Sand/Soda Blast

A while ago someone put up some posts on buying/ setting up a blaster as an alternative to getting a pro.  I used a pro who charged me $250 an hour ie. $1000 for the whole car - he used an inert media. The soda blasting franchise in town had gone.  If you've got a bit of this stuff to do getting your own setup might be cost effective. Len

Sounds a bit like mine- pricewise. Clean up is messy- takes a fair bit of work with an airgun and vacuum cleaner to get rid of the blast media- it got into the darndest places. I had to cover the inside of my carport with black plastic to turn it into a spray booth, just managed to blow a coat of primer over the car before it got dark. If you look on the home page at the revolving pictures " RS project " was mine, the first pic taken when put in primer after blasting.  Might cost you a bit but getting them to clean and prime could be a big time saver, depending on what gear/ space you have  Len

whooligan
One thing I would recommend if you are going to blast your car, make sure you have time to get straight onto restoring the car.
The primer wont last forever and surface rust with start appearing fairly quick.

I have stripped my Capri twice now because I have not been in a position to just get on and finish the car with work an stuff.

This time I have done a complete base coat (in colour to protect the metal, and give the paint a bit of depth. Hopefully that will buy a little time until I can set up again and allow a professional to do a better job than me.

Thanks for the heads up Glenn. That's exactly my plan.

An extra $200 would be well spent Ez, let them do it.
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Len- I'd have thought that you'd need to etch prime first, once the car had gone back to bare.
 Perhaps Len the high build  you used was did both.?
 
Any high build I have used is definitely 'softer'' when you sand it back because it goes on thicker, and it does dry harder as it ages and blends smoother than normal straight primer.
 
So I probably would have done:
-etch prime
- prime
-spot filler/stop putty
-high build primer
-guide coat
- top coats
-clear coat.
 
The single pack topcoat I bought recently (which is Satin Spruce but I think should have been the Wedgewood color of Juicemans car before he went all Porsche inspired ) was a water based enamel metallic, that is self clearcoating.
It's still in the tin, but is meant to be easier to apply, and you don't polish it when finished, the gloss is as it comes off the gun.
 
What happened to Acrylic or Enamel, and metallic needing clearcoats?
 
 

I find a quality epoxy primer satisfactory to work with when put over bare steel, its not to hard to remove when needed for welding and stops surface rust for a long time if kept out of the weather.

im so lazy....hahah a year later and i got it done in between moving houses in order to avoid an extra tow cost.

the car has had the complete front clip and under guards blasted and primed. total cost was 700.