Long story short, I want to buy a '91 or older suburban next summer. I know it's a chevy, but I already own a Ford and I like the old suburbans.

Anyway, I will be buying one within a day's drive of the U.P. of Michigan, so this suburban will have to be found in the midwest. You can find some pretty nice ones that come up from the south for around $3500 or less. However, I would like to drive this vehicle year round so I would want the frame sandblasted and rust proofed. I am young (18), and I don't have any of the equipment to take a suburban body off the frame. I would like to have a shop remove the body and sandblast/coat the frame. I know it won't be cheap, but does anyone have a rough idea of how much this would cost (based on any knowledge you have)?


If it's around $2500 or so, I can swing it; but I'm not, in any way, about to spend $6000 to have this done. I will buy a winter beater if it comes to that.

 

Why sandblast it?

1. Find your ride
2. Put it on Jack stands or a lift
3. Remove scale with a putty knife
4. Brush with a stiff wire brush
5. Apply metal prep and rinse
6. Apply POR 15

You should be able to do the above for several hundred. Unless you are doing a ground-up restoration, this is a better approach. And stick with Ford!

 

That works too. Don't worry, I'm loyal to ford, I just like suburbans. If I had the money though, I'd be buying an excursion.

 

I believe you need to take care when sand blasting the frame, using sand can heat the metal to the point it looses it's temper. Really old stuff may not be a problem, but I remember manufs talking up forged and tempered frames at some point.

 

at my uncles shop he probably would charge about i would say around 1500 low side. he doesnt really pull bodies but if you were to bring in just the frame at most places the price goes down, and so does the quality. and about the heat making the metal loosing its temper, he's been sandblasting for close to 30 years and sandblasted anything you can pretty much think of, not 1 customer has came back complaining about the metal being weak, only thing you really need to worry about is if the shop doesnt know what there doing. and as i stated. quality costs.

 

Just not worth the cost of pulling the body unless you are doing a frame off restoration. It's a lot more involved than you would think. The blasting part is easy and wouldn't be concerned with the heat generated. Body panels are another story, they will warp if overheated. A blaster I know gets $85 an hr. media included. I doubt you will even find one that will do it and don't think $2500 will even come close.

 

Do you have more info on the temper issue?

I remember with scuba cylinders, they couldn't be sand blasted because they lost their elasticity. Bead blasting was the only option because it didn't heat the aluminum as badly. With the frames, it will need to warp and come back to it's original shape. Probably not an issue with a garage queen, but on a mud truck that needs to flex I'd suspect the possibility of an issue.

 

alum is a completely different ball game. alum does loose some strength but not really enough where its going to ruin it, i can see on a scuba tank where its holding thousands of PSI where one little scratch can compramise the tank. but on steal. no it shouldnt make the metal loose its strength unless you go to a blaster who has no clue what he's/she is doing.

 

"I will buy a winter beater if it comes to that. "

The winter beater makes much more sense.