i'm in the process of totally tearing down my 72' interior,air/ heat out doors off you get the idea. what i need to know is a media blast capable of getting small amounts of rust off. the only problem i see is the windshield surround (no shock there) with some rust bird cage looks good so far,small surface rust, what i want to do is have the body, media blasted to get old paint off but, if, it will take off the rust too. i'll kill two birds with one stone. instead, of having the windshield frame sand blasted and the body media blasted . any recommadations would be appreciated also, any shops that media blast in the de. pa. area thanks

Don't blast the fiberglass. On older cars it is real easy to go through the gel coat. Once this happens you are into the glass. If the glass gets frayed it is real hard to get this back nice and smooth. It's alonger process but nothing beats sanding it down. Your results will be much better and you can save yourself some pain and suffering from the oops too much that happens when blasting or stripping. As far as the metal goes you can blast away keeping in mind though some of this stuff is pretty thin.

I had my '73 media blasted and I was pleased with the results. It was done by a local central New Jersey shop, it might be too far away for you but if you want the name let me know and I'll dig it up (lost in the receipts box).

As for the surface rust, of which I had very little as the car spent all it's life (before I acquired it) in Florida, I took some sandpaper and sanded it off and then sprayed some Rustoleum paint on it.

I've got a couple bigger spots at the bottom of the birdcage that I need to address (haven't gotten there yet) and I will use Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator on them. (http://www.eastwoodco.com/ and search for "rust encapsulator" )

Tux, if you are sanding by hand, how do you know when you reach the gelcoat??

Ron

Once you get to the primer, quit. There is really no need to strip all of the primer off of the fiberglass.

Kstyer is exactly right. This process will guve you a silky smooth finish to lay on the clear-coat. I will post some pics just as soon as my daughter returns my d-camera that somehow ended up with her @ colledge. (Gotta love em!)

kstyer said: Once you get to the primer, quit. There is really no need to strip all of the primer off of the fiberglass.

do you mean from block sanding or through the media blasting??

CFL34 said:   kstyer said: Once you get to the primer, quit. There is really no need to strip all of the primer off of the fiberglass.   do you mean from block sanding or through the media blasting??

Both! Removing the primer serves no purpose. And ALWAYS use the block, on the tighter contours, go to a softer block and use a lighter touch.

Exactly. Then use a primer sealer if there is any question about bleed through or contamination, the a regular fill primer, and block sand it again. You can have a surface as smooth as glass for the new paint.

A great paint job is in the prep work.

Also, you want to use a good primer. Some guys like the epoxy primers, I prefer a poly surfacer. They will not shrink like the cheaper solvent based primers.