How much would it cost to sandblast my body and frame? Have any of you here done it yet? Has anyone ever powdercoated their frames or is it better to use POR-15 or something like it?

 

What a coinkydink that someone would ask this very question...I was just going through receipts for this last year with regard to my little truck project.

As for sandblasting(mediablasting)/powdercoating, it depends on how much you really want to get done. Myself, I had the entire body, then the entire frame, then all of the brackets, leaf springs (which you have to disassemble first), sway bar, end links, motor mount towers, shackles, gas tanks brackets, etc. etc. etc.....basically everything that was a solid steel piece was blasted and coated.

EDIT!!!!!: I forgot to give you the obligatory warning.........sandblasting of the body is a very touchy proposition. If they're using a garnet/walnut shell media, it can still warp the hell out of the panels if the tech doesn't know what he's doing. The guy I had doing it tried to be careful, but still managed to warp the bed quite a bit. The secret is to go at the surface from a low angle so as to not impact the panels as much. It takes more media, but it's less harmful. If the shop you go to uses a media recycling system, it's no biggie, it just takes more time. So, while blasting is a quick answer for body panels, it can also prove to be very expensive if you want to paint them and have them look right. If possible, you might want to look into soda blasting if anyone has a facility big enough with that type of media. It's not as harsh, but it will be spendy.


As for price, I can kind of break that down a bit....

The blasting of the body was roughly $550
The blasting of the frame by itself was another $240
Blasting and coating of all the parts, to include the core support, inner fenders, and all the hardware mentioned above was around $460
The coating of the frame was another $300

I've added my receipts, and I'm into the powdercoating shop for exactly $1680.20, and I've still got a few things that I'll be taking to them (which I don't see going much over another $100 bucks.

Anyway, that's as precise and I can be.......if you want to see any of what I've had done, there are some pictures in my gallery. There will be more as I go, but no new ones today.

'later

 

Wow can't get much more exact than exactly what you paid !

This does give me an idea though. It was actually much less than I expected it to be.

So what all did you have powdercoated? Just the frame and and supports?

 

Um....I kinda said what I had coated, but to reiterate, it was the frame, core support, engine bracketry, frame bracketry, leaf springs, end links, sway bar, all suspension brackety, gas tank straps, inner fenders, and a butt load of smaller parts.

You get a fair idea from the pictures in my gallery of what I had coated so far.

 

I misunderstood you. I was thinking you had a primer coat or something put on after the sandblasting and then an additional cost for the coating but I got ya now. I don't know what goes on with a powdercoating at all. I'll take a look at the pics.