Some beginner restoration questions

[AndrewR]

Hey guys!

I disappeared for a while but I'm back. I haven't made much progress on my car, but it's about time to get rolling on it once again (hopefully haha). I had a few questions that I hope a few of you who are more experienced might answer.

So this is my car : http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/index.php?topic=638.0 . It's been resprayed at some point in its life. It's in pretty good shape, but the bottom 10% of the car had rotted (sills, valance, rear heelboard). In addition to that, it appears that rust is starting at the bottom of the door skins, along some of the seams, and the two a-panels are a bit dented from poor bodywork.

My goal with the car is to bring it back to a nice rust-free state as a good 'driver' that I can take out and enjoy. I'm not looking for anything perfect or concours quality...but I'd like it to look nice for weekend drives and such.

I'm sure I'm bound to have a few more beginner questions as I move ahead, but the two that have been running through my mind are:

-Since I'm repairing rust on various sections of the car, I will probably end up re-painting the car (most likely a color change as well). Considering my goals outlined above, should I have the car stripped down to metal before moving forward? Media-blasting? Have it dipped? Just sand down the current paint and grind around the areas that seem troublesome? If you think I can avoid the high cost of media blasting while still achieving a durable and good-looking respray, sanding could be a good option but I'm not sure if that will cause problems when it comes time to respray it. I've also read horror stories about both dipping and media blasting causing paint adhesion problems...so I'm not sure what's the best route to consider.

-I've ordered an assortment of heritage and non-heritage parts for the restoration. What does one do about the black coating on them? Is it safe to stay on or do you strip it once it's ready for primer and such?

Thanks guys  ;D

[94touring]

If it has one paint job on it, nothing wrong with sanding what's there and spraying over it.  If you have multiple layers then media blasting is the way to go.  The undercoat can be removed with a needle scaler pretty easily.

Edit:  read too fast.  The black primer on the panels has poor adhesion.  That being said, if its on the underneath or the backside of panels I scuff and primer/paint.  If it's on an exterior that's exposed to wind and bugs/rocks, it's easy to sand off and put a durable sealer primer on it. 

[AndrewR]

If it has one paint job on it, nothing wrong with sanding what's there and spraying over it.  If you have multiple layers then media blasting is the way to go.  The undercoat can be removed with a needle scaler pretty easily.

The car definitely has a second paint job on the exterior as the colors been changed a bit from the interior and it seems a tad thicker around the seams. So you think the second coat calls for a strip? What media is best? Soda?

Are there any special precautions to take to avoid panels warping?

[94touring]

I've never had any cars come to me warped but that's not to say a poor job wouldn't result in warped panels.  If you see my wetblast thread I'm just getting into stripping (the non pole kind) with water and media.  This method is dustless and no heat generated, therefore no warp risk.  Whoever strips your car will likely have a selection of media.  I don't know what's best.

You'll have to use best judgement on whether or not you want to respray what's already there.  You can take 36-80 grit and go to town with an inline sander and knock down a few layers of paint and go from there.  The one advantage is you essentially have a car with a "filler primer" ready to be sanded down.  In otherwords you have a base to work with.  Seams and gutters and hard to reach places can be cleaned up with a wire wheel or you can use a spot blaster to remove the paint.  Either way you have lots of sanding in your future.  If you intend to do the prepping and painting yourself you'll want to buy some bulk orders of sandpaper and get some good pneumatic sanders.  I can lead you in the right direction there.

[MiniDave]

pneumatic sanders take a LOT of air.....

[94touring]

My Ingersoll Rand inline sander takes surprisingly little air.  I only know this because I had to use a little 5 gallon pancake compressor when I first swapped shops.   

[MiniDave]

Really? Cause my rotary sander and DA take a huge amount of air.....I've gone to using my 4 1/2" angle grinder for as much as I can anymore. One thing I like about air tools, they don't get hotter the longer you use them...in fact they get cold sometimes!

[94touring]

My rotary and Da wouldn't do a thing but the inline actually worked.  Now I had to go in burst but it definitely was more effective than hand sanding. 

[AndrewR]

Thanks guys, it sounds like media blasting may be the most time/money efficient option in the end so I've started calling around.

Dan, I may take you up on the offer for prep guidance. I've been thinking it'd be fun to attempt to prep/paint it myself. Do you ever paint any of the restorations in your shop? Is there a thread I could check out for some inspiration?

[94touring]

Paint them all in my shop.  From a plastic paint booth in a barn to just in my current shop wwith plastic hung over my tools and cars. 

Several threads but most recent full shell jobs wwould be these two:

http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/index.php?topic=473.0

http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/index.php?topic=504.0

[Dmulder]

Another reason I love this place!! Dan gives hard learned knowledge away freely when it could instead net him a potential paying job.

[94touring]

Lol thanks.  This is really just a hobby I swear!  Though I could do it full time and have a staff if I wanted.  If you knew how much work I turn down.. I mean I bought a shop with mini money!

[AndrewR]

Though I could do it full time and have a staff if I wanted. 

If you had a full time shop going out here in CA, my car would probably already be in there haha.

Your help and guidance is much appreciated.

I called the local media blasting place that a lot of the car resto guys recommend around here, but they wanted $2,000 to soda blast the shell, copper blast the rust, and then seal. I'll be looking around to see what else is out there.

[94touring]

Wow, I might have to market my wetblasting! 

I know Upton at 7ent is out there and does great work but usually waiting list as well.

[jedduh01]

For Reference - Charlotte NC

Friend just had this blasted -  2 doors
Bonnet  Trunklid
and full nose ( its going to be a removable nose vtec)

1200$ - all sand i think - and also Sealer primer'ed

he's picking it up today.

[94touring]

Yeah I've always budgeted about $1000 for stripping.  $1200 or so sounds normal.

[MiniDave]

How much room is there between the inner and outer sills? I think on Project Binky they put in a 50mm pipe, which is just under 2 inches......I'm thinking for extra strength and stiffening.