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Kev
  • Kev
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
15 years ago
I am seriously considering getting my 47 body and pan blasted, I was going to prep it by hand because of concerns about warping etc but this would save so much effort and my car has alot of surface rust, has anyone used this company and can recommend them or someone else in the south, I am in Fleet, Hants

https://www.blast-cleaning.co.uk/car_restoration.html 

Cheers
Kev
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mrsherbie
15 years ago
I had my 61 bus done years ago by Calmac in Gosport. The owner is a car restorer himself. A friends samba which ended up on the cover of Volksworld also got blasted there, I have used them a lot for parts, I have not seen any damage/warp to anything. Aluminium oxide powder ( gets everywhere).
Price has gone up a bit recently, they mostly do Navy contract work so I think the small jobs get in the way sometimes. Needs to be a rolling fully stripped vehicle, dropped & collected on demand, no storage there. They might be able to rough quote a beetle by phone.
From memory I paid £300 just for the underside of my van, more recently £25 per beetle wing, including zinc primered.
https://www.calmacmetalfinishers.co.uk/index.html 

I was going to do my 50, but by the time we had done the welding repairs most of the rust was gone anyway, so I used a 'finer' wire zipwheel on a grinder and flap sanding wheels and just kept them moving all the time to avoid any heat build up.
I had my bumpers blasted and forgot to etch prime them with 1 wing and I noticed this year these 3 parts are all starting to rust through the paint! So I will have to zip and paint them over again. Whereas the car/non blasted parts are all fine. Blasting is harsh.

Reading that site you posted, looks like they know what they are talking about though.




"it'll wreck the patina you haven't worked so hard to create" - 50Karmann
GKL 7
15 years ago

Blasting is harsh.

mrsherbie wrote:



Totally depends on the media used and the pressure at which it is blasted.
If a gentle media is used you are safe on car body panels.
Crushed Walnut shells are good,i remember Ritchie @ KK had a 356 done in the U.S using this.
Remember it's also down to knowledge and patience.
Any fool with blasting equipment can ruin your car for you.:evil:
You just need someone who cares about what they are doing.
I blasted my cab shell before it went to 1on1,at low pressure using glass bead.No damage suffered.
Don't try and cheap skate Kev,pay the going rate.Some cowboy will do it for half,but he will damage your car.
Kev
  • Kev
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
15 years ago


Don't try and cheap skate Kev,pay the going rate.Some cowboy will do it for half,but he will damage your car.

'50 Karmann wrote:



Totally agree, hence why I have been so nervous about it. Cheers for the advice both of you, I like the look of the process done by the place in Sussex, might pay them a visit first to see a car in progress.
1953
15 years ago
https://www.blast-cleaning.co.uk/car_restoration.html 

I have used this company and highly recommend them....not had a whole car blasted with them...but loads of smaller bits...wheels etc

very helpful...they had some seriously rare/expensive classic cars being blasted, when i was last there.

cheers
Caledfryn
15 years ago



I blasted my cab shell before it went to 1on1,at low pressure using glass bead.No damage suffered.
Don't try and cheap skate Kev,pay the going rate.Some cowboy will do it for half,but he will damage your car.

'50 Karmann wrote:



I'd be interested to know why you used blasting than dipping George ?

Dipping seems to be more thorough, but I'm seeing lots of scary stories about stuff leaching out of the seams and ruining paint jobs months down the line.
GKL 7
15 years ago


but I'm seeing lots of scary stories about stuff leaching out of the seams and ruining paint jobs months down the line.

Caledfryn wrote:




You have answered your own question.:wink:
Ovalbug
15 years ago


Dipping seems to be more thorough, but I'm seeing lots of scary stories about stuff leaching out of the seams and ruining paint jobs months down the line.

Caledfryn wrote:



Have read the tales on The Samba about Californian Porsches etc having paint ruined by stripper leaching out of seams in the hot sun but has this happened to a vehicle that has been dipped AND E-coated?
The main UK place for dipping appears to be Surface Processing Limited in the Midlands who chemically dip the vehicle and then once that is all washed off immerse it in a tank of primer that is charged electrically (the E-coating).
At the moment I'm weighing up the pro's and con's of getting my '53 blasted / dipped and am leaning towards dipping at the moment.......
Would be very grateful if anyone knows whether any vehicle that has had paint problems after being dipped was only dipped/neutralised and then painted or did it have this E-coating applied too?

:wink:
'63 Karmann Ghia RHD
'72 1302LS Karmann Cabrio RHD
Rich Oakley
15 years ago
I helped a friend put together a councors condition '61 single cab about ten years ago. It was chemically dipped at a place in Dudley, West Midlands. It was a beautiful bus when finished, but several months later, the paint on the drop-sides started peeling off. The acid used in the stripping had got into the box sections on the drop-sides and started seeping out at a later date. Not a pretty sight on such a nice bus!
47 Beetle, 56 UK Karmann Cabriolet, 56 UK Beetle, 57 UK Type 2, 59 UK Beetle, 66 UK Fastback.
Kev
  • Kev
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
15 years ago
I made some enquiries with the place I posted about, I am going to visit and check them out but it sounds great, here's the reply I got, would like to have checked the 356 out, must be a well early '50.

Yes, we hear the horror stories too. I saw a site yesterday where they show a VW camper van and say they blasted it with Chilled Iron Grit..... about a suitable as painting your car with a shovel.

The phosphate is a bit of a trade secret, we import it, it is an acid based material that carries zinc into the surface of the metal, it is not a paint, it is a metal treatment. You can weld through it because there is nothing solvent there. It is clear so nothing is hidden like paint primers, and it is an adhesion promoter too, just give the panels a quick scotchbright and dust wipe / blow off, and paint it. Use an etch primer if you want to but the very fine surface profile on the metal will act as a key as well.

One of our customers came in with his 152nd Porsche car we have cleaned for him, travelling over 200 miles each way each time, and brought 2 doors back for a quick refresher, which had been cleaned and phosphated by us 12 years ago and look almost as good as the day they were done.

Cost for a Beetle is around £900 + VAT, about £150 more if the underseal is still on. Shell needs to be all stripped, doors boot and bonnet off or finger tight.

dp
  • dp
  • Regular
15 years ago

I made some enquiries with the place I posted about, I am going to visit and check them out but it sounds great, here's the reply I got, would like to have checked the 356 out, must be a well early '50.

nev wrote:



That does sound like a good process with the phosphate coating - is £900 pan and shell?

This thread on restowagen has some good info about the dipping and e-coating process from surface processing:
https://restowagenuk.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7769 

Couple of things that aren't brilliant IMO having read through it (both quotes from page 10):
1 - 'Just a word of caution, the body is just about to go for painting and we've noticed on a couple of seams on the front clip and on the back edge of the bonnet where the top is folded and welded, the ecoating hasn't completely sealed the metal and there is some surface rust - nothing major but I didn't expect that for the money.'
2 - 'The guy who met me when I dropped the car off warned me about the possibility of drilling holes. You have to give your consent before they'll do it and after he told me about the size of the holes and where they may have to drill (heater channels, chassis tunnel etc) I was cool with it. I think its better in the long run because it allows the primer to drain and the holes can be easily welded up.'

1 - I'd have thought the e-coating should ensure you don't get this type of issue.
2 - Welding up holes in your e-coated body will leave bare metal under the weld, when the point of the electro dipping process is to ensure coverage in the areas you can't reach. Maybe I'm just being picky.

Still sounds quite tempting though.
Denz
15 years ago
Hey guys. The restowagen thread is mine. I had my car dipped and ecoated a few months ago now. I remember one guy posted to quote your item 1 above but I can quite happily hold my hand up and say that this hasn't happened to me. I went over the car in detail after I picked it up and couldn't find anywhere that hadn't been coated. Now, about 4 months since the process, the car looks as good as it did when I picked it up.

I too have heard the horror stories about chemicals from dipping ruining paint jobs. To be honest I'm not sure whether ecoating would affect this or not but I do know that in May when my car went up for dipping, Surface Processing were fully booked up until the end of the year with reservations for cars. The number of cars being done was a real eye opener and if there was a real problem with it then I'm sure a lot more people would be shouting out by now.

I too was a little concerned about holes being drilled when it was mentioned. However, when the guy described where they would be drilled (out of site when the car is put together) and the actual size of the drill holes (very small) I felt it better than having chemicals left inside the body when the car comes out and just accepted it as part of the process. Yeah, you're right, the main benefit of ecoating is that is bonds to every part of the body so it'll get into the insides of the heater channels, engine vents etc.

As for weighing up dipping over blasting, I guess its a question of cost/budget and the condition of the car to start with. I had my car blasted first to show the areas that needed repair. If I'd dipped it at the beginning then I'd probably have lost a big part of the car, leaving little as a reference to build the car back up. Blasting in the states is certainly more popular because I think cars are generally in better condition, drier climate and all that. I think the work on my car was pretty extensive and the car was basically re-born. Because of this I thought that dipping was really the best option to ensure it would last for a long time to come.
Bally
15 years ago
Did you check out the Sussex outfit Kev? I've had that link in my favourites for what seems like forever. I'd be very interested in your thoughts.

Cheers,

Dave
59RHD
15 years ago
I had my '59 media blasted by a place called Marrawise in Coventry. I was really keen on putting the point across that I was worried about warpage etc they explained how they did it and what media they use which I can't for the life of remember what! I left it in there capable hands and when I returned to pick it up at the end of the day I was really pleased with the results! They did a cracking job, they showed me a small piece of filler on the roof which they immediately stopped blasting over as by trying to remove it, it would apply much pressure and warp the roof. The car came out really straight and showing no signs of media related damage at all. The nicest part was the price! It only cost me £100 for the whole shell and that included them spraying it in primer! I would definately go there again if I had another car to restore!

Steve
JULIANROBINSON
15 years ago
A friend of mine runs ABS Blasting.. He does complete body shells without damage.. www.absblasting.co.uk

www.vwoval.co.uk
Denz
15 years ago
I used Marawise to blast mine in the beginning. I chose them because of recommendations from others and they didn't let me down. They blasted the car just enough to remove all the paint and rust, and expose all the areas of filler without distortion. Think it costed about £300 to blast and etch prime.
slant
15 years ago
I have also recently used Marawise in Coventry to blast wings, bonnet, engine lid plus front & rear valance. Top job with no issues & a good price too.

There were some “delicate” areas that they took good care of. They back off any areas that look dodgy enough to clean it up well without disintegrating the panel.

They have definitely put an end to my nitromorse days!!!

Im confident enough to be sending them a full shell in a few months.
51reutter
14 years ago
How me and my mates do it 😎







Instagram | @early_type
Kev
  • Kev
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
14 years ago

Did you check out the Sussex outfit Kev? I've had that link in my favourites for what seems like forever. I'd be very interested in your thoughts.

Cheers,

Dave

Bally wrote:



Hi Dave,

Only just seen your post, i ran out of money and didn't get my car done last year. I have since spoken to a few people and decided the best course of action is to get the body repairs done first before blasting, I wouldn't want to trust the clear coating over a winter in my unheated garage, with the limited time I have the body repairs could take me a while when I finally get started.

Cheers
Kev

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