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Media blasting... where? and how?
Well, this weekend after finally uncovering my GTA from a pile of parts and actually taking a good look at it, I think I have decided it needs to be fully media blasted. With the LS swap I have planned and such, I don't want to find any unpleasant surprises down the road. I want to know the body is solid, and straight(I'll get back to this). I will be keeping this car for a long time and I know I will ultimately have a fortune into it, if ever gets done.
My main question is where, in the NJ or NYC area, is a good quality mediablaster? I'd also need the chassis sprayed with epoxy primer after the blasting. Also, Do I need to have the car on a rotisserie? Or would it affect the cost of the blasting in any way? It would be the whole chassis, fenders, and doors. (No hood or hatch). I could do the cleaning out of the media myself if that would lower the cost and then obviously, I'd also need to spray the primer myself which is also entirely possible for me.
The car has original paint with no bondo I can find.
The underside was sprayed with undercoating by the dealer when new. There are almost no signs of surface rust underneath.
I just noticed that the drivers upper front frame "rail" had been replaced. I am unsure of the quality of the repair so blasting would hopefully show a little more of how good it was repaired and if it would need additional attention. After its blasted and primed, I would probably need to get it on a frame table to have it checked that the frame is all in spec.
Another area of concern for me is that there are 3 or 4 spots on the firewall, where a factory metal seam is, where small surface rust spots have started. I'd need to get those cleaned up and sealed before they become worse. I'm also concerned with other areas where factory seems are and meet, where there is surface rust. I feel media blasting is the only way to get it all.
I'm leaning towards media blasting because I don't like acid dipping due to the fact I feel it may remove paint/primer etc in areas that I can not see nor ever be able to respray and therefore leave a vulnerable area for future issues.
The other option is to get a different chassis, but in order to get something clean and that'd work, it would cost more than my original purchase price and any blasting/body work combined. I do have a number in my mind for the blasting that I'd like to stay under and I feel its quite realistic, but I want to hear some quotes first, not that I tell a shop what I can pay and they ask for slightly more just because I said a number, lol.
So with all that said, anyone have recommendations or would like to share their experiences regarding media blasting?
Last edited by V; 09-20-2015 at 08:50 AM.
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