whats the idea behind this anyone got any idea's on cost or where do it ??

 

Usually a good idea when a car has had many coats of paint throughout it's life, and is an easy way to strip it back to bare metal ready for repainting, think it also removes any rust as well ready for lead filling or welding, as for cost or who does it I haven't a clue, saw it done on American Hotrod not so long ago

 

theres a place in the midlands i think,my mate was going to get his shell done,i will try to find out were

 

is it very expensive

 

IIRC at least some of the teams used to acid dip the Super Tourer shells in the BTTC before they changed the regs to make things cheaper a few years ago.

 

http://www.surfaceprocessing.co.uk/

try these people

 

has anyone ever had this done to a body shell?

As mine is now at the stripped down to just a shell stage and want something like this doing so i can see what i have to do to the car before it goes for paint

 

James Merrett had his Capri acid sprayed by all his mates after a huge 'Tennents Super' session. The stench was incredible. Can't say it improved its performance but the local dogs seemed interested to sniff it !

 

Had this priced up today with the above people

Cost is around Ł600 for the shell , doors, bonnet, boot , also they sort out all the rust areas , and it gets rid of all sealer and underseal then if you want it putting in primer to stop the shell rusting quickly that would be around a couple of hundred quid

they do alot of work for prodrive and other reputable companys and stripped some very prestige cars inc aston's to maserati's

they are sending me some photos and literature through so i can have a good look at the process

will deffo be having my shell done soon

 

I strongly suggest against doing this to a roadcar ! The BTCC cars were acid dipped to lighten them to the point of being flimsy , they were then seam welded and caged for torsional rigidity , if youre not doing this then dont bother, sand blast it by all means , this will show up all imperfections but even that in a Coarse grade will tear the car apart !! Think on !

 

as above I thought it was to Lighten the shell.... If an ancient aston or maserati gets done, would make no difference to then as the PROPER steel they wouldve used is about an inch thick ROFL

 

cheers for the advice

I will have to look into it a bit more then

 

i cant see how it would lighten the shell that much!

 

sand blast it!

Alex

 

One issue i though there was is it will rot from the inside out as all the paint and primer will be removed from inside the panels and from areas where its impossible to get to with a assembled car? It would remove it from inside all box sections etc?

 

sand blast it ...fuck getting it dipped! think of all the areas you can never get primer or waxoyl into quietly rusting away as they will be totally bare!
ok for a competition car that a team think nothing of binning the shell...but for keeping long term.....NO!

 

not something i was really thinging about having done there is not rust on my car bare a little serface rust ont he inside where it has been scratched since it was sprayed the car is mint other than that it just had a shit first spray job about a year ago and i aint happy with the condition of the paint inside and out so its being sprayed again

 

got loads of photos and literature back today from the above company with cars ranging from a austin healey sprite , mk1 cortina , lotus sunbeam to a scooby , surely it cant weaken the shells if someone is prepared to get "dipped" a 40 year old cortina

the pics are good quality a4 sized and shows before and after shots of the car and the quality looks superb .

this looks to me as its the way forward to stripping a shell

will still get a little more advice before i go ahed and get mine done

 

martin hadland had his new escort dipped so did the simon norriss on his new evo.

 

But maybe these two cars have not been built to last forever, they've been built to be the quickest thing about in the modded car scene for about the next 3-5 years max I would have thought before being broken........

i wouldn't do it to anything for long term treasure by the sounds of it.....

 

they are taking a shell to the classic car show at the NEC in november , so i will take a good look at the one there and talk to hem some more on the process

 

yeah i know that but i was stating the examples of people who have had it done. ie if somebody wants to know more maybe they could pm martin or something. By the sounds of it it is probably not the best thing to do to a road car.

 

ok, where in the midlands would you have the car shot blasted??

 

been in touch with the company again today to disscus how safe it is to have the shell dipped and to ask what it involves , he told me 100% it will NOT weaken the shell and the only way it will make the shell lighter is by taking off the paint , underseal , and the bits of sound deadening

say the process has come on a long way in the last 20 years and a completely different type of acid is used from when people wanted cars dipping to make em lighter , although if thats what you want you an still have that done .

also says that the end results are alot better than having a car blasted (although he will say that as hes trying to sell me the product)

gonna wait and go to the classic car show in november where they have on show a car that has been cut in half and shows you the before and after
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