Hi all,

I am doing a frame off restoration on my 70 cutlass and will be to the point of lifting the body off of the frame within a week or two. I am a commercial/industrial painter by trade and have alot of sandblasting under my belt. I plan to blast the frame with black beauty and try the recycled media on the underside of the body to get a feel for how it reacts with the thinner sheet metal. I have read on here many different opinions on what to blast the rest of the sheet metal with. Does anyone have a solid opinion of what to use with the ability to back it up? I will do it myself but would like some know how before jumping into it.
I have access to a 1000# blaster and a much smaller 100# unit. Any tips would be appreciated. The blasting I do is on giant tanks and structural steel but this little car has me intimidated. Also what is a cheap yet effect frame and underbody coating? Im not making a show car but I want it to look decent and be safe(er) from rerusting.

Thanks in advance.

 

I used black beauty on my frame and it worked out great.

The under body and floors, I recommend silica.

The body panels I did with reclaimed silica/corn cob mix.

The only real trouble panels are trunk lids and hoods.
Since there is a long stretch of metal without curves or support, they tend to be a lot more prone to warping. If they're not caked with 6 layers of paint and filler, I'd just take them down with a DA sander.

If you don't have a needle scaler, get one. That tool will loosen up all the undercoating before you blast it clean.

As always, Mr. Painter..... Account for excessive cleanup and flash rust.

 

Great thanks for the response!

Great call on the needle gun, I do have one!

I was considering just stripping the roof, trunk, and hood. What are your thoughts? any time saved and is it necessary for a nice paint job?

Is the silica/cob mix just approx. 50/50?

I brought out the 100# blaster, and got crushed quartz into it and im not having luck with it, i need a tighter screen.

This gives me more confidence, however im still unsure about primer and undercoating.
I have looked at the Lizard skin, and a few other ceramic coatings but havent seen much as far as recommendations. Anyone else have one?

 

I recommend 3M 80 grit stick-on papers with a dual action sander. Very effective, doesn't warp panels, desn't get drit everywhere (although paint dust does get around). I used the puirple Harbor Freight DA. They also offer a long-line sander for getting bondo'ed panels straight.
Such blasting as I have done was using aluminum oxide media on wheels, etc. and what a pain in the @## it was. Grit everywhere, took too long, hard to get uniform coverage. Maybe you have talent; obviously I don't have a lot of that, lol.

 

i grew up at redi strip company in roselle il. my dad runs the shop and on their process they use aluminum oxide. to take body filler off they use plastic media. or they can also dip the frame or body in a non etching and not harmful solution that essentially peels the paint off leaving the metal pretty nice and smoot. i did my under body there with aluminum oxide. and i used some really old ashphalt undercoating which is no longer available. I put in on over bare metal i am yet to see any rust and i did the underbody back in 07 i have driven it in the rain etc. The only thing i didnt media blast was the roof .