----- Original Message -----
From: Cliff Hansen <chansen@access1.net>
To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 18, 1999 8:47 PM
Subject: Home bead blasting - practical?
>
> I've got the fenders off my tub. There's enough surface rust
> on the insides, as well as some spots of more serious rust, to
> make me want to bead blast the panels to clean them up for
> primer. I mean the four fenders and much of the tub.
>
> There's one guy in Albuquerque that does blasting for whole
> cars. He quoted me $75 per fender, $100 for the hood, and
> $500 (at least) for the tub. For that kind of money, seems like
> I should be able to get my own equipment (including the big-%&*!
> air compressor) and do it myself. Then I can do the frame
> as well.
>
> Of course, you can't just walk out and buy a cabinet big enough
> to roll a tub into. Can this be done in a 20' square garage?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Cliff Hansen
Cliff: At the these prices, you should take a long hard look at the "Redi
Strip" style of paint and rust removal. About 10 years ago, I was quoted
$700 to sand blast just the underside of my Tiger. I had the ENTIRE body
(tub, hood, doors, trunk lid, fenders, etc) chemicaly dipped and stripped (3
previous paint jobs!) and ever speck of rust removed for $900! (1988
prices).
A tr should be even easier to dip- it's not a unibody like the Tiger. You
should be able to fit a dismantled TR into a pickup truck for the trip to
stripper.
Unless you live on a farm. home sandblating on the scale you propose will do
two things- fill your garage with dust and grit that you'll never get rif
of, and P*SS off you neighbors from all the crap that will blow into their
yards. Plus- if you buy a sandblaster, are you ever going to use it again?
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