Stripping paint of a chassis

I am wanting to take the paint off of my old dragster chassis and just leave it as bare tubing, is sandblasting o.k.? or do I need to use media, soda, or, something else?

Car is 30 ft long and I don't have plates on the truck or trailer so I need to know if I can use my little sandblaster here at the house.

Thanks,
Trevor Sherwood
727-364-4368
Soldierboy0098@yahoo.com

 

Stripping paint off chassis

Trevor;
The quickest and easiest way would be to GENTLY sand blast it.....
BUT, the sand blast will leave teeny tiny pits, that look like crystals in the sun.
The sand blasting WILL leave the chassis with abolutely NO protection from moisture.
This will bring about surface rust almost intantly.
It is the best way to go IF you are going to paint the chassis.

Media, (ground plastic or walnut shells) is a very good way to do it,
the plastic media is NOT as agressive as the sand.
Walnut shells are another excellent alternative.
Both should leave a mill finish.

Soda blasting, if done correctly will/should leave a nice mill type finish.
Remember if you use a soda blast deal, the surface HAS to be washed
with an acidic product to neutralize the soda.
This is especially true if you end up painting the chassis.
The paint WILL flake or fall off.

A chemical stripper would just take the paint off the chassis and
SHOULD leave the mill finish on the tubing if done carefully.
It is the hardest way to strip other than hand sanding.

IF the chassis has been stripped previously, ALL bets are off.
You don't know what was done.

You might call up a soda/sand/media stripper and bring the bare chassis to them
and TRY all the options on the underside and see the results and go from there.

I am a retired car painter (since 1970) and used to work for a quality sand/media blaster shop.

arequickfab@hotmail.com
Let me know if you have more questions, happy to try and answer them...

Your Pal, Gary

 

kleen strip aircraft paint remover.

 

Hi Gary and Mark,

I have taken a old piece that we cut off to a sandblaster today to get it cleaned, he is going to use some black stuff on half and walnut shells on the other half and get back to me soon with the results.

Can't wait...this is the last step before this thing starts going together for final assembly.

Thanks again guys,
Trev

 

FIXED
Can't wait...this is the last step before this thing starts going together for final assembly before I change my mind and make 20 more changes .

 

Don't tempt me Chris....lol

Trev

 

TREV!!! Just get the thing on the TRACK!!! You don't need every "trick" part of the "week" to burn rubber!!! Once you Fire it (after 15 years) ya gotta want to RUN IT!! TRUST ME!!! Its gonna be a BAD ASS Hot Rod! Put your Depends on!!! hahaha If you have NEVER been down a race track...and want to make your FIRST lap in an Alky Car....................

 

Tim

Its going together with exactly what I have Mr. Never returns phone calls...lol

I just don't want the frame 4 very different shades of paint like it is now (Ugly and cheap looking), we have made the needed chassis repairs to fix the cobble and relocated some small things to make maintenance much easier. I just need to make new front engine tabs to correct the alignment issues and mount my fuel management and co2 bottle. This car will do everything for you from opening/closing the air bottle, shifting, putting the trans into high for burn outs and low for launch, it even activates the data logger for you...the joys of not running NHRA! I just have to remember to hit the chutes and shut her down, it also has a safety to bring the engine down to idle after the run. I have stripped it down to bare bones and am going over every last nut and bolt in the car to make sure it's safe and ready, it was made in 97 after all and needs a good going over. I can get 10 lbs out just by cleaning the dirt and grease off of everything....lol

Even if it was finished now I cannot go race it because I have no money for fuel, entry, or to put plates and insurance on the rig...Nothing will happen until my disability is granted which the hearing is in April, Only a matter of time. I may even have one of my fc chassis's sold too witch will speed thing sup as well.

It will run soon enough, and when it does I will know that its safe and I will be proud of her, I will send you the video, I promise.

Trev

 

sanding paint off chassis

i can give u the guys number that got the paint off my chassis they used a wire wheel and a razor blade
his name is trevor and his dad is jack his number is o wait its you

 

Yes very good work and almost dirt cheap!!!!

 

A note

Just as a note I will commit Sepuku (Japanese ritualistic suicide) before ever doing this again....lol

Hows it going JP?

Trev