I was wondering if anyone know of a place in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that will sand blast my undercarriage and wheel wells, and maybe put a nice coating on the frame. I have some surface rust and assorted junk i would like to have removed. Also, is this something i could do myself?

 

You sure can do it yourself! I did my undercarriage myself. You need a decent compressor, a sandblaster. It will be LOTS of work, but it can be done.

 

I am assuming the body is off the frame right?

 

When you say "decent sandblaster" what do mean...I have a 3hp. 125psi 7-8cfm with a siphon feed and let me tell you this thing is crap, there are some local outfits that will come to your location with an industrial grade diesel aircompressor/sandblaster for about $500 (baking powder or glass) for the body and chassis.

 

Actually, mine will not be a frame off. i simply want someone to sand blast the visible portions of the frame, gas tank, and wheel wells for cosmetic purposes. Do you know anyplace that does that type of thing?

 

If you aren't removing the body from the frame then I would just do it myself with sanding wheels, wire brushes, and oven cleaner. Then you can spray the undercoating on yourself.

 

I agree with Olds64. I would not recommend sand blasting in your case. Otherwise, you will get sand in places that will cause you more trouble later and it will ruine all your body bushings, fuel and brake hoses, etc..

If you know someone with a 4-post lift, you can lift the car half way and get underneath and with a power wire wheel.

 

Don't even think about sand blasting a together car. Even a stripped bare body takes 1/2 a day to vacuum and blow out all the sand from the nooks and crannies.

 

When I purchased my 72 Cutlass back in 1994, the paint was perfect but the undercarriage was covered with fuzzy surface rust! I handled it the hard way. Lying on my back I hand sanded the entire underside, shock towers,springs, floor pans, and all. I then brush coated it with rust converter, followed by semi gloss black Rustoleum. Now comes the magic trick. After the paint set up I applied Mcguires Touchless Wax to the entire undercarriage. This product is no longer made because it's initial purpose was a disasterous failure. If used on a car's exterior, it discolored in the sun and couldn't be removed. When I say "couldn't" I mean it. Not even with paint thinner! But on the undercarriage it was just the ticket. It flowed into all the hard to get at places and never lost it's gloss, never chipped or peeled, and the compliments I got at judged shows "amazing" I bought out the last 8 boxes of the "Touchless" from a local Kmart in case I ever needed it in a future restoration.

 

What Gearheads said...we had a body media blasted, and it took days to clean out the baking soda. I did see a website that mentioned blasting with dry ice, pretty interesting.

 

Thanks for all the advice. This kept me from making a big mistake. Also, thanks to gearheads for the advice on my floor pans. I had them rewelded and no longer have the problem I was experiencing before. Thanks to all for your advice.

 

This current Olds will be the 4th undercarriage I have done , all of them body on. The only way to do it is with wire wheels on either a grinder or a drill. i use both. the grinder is best for the large suface areas that you can easily reach while the drill can get to the harder to reach areas plus you can get an extension for the drill. There are some areas that you may have to do by hand sanding. There are also good rust removers that can be brushed on and washed off depending on how heavy the rust is.

 

I am glad to hear that. It was not safe that way it was before. God forbid you were in an accident it would have folded up like a beer can.