Sandblasting an E30?

[ksjdan]

Ive been recently thinking about doing a complete respray of the exterior body. I got several quotes from local paint shops, and prices are pretty high. $3000, $2000, $2700 and $500, $500 from lower end crap shops.

Considering that I have access to a commercial air compressor and sand blaster gun from harbor freight only cost $40, would it be ideal to just blast the car and paint it myself? Ill also purchase a gun from HB for about $50 and use Sherwin williams or PPG type of chemical. Im estimating that the job will cost me about $5-600 total which includes POR15 and media blast.

Anyone have experience with legit diy respray? I have about 3 weeks to do this.

[willworkfore30s]

sand blasting is a serious business. If you don't take the right steps to make sure that stuff doesn't get in your lungs, it can kill you.

That being said, to sand blast it you will have to completely tear the car down to just the body. You will have sand falling out of it from every nook and cranny and and rubber or wire parts you hit with the blasting media will be destroyed.

My opinion is that unless your car is full of filler and rust, its not worth blasting.

[JasonC]

Also when blasting a body, you got to watch how long you blast in an area. Cause heat will build up and you'll start to warp your metal.

[hooken m]

you could technically sandblast the hoot, trunk, doors, and fenders since all of those can be removed. doors will be a bitch but w/e

[ksjdan]

I read a lot about heat wrapping the metal. Hopefully I wont have to linger in one area for long time.

How well does sand blasting work on rust? I have small rusting spots on the car. If I do end up diy, I want to POR15 the area, sand, bondo if necessary, and continue on from there.

[willworkfore30s]

there are a lot of media choices that help keep heat down so that you don't warp your metal nearly as easily as sand. Like soda for example.

you could technically sandblast the hoot, trunk, doors, and fenders since all of those can be removed. doors will be a bitch but w/e

This was a good idea. But if your paint under neath is just faded and not rusted and fillered then you'd be better off just to prep that surface and paint over it,

[nrubenstein]

Ive been recently thinking about doing a complete respray of the exterior body. I got several quotes from local paint shops, and prices are pretty high. $3000, $2000, $2700 and $500, $500 from lower end crap shops.

Considering that I have access to a commercial air compressor and sand blaster gun from harbor freight only cost $40, would it be ideal to just blast the car and paint it myself? Ill also purchase a gun from HB for about $50 and use Sherwin williams or PPG type of chemical. Im estimating that the job will cost me about $5-600 total which includes POR15 and media blast.

Anyone have experience with legit diy respray? I have about 3 weeks to do this.

1). You can't do it in three weeks.
2). If you want it to look better than the low end crap shop's work, it's going to cost at least $2k by the time you add up paint, tools, prep materials, etc. Hell, I spent $200 on electricity running the air sander.

A better approach is to get a respray quoted with you doing as much disassembly as is possible. I'm glad for the experience of DIY painting, but I will never do a respray again.

[ksjdan]

Would it really take more than 3 weeks? I thought blasting would reduce the time significantly. One of the reasons why I want to media blast rather than DA sanding. Disassemble trims, bumpers, fender etc in few days, sand blast maybe 4 day, rust treatment and filler about 4 days, prime 1 day and paint/clear about 2 days.

I wont spend top notch on tools. As mentioned in first post, ill source most tools from harbor freight and use maybe $300 or 400 max on chemical excluding por15.

[willworkfore30s]

I just got my 1961 ford f100 pick up blasted. Once I got it torn apart and to the blaster he gave it back to me the next day and only charged like $350 to do the whole truck and he primed it for me. When you blast a car, you have to strip it completely down or do it panel by panel by pulling them off. Then you will still have the roof a b and c pillars rockers rear end and quarters to sand. The time is not in the blasting, its in the tear down and then the assembly.

[bernzpeed]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=3388794&postcount=69

[ksjdan]

I just got my 1961 ford f100 pick up blasted. Once I got it torn apart and to the blaster he gave it back to me the next day and only charged like $350 to do the whole truck and he primed it for me. When you blast a car, you have to strip it completely down or do it panel by panel by pulling them off. Then you will still have the roof a b and c pillars rockers rear end and quarters to sand. The time is not in the blasting, its in the tear down and then the assembly.

$350 sounds like a great deal. Not sure if there is price efficient blaster in Alabama.
So is it not possible to media blast the non-removal parts? Plan is to blast the entire exterior of the car. Im going to remove as much parts as I can (doors, fenders, bumpers, hood, trunk and maybe sunroof depending on work).

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...4&postcount=69

Thanks for the link! :up: Looks really clean!

[willworkfore30s]

The media will destroy all your rubber seals, get in every single nook and cranny in the car, tear up any wiring, destroy window glass, basically anything softer than metal will be destroyed if left on the car when it gets blasted

[JasonC]

I had a 71 Vega blasted. I think it was around 250-350. And as others stated, I had the car stripped to a bare rolling shell, cause the media was everywhere once it was done. The car had 9 different layers of paint not including primer!!

[Cabriolet]

Bernzpeed linked my car. i FULLY gutted the car and yes that shit is everywhere and needs to be blown out after you get it done. worth every penny. it's also the only way to get the shadow line to stick to the chrome around the windows.

my car now looks like this


IMG_0606 by Eric Berger, on Flickr
*car isnt touching the jack btw

[Garageaholic]

Not to thread jack, but I love your jack. I have the same low profile jack with rapid pump.