely everything is clean, including inside the roof and floor braces, and inside every crevice and hidden pocket. I can't imagine the hours it would have taken me to do all this myself and still not get it nearly as clean. I have read some say that its better to leave what little is left of the original primer in the hidden areas but as you can see from the original pics, there was surface rust everywhere, like it had been stored in a hot humid environment. I think the amount of rust was definitely winning the war against the 50 year old primer. They drill a 1/4" hole in the roof and the wheel tubs to allow the air to escape when it goes under. I also like the fact that no original metal is removed at all, unlike what would happen if I went at it with sanding discs. I would have destroyed some areas that may have been salvageable. Regarding the alternative of an oven, the guy at the dipping facility wishes that he had both. They would like the ability to use the oven then follow up with the dipping. The oven can remove stuff that the acid and caustic can't, such as spray foam (ugh). The PO filled the cowl areas with it and I had to manually get all that stuff out.
