do you dip to strip or blast it off?

I had my car media blasted, using the soft plastic pellets. While the final effects of removing paint and old bondo worked it has some serious downsides in a monocoque car like the pantera.

First the media is not abrasive enough to eat away the undercoating tar in the engine bay, this area still required manual scraping and a little light sandbasting to remove. This is a minor issue.

The biggest problem is that the media goes everywhere. I must of removed 10 pounds of media in the rocker panels with a shopvac. In the Pantera, I had media in every channel, seam and lap joint many which are unaccessable. It still falls our from time to time in areas. For this reason alone I would not blast another mono car again.

Sandblasting should be avoided on the body surface. With the thin metal on these cars, the sandblasting develops heat which soon warps the body panels.

While dipping might seem to be the next best approach, I would be concerned about the caustic agent in areas that would be difficult to re-apply any rust proofing material. After dipping, you would want to coat the insides of all channels to prevent future rust. The construction of the Pantera prevents easy access to most structual areas.

This is my experience, others might have more positive results.

I had similar experience with plastic media, lots of plastic media in crevices. Also, it seemed to put little pockmarks in all the factory lead. But I thought it was a good choice overall still, maybe the best alternative.

Dipping will also get inside everywhere, which is good and bad. Good to attack rust and accumulated dirt, etc. Bad as it hides and tends to weep out over time - very bad for the paint you went to such steps to prepare for. Graham Pantera parts down in LA has sold a Pantera shell or two that he had dipped, rinsed, treated and baked to mil. specs. I talked with him about the process and he says it goes way beyond the normal dip process, and will not lead to the future seeping problems. Whatever method you select, be prepared for finding some hidden surprises ;-)

Larry

Beware of using blasting grit. This can collect in the sills/rockers panels and elsewhere. When this gets wet (condensation etc) it turns to a sort of mud that holds the moisture against the metal. I've used this successfully on an old 1940s Hillman, but I wouldn't use it on a Pantera shell unless I was going to do a lot of cutting and welding afterwards.

I have stripped my inner fenders and inside and outside of hood and deck all with aircraft chemical stripper. It is messy. You can make it esier by putting down plastic, let it wreinkle and scrape it off with a razor blade in a holder. Carful not to scratch. Change blades often. Arter you get 98% off you can wipe it down with laquor thinner, this allows what is left to dry hard. Now just DA the rest off and you have it clean. I do this all the time in my body shop. I have sandblast equipment, but like they say it gets EVERYWHERE.

I used a chemical strip also. It soaked into the undercoating and bubbled it making it easy to scrape off. It gelled and didn't make much mess.

quote:

Originally posted by Buttondoor:
I had similar experience with plastic media, lots of plastic media in crevices. Also, it seemed to put little pockmarks in all the factory lead. But I thought it was a good choice overall still, maybe the best alternative.

If you are going to the effort of stripping the car, I'd suggest getting rid of the leading as well. It probably contains hairline cracks and does not hold up as well as the modern bondo products. It puddles off easily with a propane torch. After you get it off, it's a good idea to strengthen the welds under it or, better yet, to add some gussets/doublers to strengthen the areas.

Jeff
6559

Jeff,
Where are the leaded areas again? I vaguely remember a few but my memory is failing me.

Thanks,
Kevin