"For time and effort, the "whole body dipping" is the way to go."
In many restoration mags such as Classic Auto Restorer (no longer exists), I
purchased and read over the years there has been a great debate amongst
restoration shops regarding this method.
The problem with dipping is that EVERYTHING is removed including seam sealer
and primer applied when the bodies were immersed in primer at the factory.
Oftentimes you can't reach all the areas to reapply paint or seam sealer
after the bodies are welded together. The other problem is that if ALL the
solvents aren't removed from everywhere COMPLETELY the solvents will
gradually leak out and remove the newly applied paint. Many shops had this
happen to them and they had to redo the entire car.
If the dip shop doesn't dip the body in phosphate or prime the body after
stripping it, the metal will start to rust immediately due to the body being
damp from water and other detergents to say nothing of the insides of the
door posts, rockers, etc.
While it sounds great there are many negatives to it also.
PLUS dipping ain't cheap - far from it.
After a lot of research I had my car media blasted everywhere and it turned
out great and well worth the $500 or so it cost (dipping estimates were
about 2K from RediStrip for everything).
Some of you may disagree which is fine, but I still wouldn't recommend the
dip method if other alternatives exist.
One more thing, dipping facilities are few and far between that can strip an
entire body.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Walter" <twalter@austin.rr.com>
To: "John Hogan" <mad@madgrizzle.com>
Cc: <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2001 5:07 PM
Subject: Re: Undercoatings
> John,
>
> Are you trying to remove the "tar paper" from the inside
> floor, or the exterior undercoating?
>
> I found the job to go best when it is COLD! Heating makes
> it a giant mess. With a rubber mallet and big flat gasket
> scraper it was a matter of "chip, chip, chip... " Small
> area's are not to bad, but after doing a few vehicle that
> way yous start to dream about stripping everything off
> the body and having it "dipped" to clean all the old paint,
> bondo, under coating etc.
>
> Never did that with a roadster (street restoration, unless
> cleaning an area for rust treatment or sheet metal work).
>
> The Datsun 510's & Mazda Rally vehicles... that was a common
> prep job as you wanted everything clean to reweld, light
> weight (noise!). If I was lucky everything would come up
> in big chunks of material, then hit it with a big wire cup
> brush (what a mess, stuff goes every where... but you can get
> 95% of it off... then finally with the mineral spirits).
>
> For time and effort, the "whole body dipping" is they
> way to go. Strip everything, get it down to a shell and
> have that, fenders, doors all dipped. Haven't used that
> process in years. Places that we did use (20 years ago)
> EPA basically banned. Environmental Friendly ones came into
> being. Still it is so much nicer to have everything down to
> metal and go from there.
>
> If you use a body sander (big 7" sander) have someone walk
> you through the "leaded body seams" first. Sander hits, and
> it will grab and remove most of the lead before you knew
> what happened.
>
> Good luck on the restoration. Also taking a good five rolls
> of film of everything, including every little nut or bolt. It
> is amazing how much you can forget when the cars are apart only
> to later wonder "where did that go?"
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tom Walter
> Austin, TX
>
> John Hogan wrote:
>
> > With all the talk of people trying to remove undercoating, is
undercoating
> > generally a good idea? specifically a good idea for a roadster? Is
there
> > a better process? I'm going to be 'restoring' a roadster in the very
near
> > future and want to perform some very good rust protection. I would
> > appreciate any information or advise ya'll can offer. Thanks
> >
> > John Hogan
> > 1967.5 2000 SRL31100141
> >
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