I need a lot of bodywork on my Series 1 shell and i've just had a quote from a body shop today, he suggested for the best finish having the panels removed/cut back and having the whole shell sand blasted! so all the rust/old filler and dodgy parts are fully exposed and can all be repaired properly. This sounds all good but where would I get someone to sandblast a shell! as he didn't know anyone!

Any advise? comments?

 

my friends can do this for you,,,,
when i went down there, they was blating back a etype shagwaar

 

Had all my insides and engine bay done and all of the srtonger points on the outside.

The heat generated by the sand will either rip through or seriously warp a thin panel such as a wing etc. Be careful.

I got mine done locally for Ł40 (thats the whole car). I know of two places up here that will do it and of them is a general balsters and the other is a restorer of old tanks (army type) both pretty good at there job.

But be warned it gets everywhere - inside all the box sections etc. I had my car fully stripped so that there was not a single nut/bolt bit of glass or piece of wire on it anywhere.

 

thats dammmmm cheap

 

I'm changing so many panels I quess it would make sense to sandblast the shell then. Blimey this shell will be mint! and we not talking crazy money either I've go for it I think.

I can imagine the sand gets everywhere! spend a few days knocking the box sections with the hoover in hand!

 

Yeah I better get prepared to double/triple that Ł40 down south lol!

 

I thought Ł40 was dear as it was mates rates Came back looking like new tho and allowed me to get on with the seam welding without getting smoky burning paint marks everywhere

Under bonnet / battery tray area



Fuse box area



Inside rear




I had the car on a revolving stand whilst doing the other work and sand was coming out of it for weeks afterwards but it was WELL worth it

 

i do sand blasting

 

triple,,,, your joking right

you seen the price on grit

NUTS RuS looks the bollox mate

 

Fancy doing my shell then??

 

if you can get it to oxford might

 

May hold you to it! got a lot more stripping to do first!

 

Was worth it to me as the next stage of the build was all the seam welding. It made it all so much easier



Would I do it on a road car tho...... erm NO. Toooo much hassle.

 

I got my XR4i shell blasted by a commercial vehicle bodybuilders for Ł200. That was inside and out and fresh primer-coat afterwards.

The grit gets everywhere and I don't think I'll ever get it all out despite using a hoover to suck, and the compressor to blow.

 

that looks like porn!!! spot on!

 

Ł40 IS DIRT CHEAP.. I WAS GONNA HAVE MY MK2 DONE.. WAS LOOKING AT UPWARDS OF Ł500 (oops - exceuse caps!) to get mine done.
Apparently you have to be very careful when doing it because the heat from the sand/beads can distort panels, especially large ones like the roof.
Central Blast Cleaning do it, and i also spoke to another specialist company to do it who were more expensive. Both of them had done plenty of car shells and knew exactly when they were doing.
I chose against it due to the cost, but really wish i had now, after spending days under the car with a scraper and angle grinder to remove all the underseal and ziebart.

 

all the ones I have found at the beach have been like that

 

Central blast cleaning will also do this 01295 278233

 

It wont remove underseal tho It just bounces off that.

I still had to do all that by hand to remove it, just to save a bit more weight

 

interesting.. when i spoke to central blast cleaning and the other people whose name i forgot they said that they could remove underseal with it no problem... that was one of hte main reasons i was going to have it done!

 

Central Blast are really expensive. Alot more than Ł40.

 

try Ł460 + vat

 

i did say upwards of 500!

 

Looks like I dropped on a good price then The white stuff around the heater intake area in the 2nd pic above is the original Ford sealant, the beads just bounce off it, cleaned it up though and it removed all the original paint

 

paul yeah... but remember once all that has been blasted you have to pay them for repair the lot, where the filler was and everything.

Trust me, I can see you paying alot more.

Think about it

 

I bought a series 1 turbo shell that had been done and sprayed with etch primer. Makes a cracking job. As said above though, need to be careful with the roof/quarters and wings etc - they can be dented quite easily
And the bloody sand/grit gets everywhere...!!!

 

I spoke to a few companies today, most where putting me off doing it! I'm not sure if the shell would benefit enough to justify the cost. Plus the hassle would be mental transporting a bare shell to and from a blast shop. I'll have another think about it.

 

Make sure they know what they are doing, as some one said above you can easyly bend thin panels, the guy we used to use where i worked was proper carefull, he did a fibreglass Lotus shell, real nice job, he is based just outside of Colchester i think, bit far for you though.

 

one of the main things to bear in mind is that as well as removing the rust, it does necessitate repairing a lot of things that would otherwise have gone unnoticed for years, or maybe forever!!

 

Rust...... ? I only had mine done to remove the original paint as there was no rust If a panel has bad rust on it it will blow straight through, then your into a full replacement job anyway. Sort of defeats the object ??