No debate...car needs to be stripped and media blasted???

[nsmall]

I plan to keep my car for a very long time.  Building my one and only dream car.  Is there no reasonable debate...the car needs to media blasted to ensure the rust, bondo, and old paint gets removed so my body guy will be able to correct the cars body issues properly?

I will have a lot of money tied up in this car, I am just freaked out about media blasting as the car will obviously have to be torn down.  I am assuming the dash, gas lines, brake lines, exhaust, and essentially everything must come out for the car to be media blasted?

Attached is the link to the thread I started.  I know its hard to tell whats under the paint.  Its a California car and down low in a few places and near the rear window and below the trunk lid there is some rust...cancer.

I dont know a ton about cars, but I do know I want the paint to look good years down the road as like I already said, I have no plans to sell the car, but Im already in for 30k  for buying the car and counting all the new parts not in the photos...new restored OEM bumpers, new glass, new handles, new mirrors, new vintage air system, restored OEM trim and so on.  Im hoping to only spend 10-12k  on paint and I know that may not be enough money.

My car...
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=117221.0

Any opinions will be appreciated.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

You will eat up $12k pretty quickly blasting a car and getting paint back on it WITHOUT any panel replacement.

If the car needs panels it'll add up quickly. Especially if you don't DIY it.

And yes everything should come off of the car to blast and it should be on a rotisserie. I suspect around $3k will get you a rotisserie and a car blasted.


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[anlauto]

I would guess it all depends on where you live. Around here in Ontario Canada, $10-$12K will NOT buy you a decent paint job, especially if the car has been stripped 100% 

[blown motor]

I'm going to go a different route here. The underside of your car looks great in my opinion. There is little room for improvement there. Talk to your paint and body guy and get his opinion on what needs to be done and how to go about it. Having the panels right shouldn't involve removing the brake lines. I know lots of people are all about blasting and rotisseries but is it really necessary in every case. Remove all your trim, mirrors, bumpers, etc, get out the masking tape and the paper and just do what's necessary. We're talking money here and unless you have a $ tree in the back yard you'll be in deeper than you ever thought in no time. Maybe you already are.

For me the great joys of driving the car are the seat of the pants feel I get when I put the pedal down and all the thumbs up I get from people on the street. They can't see the underside of the car or what the paint is like behind the back seat so I'm not inclined to spend any money there. I'll save it and put it into my next car. Just food for thought, good luck with your Cuda and keep us updated on it's progress.

[loco340cuda]

Your car looks pretty good underneath so why spend money there when nobody is going to see it.  I was in the same boat as you where a year ago, stressing about the money to get the body work and paint done as well as having to tear the car completely down.  I decided to not spend any money on the underside and interior (metal areas) when it comes to body and paint because in my mind for my car it was a waste of money that could be used elsewhere on the car.

Your thought process is correct in that the car does need to go to bare metal but you do not have to do this by sand blasting the whole car.  By not sandblasting the whole car you can save money.  All the painted surfaces on my car where taken down to bare metal.  The large panels (basically the whole outside of the car) was taken to bare metal via sanding.  The engine compartment, truck compartment, door and window jambs, and hard to get areas where taken to bare metal using a sand blaster.

Stripping the car of everything (parts) is the best way to go.  For me since I was not going to do the bottom of the car (because like yours it was already pretty clean) I stripped the car down to a roller (body shell rolling on suspension) and delivered it to the body shop this way.  It was much easier for them to work because they where having to worry about taping off a bunch of stuff.  When it comes to money (in general) your time is cheaper then the body shops so try to think of ways to make the body shops job easier because this will save you money in the end.  The more they have to tape off means more hours of time they will have to charge for.  In some cases it might be worth it to have them tape off something instead of removing it but typically the over all job will not be as good as if the part was fully removed in the first place.  Only you can determine what on your car is worth it to you to remove vs having the bodyshop tape it off.

Also when it comes to bodywork and paint, it will always cost more then the estimate and the original amount of money you were thinking, count on that!    Search for my restoration thread under loco340cuda.  The body work and paint for my car cost just under $17k and looking at your car I would say we started with cars about in the same condition bodywise with mine maybe being a little worse (assuming you don't have big chunks of rust or bondo hiding underneath).  The rust on my car was in the lower rear quarters and in the trunk pan, that was the only metal they had to replace.

Good luck with the restoration and keep the update pictures coming along.    

[anlauto]

Problem with that idea is the fact that you would spend lots of money making the body "look" nice while rust is still lurking everywhere underneath and behind areas "you don't see"....pretty soon the car will rust away making the money you spent on the fancy paint just a waste All or nothing I say !


For what it's worth.....I've been restoring Mopars for 32+ years and have never once used a rotisserie and my cars look just as nice underneath as they do up top.

[turbostang7]

But to truly get everywhere you don't see is a tremendous amount of work. you would have to pull all the panels off the car to bare skeleton and build it back up. Is this your process?
Just curious not calling you out on it because I was looking at doing that for the reason of rust hidden but that is a huge undertaking.
I plan on blasting mine but trying to figure out the best way to do it. take the panels that I know need replaced off and blast the inner structure while doing the whole car? or do the car and then one panel at a time?

As far as the rotisserie goes, if you can get the car off the ground far enough to comfortably get under it then it isn't a necessity just makes getting to things nicer.

[anlauto]

Obviously you're not going to remove panels and blast inside etc....If you want to go to that extreme, have the car chemically dipped
What I was referring to is having the outside painted nice, then you look in the wheel wells or underneath and it still looks like rusty crap with loose undercoating and rust hiding everywhere. In my opinion, you've just wasted money on the paint job.

I didn't say a rotisserie doesn't make your life easier I was meaning it's not a necessity ! Everybody that is restoring their one and only car rushes out to buy one, when it's just spending money...

[loco340cuda]

When I said don't bother with the underneath I did not mean wheel wells.  This needs to be done as you can see into the wheel wells and will look like crap against a nice paint job.  As far as the underneath (underneath bottom side of the car) goes..... if there is no poor condition undercoating and/or rust why bother unless we are talking about a high dollar valuable car or a trailer queen?  My car had neither undercoating or rust underneath and it was clean looking (minus some light dirt and light grease grime) and you could tell there would be no issues down the road.  Body shop checked under the car and they agreed it was okay to leave it alone.

If there are any issues under the car then I agree the time to take care of it is when the body work is being done because you don't want the bottom to rust out after all the trouble you went through to get a nice paint job.

In my opinion if you are limited by funds this is a good way to do it as long as the underneath is clean and one is sure there will not be issues down the road.  If funds are not as much of an issue then I agree the bottom should be down as well.  In my case the funds where limited so I had to make an executive call and leave the underneath (bottom of body) un-restored. 

[nsmall]

This is a post I started.  I really appreciate your opinions.  I dont want to paint the car twice. I have AMD front fenders as an option to save my painter time and me money not sure they will fit.  The passenger side quarter panel is new, installed by the previous owner (rather odd to install a new panel as I saw the quarter that was cut off and it wasnt that bad).

I know the drivers lower quarter is crap, the panel behind the driver door is crap, the nose panel has some bondo on it, the doors sound like there is some bondo in there even though a magnet sticks hard to to the door and every part of the car besides the very bottom of the driver side quarter I mentioned (maybe the magnet test is a useless test??).  There is a little rust around the rear window area and some rust around the corners under the trunk lid.  Trunk pan, floor boards... SOLID

All that being said, and based what you all have shared...I am still confused (sorry, I am a high school history teacher...little slow ).  I have some money to finish this project and this is not some rare car...BUT I do have limits on how far to take the restoration as it seems to never end...

 I personally like the 72-74 340 Cudas the most vs other years so I have no regrets on whats in the garage.  I am just very calculated with my decisions .  It sounds like I NEED TO GET TO BARE METAL AND THE BEST WAY TO GET TO BARE METAL IS TO MEDIA BLAST ?  Glass is coming out, I can take most of the interior out, but the dash out... .  I guess the saga continues, I dont know much, I like finishing the car my way, so get out the checkbook.  The grey Cuda in my build thread is of a friend/mechanic who charges $40-50 an hour and he can help me strip what I cant.

Sorry for the long rant.  I absolutely love this site for all kinds of reasons.  What cracks me up and makes me want to cry is I have 90% of the parts I need to finish this car, the car runs like a beast, yet I feel further away from finishing the car vs when I first purchased the car

THANKS

If there are any good threads on this topic, let me know.   

[IMNCARN82]

i tend to think black and white too. In the end it's always a shade of grey.   

Where are you?  Maybe a member close with more experience would be willing to take a look at it?  Might give you a better idea of what to do.   These cars were rusting new. Water in the trunk. Leaky wipers.  Glass rattled.   You could put $100,000 dollars into one and it will never be like my new challenger.   Yours looks pretty dry.     Why media blast it?  sure, That's the "best" way.   In a perfect world$$$   I'd get a palm sander,  dust masks and get at it.   But that's just me.  These cars are a big undertaking to do yourself.  Do not underestimate the magnitude of what it will take. Because it always takes everything you got.  In one spectrum or another.  Hope you have an understanding wife too.  My car cost me at least 5 girlfriends. Ha.       Welcome to Cuda-Challenger.com   Ha Ha.  It's like a nest for ebody sufferers. Oh the fever, Sounds like you got it!     We're here for ya bud!     

An Ebody is a process not a destination.  They are NEVER "done "


"Round tail lights forever"     R/T

 

[rhamson]

Problem with that idea is the fact that you would spend lots of money making the body "look" nice while rust is still lurking everywhere underneath and behind areas "you don't see"....pretty soon the car will rust away making the money you spent on the fancy paint just a waste All or nothing I say !


For what it's worth.....I've been restoring Mopars for 32+ years and have never once used a rotisserie and my cars look just as nice underneath as they do up top.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Problem with that idea is the fact that you would spend lots of money making the body "look" nice while rust is still lurking everywhere underneath and behind areas "you don't see"....pretty soon the car will rust away making the money you spent on the fancy paint just a waste All or nothing I say !

Really depends on where the car has spent it's life.... Back in 73 returning to the US I saw cars in New York that were 3-4 years old & rust had eaten the lower quarters away... But 45 years later I can show you cars in my area that still have original paint & don't have a speck of rust.... Cars that when you put them in the air the frame rails & floor pans are flawless...   No way I'd have a car like that blasted....

On the other hand I've seen cars that were restored 2-5 years prior to me seeing them that have rust boiling in the seams...  Cars where even blasting wouldn't have been enough, either a chemical dip or cutting open all the areas where rust can hide was needed.... Blasting certainly has it's place & I use it on some cars but it's not always the best approach....

[Cudaragtop]

Doing mine on a $1000 rotisserie.
Would not want to do it laying on my back on the ground. NO WAY! I also test fit and trimmed all my US Car Tool sub frame connectors and torque boxes with the car 3/4 upside down. No crawling under and crawling out. Having your work directly in front of you standing or sitting... Priceless!

Chemical dipping is expensive and I have read many stories of the chemicals seeping from the seems and ruining the paint. I'm sure it has something to do with who is doing it.
It's all Time and Money and what you want, need and afford. There is a compromise for all. Once you decide the direction and head down that path, Don't look back!
There always another way, every situation is different. Mine was sitting outside rotting in the Pacific NorthWET! We will be under water, upside down by a long way but this will be my son's car "Forever"... It is as much about the journey as the finished car.

Good Luck!

My son Dylan stripping the undercoating off with a heat gun. Switched to a propane torch.  Torch is way faster!


Waiting to go to media blasting.

[torredcuda]

https://www.dustlessblasting.com/   is an option, no need to completely strip the car. Depends on how far you want to go, are you painting  the engine bay ,interior floor pans etc? If you are only painting the outside you can use paint stripper or just sand it to remove the paint and then see what you need for rust repair/metal work. If you are just looking for a nice driver it will be fine but if you want a fully restored show car you really need to take it completely apart and do it from the ground up.