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Be interesting to hear what the blaster says & recommends about soda and paint--also how price compares to dipping. Did read in another car forum the same concerns about paint sticking, however.. Ask about using paint etch after the blasting. Brand I use (Jasco) is a mild phosphoric acid. After cleaning off rust and paint (and grease) on smaller parts by soaking in a concentrated lye solution, usually I follow up by a dip in the paint etch solution. So far, haven't had any paint problems that I can see.

took the front drums off last night. has bearings from JAPAN! LOL! must have been replaced as they look really new and shiny with non burnt grease. the brake cylinders are nice and clean too with new rubber on both sides. the brake pads are really nice and thick too. not much rust at all inside the drum and brake area on the front. i might have gotten lucky and the previous owner did the brakes for me all ready LOL!

i will post more pics soon.

any ideas on how to take the fuel line off the frame without taking off the front suspension and linkage. it goes under the driver's side upper suspension arm and with all those bends it will not come out that way.

later guys,

Hank

well, i called the soda blaster here in town. 800-900 if it is an easy job and everything comes right off. 1400 max if it is a hard job and takes longer. That is for EVERYTHING! ;0) the entire car and frame.

He also said to not worry about taking the suspension apart that it wouldn't hurt any of the bearings or rubber etc....that it would just wash off.

so enjoy the pics of my left front suspension taken apart it is the last you will see until the parts are sqweeky clean! i will be putting the suspension back together so i can roll it on the trailer and off for him to work on. all the suspension will come off after i get it back to put in the new rubber since it needs it anyways, but at least this will keep me from cleaning all the little piddly stuff on the frame and save me lots of time.

he also said that, yes, there is a powder left behind by the soda, but that a really good cleaning with just water will take it off. Vinegar and water is even better.

BUT.....here is the kicker.....you can leave the powder residue on the car and it will prevent rusting for well over 6 months and when you are ready to prime, you just wash the crap out of it and you are good to go. he said he has a truck bed sitting out there that has been there for 6 months and was not washed off and it STILL has no rust on it.

hopefully i can get the same results. the good news is, short of taking the bumpers off and few other small things, my disassembling is done ;0) ....mostly....


later,

Hank

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That is good news and reasonable price too. Big thanks to Kev for suggesting it. May come in handy here too.

yeah BIG thanks to BIG Kev ;0)

No problem! Thats what we are all here for.

The vineger makes sense as the baking soda is a base, and the vineger is an acid. So it brings it back to a realitive neutral PH. The do the reserve when folks get their cars chemically stipped. They rinse the car afterward with watered down 'base' solution to neutralize the acid residue.

finally did some work on the car today. we have little Henry pretty much settled in, so I took that time to work on the car and get it ready for soda blasting. i called the soda company today and bring it in on Wednesday morning, he said it would take about 3-4 hours to do at 130 an hour. i plan to wash it down as best i can with the pressure washer first, so maybe it will get rid of some of the grim and cut down on the time it takes him.

as you can see in the picture i had to get creative to get the suspension back together on the front of the car. everytime i jacked up the lower control arm the whole car came up, so after much trial and error with different methods of keeping the frame down, i decided to put the frame under the bumper of my F-150, built Ford tough ;0). i jacked the lower control arm up and the frame butted up on the bumper on my truck and i was able to put the upper king pin back in place, finally ;0). so i have the front driver's side all back together and i got the rim removed from the tire. i grinded the bead on the rim so it will hold air, but didn't have time to get back to discount tire to have it remounted. tomorrow i will.

i got the front bumper off and tomorrow i will take off the rear bumper. i had to cut what was left of the muffler and exhaust to get it out of the frame, not biggie there. photographed all the body mounts and spacers too before i took them off.

anyways, enjoy the pics. can anyone tell me if the two curve ups on the insides of the bullets points on the bumper are supposed to be there or not??

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Good job. Anxious to see & hear how the soda works out.

Hank,

Careful with the soda blasting. It can have reaction with some paint products. What I have read it has to be neutralized with water or some other products. You may want to do a search on the net before they use soda.

This not to scare you just don't want you to have paint problems down the road.

Here is are some links.
http://spi.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=1854&highlight=soda+blasting&mforum=spi
http://spi.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=2340&highlight=soda+blasting&mforum=spi

FYI, I use this product it is very affordable, easy to work with and great customer service.

correct you are, but a very good, multitude number of washes with water and vinegar will neutralize the soda that is left behind.

the guy that is going to do the job tells me that once you have washed and think you have done a good job, wash it again at least 2 more times. you really don't even need the vinegar, but it is better as it neutralizes the soda.

i have read about the paint not sticking right, but i think that the people that used it didn't wash everything down very well.

i will go over everything with the guy on wednesday, we may go a different route, i don't know, but for now we both agree with the soda blasting.

the company is A to Z soda blasting of Fort Worth Texas. Very nice guy so far.

also i have a power washer that will infuse with the vinegar automatically, so the little seams and stuff wont be an issue....from what i have read...it is just a bit more of a pain to clean up, but it sure leaves the metal in WAY better shape than any other media. doesn't etch or anything. plus no rubber removal and no worries of warping the frame. ;0)

Hank