>Chris Thompson <ct@cthompson.com> wrote:
>My goal was to strip the whole thing down to metal. A friend of a friend
>runs a large metal cleaning shop and I think I can work out a good cheap
>Hey man, can you dip my MG in that giant boiling vat of acid" deal with
>him.
>But I've hesitated, because I worry if a complete dip is too much. Having
>never had an MGB apart to that level, I wonder, is that going to strip some
>hidden recess on the frame that wouldnt get re covered with new primer? How
>do you ensure the whole body gets covered? I have this image in my head of
>bare metal in places like the inside of the strengthening rib on the
>bonnet. etc.
When you dip the shell, it will remove everything that is not good steel. It
is
an excellent basis to completely restore a shell to as new or better. Any
rust/
bondo/tar will be removed and you get back a shiny new shell.
Any inaccessible areas that have been dipped were never primed at the
factory
anyway, take a look at the sill - you can't get primer in there. There are
only 2
areas which are inaccessible - the sills and the 2 boxed sections
which run the length of the car underneath the floor.
What I did to my car after it was striped was to wait until the shell has
been painted,
wait for a very warm day and buy a gallon of Waxoyl. To get to the sill area
I drill
2 small holes under the decorative sill plates, plugged the holes at the
bottom of the
sills and literally filled the sill with Waxoyl. Waited about 10 minutes and
drained any
remaining WaxOyl.
On the boxed sections, I plugged up any holes with duct tape and raised the
front of the
car. I poured WaxOyl into the section through the mounting holes for the
cross-member,
let it sit for a while and then drained it again. I used about 3/4 gallon
total.
Do this on a very hot day as the WaxOyl will be very runny. The other areas
to worry
about on the MGB is the where the rear fender meets the inner fender. This
area can
be accesses through the trunk and sprayed with Wax or through the door
striker plate.
The other area id the front lower
fender area, you can to this through the door hinges or by removing the
inner fender
splash panels and drill a hole to get access.
I did this to my MGB 6 years ago (and repeat the process every couple of
years), and
I don't have a single rust spot on the whole car.
BTW- the cost of stripping the shell here in NJ is about $800 which is about
the same
for have the car media blasted.
gerry
|