hi i have a 68 malibu. i'm planning on media blasting the car harbor freight sells a sand blaster pressyrized 40lb for $99.
can i us this with the plastc media????
were can i by the media from?????
what size comepressor do i need???
thanks
matt

Paint stripping - no matter how you do it, there is no glamour in it! About 1 fender into the job on my '67 I remembered why I hate stripping paint off of cars so much. Pardon my poor english, but the least worst way to do it is to use paint stripper like Tal Strip. Messy, but much quicker than blasting. Just be sure to wear some Nitrile gloves, Apron, and work in good ventilation.

Hi Mattm. I have blasted my entire car. Be sure to cover the bare metal within 8 hours. The best way would be to use a self etching primer (wash primer) and to cover this after 2 hours but within 24 hours with an expoxy primer. No sanding required.

I just talked to a body shop and they want to sand or grind all the paint off to bare metal. Now the guy I talked to has a cherry 69 Malibu that he painted. Its black and near perfect. He painted the car himself and is in charge of the paint at this body shop and has worked there for 14 years. So I know he does good work the thing is it seems that sanding will also take metal off as well. IS THIS AN OPTION? The guy comes to some of the shows around so I know he would do a good job. Let me know what you think. RC

I like low pressure media blasting. In the past I stripped 9 different colors off of a '69 427 Vette with single edged razor blades.
After that, it was walnut shell blasted with low pressure, by a pro. that painted the car.
My first down to the bare metal, I did back in the early '80's and said never again. I started by trying the chemical aircraft stripper. Messy & expensive. Strippers get into crevices and seep back out into your primer or finish color. I was very careful and used a good variable speed grinder and D/A type foam pad with 80 grit discs. When I got closer to metal, I used a D/A sander and 80 grit discs. If careful, you don't remove metal. You will dig up alot of old skeletons though. You will really get to know your car by taking it to metal yourself.

I said never again, but I'm in process of a '46 Willys CJ-2A that is bare metal right now. I drive it around bare, just to show off the great condition that the old '46 body is in. I get compliments on the Jeep all the time in bare metal. Heehee.

I'm also going to do my '68 Camaro SS 396 myself. It will make you really appreciate your car, and think twice after it's finished, about ever selling it. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Rick
'66 Yenko
'66 SS 427

mattm,
I've taken my 65 Chevelle down to bare metal 3 times. A long story about not putting a primer sealer on before taking a vacation....

I did my car with a DA mostly. I used a schools compressor which was a pretty good size. (? on HP.) And I knocked it out at a pretty good clip. It smelled like hell, but I used a resperator.

Then I sandblasted the inside of the fenders and the inner fender wells at home using the sandblaster from the Depot and a small compressor 3-5 HP?.
It was like night and day.

The small compressor kicked off constantly. I had to wait for it to cycle back on just as I was getting into it.
This made a small job take forever. And I couldn't end it fast enough.

Go with the largest compressor you have access to. That way you control it instead of the other way around.
Use an in-line dryer, and bleed that compressor.
The water that gets in the sandblaster can cause the outlet to to ball up on ya and slow down the media coming out. Becomes a pain.

Use a resperator,face shield/goggles, and maybe a painters hood (light cotton hood from Home Depot). It gets pretty nasty with everything flying around under pressure.
Learning as I go...

Have fun!
Jack

RC 70,
Can you tell me who this guy is who does the good painting. I need to have my Chevelle painted black and I live in San Diego.
You can e-mail me if you want.
Thanks, Jack

There was an article on this in the Tech Reference section. I'll see if I can find and post it.

Actually it was in the Resto Shop area. Here it is, from the late Skip Cain; http://www.chevelles.com/shop/resto_3.html