I have a 79 F-150 regular cab that I plan to repaint. The cab is solid and has only minor surface rust and shouldn't need any metal to be replaced. I have been told by various sources that you shouldn't sandblast exterior body panels because of possible warping that can occur. But because of the limited exterior panel area of the cab would it be safe to sandblast the whole cab? The only place of concern I think would be the roof panel which is rust free anyway and shouldn't require much blasting to be cleaned to bare metal.

 

Sand blasting will blast a hole right through the metal. I used to do it. My friend owns a blasting business. I would get it media blasted. They use baking powder. Some guys use walnut shells. He does all old cars/trucks. Sandblasting is used for thick stuff like frames.

 

Media blast it. Sand blasting causes warping and can blast thru the metal if left in one area long enough. But the main reason is warping of the steel. I would recommend finding someone that uses walnut shells, small pieces of plastic shards before using soda blasting. Soda blasting is good, but if you dont remove all of the soda from the seams, it can absord moisture from the air over time and split the seams open.

 

Welcome to FTE Banjo.

The home versions of sandblasters do not have anywhere near the force the commercial blasters use. I would love to have a commercial blaster-those things are sweet. I've sandblasted everything on our 1941 with no problems or warpage whatsoever. The only places I've blasted holes through is where the rust was holding the metal up. I use sand because of the cost and availability in my area.

The main thing to remember if you do this yourself is not to blast in the same place for any length of time. Move around same as you would if you were welding.

Also, if you do the blasting yourself, no matter what media you use, please be sure to use the proper breathing apperatus and masks. Health first.

Lastly, if you only have minor surface rust, why not just sand the cab, treat the exposed metal parts with a rust converter and go from there. It would be a lot easier and cheaper. Where the paint is good, you only have to scuff it to prep it for primer.

Good luck and let us know how things work out and PICTURES, PICTURES and more PICTURES.

 

If the truck has no rust or just a little surface rust, soda blast it. I did that over the summer with my 73 F100 with a blaster from harbor freight, and about 100lbs of baking soda from CostCo. It came out great! The dust gets everywhere, so make sure you have a good mask, and a good shop vac. If you do it in a garage, hang plastic. Just a small amount of blasting will leave a fine coating on your whole garage if you don't. I know because I thought I could test my blaster on a small spot in the bed of my truck, but the small test made a huge mess. The soda will only remove paint and primer. You can go right over chrome, plastic and rubber without damaging it. Also, the baking soda leaves a fine coating on the body, so you can actually leave it bare metal for a couple of weeks without flash rust, but more than that and it WILL start to rust. Any rust or body filler won't be removed, so you can come back and deal with those areas when all the paint is removed. Walnut shells will remove paint and body filler. Recently, water soda blasting has become an option to ad to soda blasters. I wish I had tried it. It blasts a stream of water along with the baking soda to keep the dust down. I imagine you must clean and protect the metal right away because of the water. Another thing to beware of: When I was cleaning up with my air gun, I blew lots of the baking soda out into the yard. Two days later I was woken up by my screaming girlfriend because everything that the baking soda came in contact was black/dead. Has something to do with the PH balance. I'll be better prepaired when it's time to blast my 66 convertible GT Fairlane. Good Luck!

 

I have a roll about blaster, pressure assist, i used both medium sand and black beauty for blasting and have no warpage what so ever. Blasting is not that big of a deal, like it was said earlier, commercial blasters are a whole other animal.

I also do not recommend soda blasting, commercially i think they have the equipment to properly clean, dry and prep the surfaces for paint pronto. The do it yourselfer like me needs time for surface prep, soda will rot a hole through the metal over time if not removed completely. It does work nice though no un bolting or masking, but it's a gamble in my opinion.

 

How about using paint stripper on the roof? Then just zap the rusty spots with the sandblaster. It'll probably be faster, too, if you're using a home-sized blaster and a small compressor. I was planning to use stripper on my panel truck, until I discovered the paint was so weathered that I could just _scrape_ it off.

 

I have used stripper. I did my entire truck with it. It is slow, messy, and most of the time takes more than one application. However, if you have the time, it is pretty cheap, and leaves shiny metal, not blasted rough surface.

Nice avatar, Carlene

 

I have done it this way as well. One word of warning DO NOT USE when there is any kind of open flame heat source in garage. (Propane, Natural gas, kerosene) It makes the fumes even more deadly. Use only in a well ventalated area.