OK I am a newbie and I have a question. Please forgive if this has been a topic in the past but I found you guys and let me tell you, This is pretty much my bible when it comes to my baby.

I bought a 69 Camaro (rustbucket) from Ebay. The guy I bought it from was straight with everything it had after seeing what I apid for it and what is out there I guess I got what i paid for. None the less its mone and my dream to own one. I am taking it apart little by little, better said an autopsy is being preformed. There is alot of good metal that I can see from the top but who knows what lies beneath all that wonderfull paint that loks like someone put the car in a booth and blew up a can of paint near it.:o I want to strip it down before I go and start buying sheetmetal to replace. I have seen people sand or media blast however it is called with baking soda. The questions is. Should I sand blast the car or just go at it with a 6" DA and 40grit sandpaper? Also, If I sand blast I have read that using baking soda is the way to go. Is this just the regular baking soda we use in our freezer:p? Thanks

Roger,,,

Welcome to the best site on the Internet....This question you ask will have varied answers from peoples experiences with different media. My experience was a combination of walnut shells and poly bead. A mix that will cut bondo and sealer but minimize heat that causes distortion.

From what I have read and this topic beind discussed here allot,,,Baking soda leaves the Sheetmetal to smooth for primer to bite to. Plus you have to remove the bicarbonate product left behind after blasting. Watching CCR and other shows you can see what they do and get a better understanding what would be the best product and process to use. Good luck with your project.

There are MANY types of media used for blasting. I'd suggest you find some shops near you that do it, and find out what they use. This may somewhat limit your options unless you would consider shipping it somewhere that has the media of choice.


I hope when you are completed with your project, people will have to ask why you chose the "name" you have..:thumbsup:

Thanks so much for the response.. I have so many more questions but I will ask them when I get to that point in time on the restore.

As for the nickname, I am a person who calls it as he sees it. I had a boat and named it the Money Pit. My goal on this restore is to be able to see if I have any food stuck in my teeth by looking at the head of the bolt that is deepest in the car. Little exagerate but you know what I mean. Then the nickname will change. I am going to try to ad the link with the pics that I have. Its really not as bad as others I have seen..

Thanks for everything!!!!!

I did some sandblasting on mine but only in the windshield channel area and trunk floor and rocker panels. Only in areas of strength where the sand blasting won't warp metal. On open panel areas like the roof I used aircraft stripper (sold at walmart even) to knock off most of the paint. It's low odor so not to hard on the nose. Stay away from any seam because you don't want it to soak in and come back out and damage new paint later. After the stripper did it's job I followed it with one of those abrasive wheels and took off any remaining paint. That worked really well, then followed with 80 grit DA to get a nice surface for epoxy primer to bite. Anyway that's how I did it and it seems to work well.

I have been told to sandblast sparingly. The media gets in everything. If the car is together you will have sand in everything from the differential to the front axles. Im also resto-ing a rust camaro and my buddies who havce done it before tell me to aviod it. Unless the body is completely stripped but then you still will have media in all the crevices and such.

All the information you been getting is right on,Great job guys:hurray:

If you have a place close buy that can dip parts,that would be cool.

Rustbucket69..................I like it:thumbsup:


www.howardsbackyardautobody.com:beers:

I fined sand blasting the best . primer will grab it if some thing is thin from the inside it will go thought. I take everything out for a restoration or tape the door gaps for a strip and paint . I sand the edges to bare metal first that tape with duck tape. you can sand the uppers panel and just blast the lower and get a great job that lasts. hoods a trick some times to blast . its easy to mess up a good hood it has to be blasted on an angle and for that mater everthing shood be on the under side never blast the pockets that are to the out side.http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/560738486RSCpru heres a rear clip of a 69 sand blasted and cut for a new floor and rear sheet metal GOOD LUCK and WELCOME

http://community.webshots.com/photo/2212853870102183101dqjwDt?vhost=community sorry I was trying to load a side show this one is the picture

Welcome to a great website.

I am restoring a 68 RS that I am stripping completely. I tried several different methods to strip paint and rust. I have tried the chemical strippers, sandblasting, DA Sander, wire wheels....I even scraped paint off with a razor blade.
In my opinion I don't think one method worked better for me than another. I did find that the most important thing needed is patience.
I am still in the process and I found that certain techniques work better for certain areas. I don't think I will be blasting any more body panels. If I did not want to do it myself, I would bring the car to a professional blaster. But since I am doing it myself, I will use the chemical stripper followed by the wire wheel (for stubborn spots) finishing up with the DA Sander.
Just remember to give a coat of self-etch primer as you go along to prevent surface rust from forming on your newly cleaned panels.
I am sure others will have different (and probably better) methods, but so far this seems to be working for me.
Good luck and please keep us informed.

Welcome Roger!

Depending on how thick the paint is, where it is, and how much mess you're allowed to make in your workspace, you'll be using different methods. You may want to do some small areas as sort of a "pilot" test using aircraft remover (really, I wasn't trying to make a bad pun, it just sort of happened). Chemical stripping an entire car is kinda old school and makes a lot of goopy mess to dispose of, using it here and there in key areas is a lot less messy than letting fly with the DA or blaster. Then, once you have some idea of what you face, you can decide how to do the rest.

one thing is for sure I feel at home!!!

Stephen thanks for the pics it looks great!!!! Actually I have seen your pictures before and thats what sparked my question.. I think we are all right when it comes to working on our cars. Whatever works as long as it is done right!. I think I am going to blast here and there and also go with stripper and also a DA with 40 or 80 grit. Once I see whats works right for me I will take it from there. Thanks soooo much for all the advice!!!!!!

One more question. Steve, what media did you use when you blasted your car??

Thanks