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MG MGA - Media Blasting

Hi All,


I am considering blasting a shell to remove the paint, odd bit of surface rust and filler...

I am looking at Soda Blasting and Media Blasting (plastic beads).

Does anyone have any experience of either ? I hear that Soda Blasting leaves a significant residue which has be washed off before any primer is applied. Also, media blasting appears to require immediate priming (so if I have to transport the shell back to my home on a trailer this causes a problem).

Be interested to hear anyone's experience of these two processes and what they thought the pro's and con's were.


Seasons Greetings



Aleks
Aleks Stojanovic

Aleks

I had my body shell and wings blast stripped back in the 90s but not any of the aluminium panels - doors, bonnet and boot. I cannot remember the medium they used so, sorry, no help on that one. Just don't do the aluminium panels as they could become stretched. I stripped those by hand using paint stripper.

I was doing evening classes on body refinishing at the time so I would time the blasting work to collect the panels straight from the blasting booth on the way to night school, then straight into the paint booth for etch primer. After that it was a case of starting the repair and preparation work. In other words expose the bare metal for the absolute minimum time. Oxidisation starts straight away.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Maybe find a blaster who can etch prime it as well
William Revit

Aleks, all my ally panels have been soda blasted. Brilliant medium as long as the residue is cleaned from all the nooks and crannies by high pressure air all should be fine. I would think the soda prepared panels are circa 5 years since being done , although immediately primed the top coat is only 9 months old. No ill effects to date.
Best wishes
Mark
M Dollimore

Aleks. an alternative is chemical etching. Surface processing in Dudley do a very good job. https://www.surfaceprocessing.co.uk/classic-vehicle-solutions/

You can also have the body eCoated which is a process used on most modern cars. It's an extra protection against corrosion.
John Francis

Nice one John, Had semi forgotten about dipping
A mate here had his e type done in Melbourne somewhere, it came out magic , the E coat primer got in everywhere ,up inside the sills and in all the hidden places, expensive if I remember,but if you've got a bit of the dreaded rust about it's a good way of knocking it on the head and gives a real good clean base to work from
Don't be surprised when it comes back though, it really cleans any rust away and you'll probably have a few more holes than you thought
willy
William Revit

Local MG Restorers Group visited a well know Melbourne sand blaster who demonstrated how done right abrasive blasting can be use without damage (whip blasting, reused grit, nozzle distance etc). Obviously do not used on aluminium panels and the operator needs to be experienced.
Really depends on your budget and how quick you want it done. 3M stripping wheels wwork great for small areas.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Mike , just in case you're going off looking for the paint stripping place I mentioned earlier,that did the E type, being in Melb. I got it mixed up ,it was Redistrip in Sydney that did it

willy
William Revit

Hi Mark,


Have dropped you an email to your personal email address.


Regards



Aleks
Aleks Stojanovic

This thread was discussed between 31/12/2020 and 04/01/2021

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