Matthew951

I've got some questions about acid dipping. I am building up a street/track car, and I want to strip all the paint off, and re galvanize (maybe? needed?), and then of course repaint. Is acid dipping illegal for racing? I don’t want to do anything that may prevent me from being able to race the car in the future, although right now I am planning just for street. I have heard alkaline dipping does the same, except it doesn’t take away any metal?

My main questions now are:

Where can I have this done?
How much would it cost?
Does this take off rust too?
Would you normally re-galvanize after?

Has anyone on here done this? If so, please let me know where you got it done, and cost that went a long with it. I live in Michigan, so somewhere close would be good, since the car won’t be rolling anywhere stripped down.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out!
Matt

User 41221

In my opinion, thats insane for a street car. I'm not sure how you would go about regalvanizing the tub afterwards, but thats a heck of a lot of work to go through regardless. Whats your motivation for doing so? Trying to lighten the car or are you just wanting to do a color change?

Regards,

Matthew951

Alright, my motivation is to get the car cleaned up, before repainting. Regardless of how I do it, the car is going to need to be stripped down almost everywhere. The car will never have interior back in, besides the dash, and the 2 front seats. A cage will also be installed right away, most likely. So the MAIN reason for acid dipping is to clean out the interior of the car, because it’s a mess in there, after all the carpet and such have been removed. And under the car has surface rust in quite a few places, so I basically want to get this car to a condition, where it will last me a very long time, after it’s done. The car has 196k miles on it. I get it very cheap, and I am turning it into a street/track car.

Any other options are more then welcome. I thought about sandblasting, but I don’t have one, and not really sure if I want to invest in one or not, but it is obviously an option, but I have heard that takes off a lot of metal too, would that be illegal for the track also? Let me know if you have any ideas.

Matt

Dave951M

There are companies around that can do a blasting job like that. Check into the price either way. I'm not conviced that you really need to dip it, unless it has a flea problem. IMHO, just a good bead blasting would be all that is necessary for what you're after.

Matthew951

Thanks Dave,

I'll defiantly check into that. Does anyone know how much a good blasting gun would cost? If I op to go with the do it myself route? I would need a bigger compressor, I know the one I have couldn’t handle it, but just let me know. I can check places like Northern Tool, but I wouldn’t know a good blasting gun from a crappy one. So let me know, thanks again everyone

Matt

Dave951M

You "can" do this one yourself, but you'll need a compressor with some serious wheaties to get the job done. This type of compressor is capable of maintaining high cfm/psi rates and is not generally found anywhere but in industrial applications. Call around to local sand blasting equipment suppliers. They can spec out what you'd need and point you to a shop that can do this for you.

dhallilama

Just a note:
I've media blasted a few classic american cars... be VERY careful... the heat generated by media blasting (even gentile media) can warp body panels. I warped the hell out of a late 50's american car roof... and have seen similar problems. Even using walnut shell as the media, thin sheetmetal can be warped... takes someone that knows what they're doing, and cares about the job being done.

One thing to keep in mind with acid dipping: the acid gets everywhere... can be difficult to flush out of all the nooks and crannies... effectively killing any rust protection in those areas (where paint just isnt gonna reach).

As far as cost... the last car i had blasted was $800 (in Los Angeles, price would probably be different where you are).
Never had an entire shell of a car acid dipped, but have had fenders and the like done... but in Mexico... two doors, and an entire front clip were done for a few hundred bucks. No real enviornmental regulations/fees/fines there, so the cost is probably MUCH lower than here in the US.

-Dan

KuHL 951

I think you would be sorry living in Michigan if you plan to use a dipped car for partial street like you say. If you remove the remaining galvanizing you virtually insure the car will start to corrode out. Depending on how bad the existing corrosion is you might be better off having the effected areas abrasive blasted where the zinc has worn through followed by a 4-mil thermal arc-sprayed aluminum-zinc coating. You could do the the body pan and component mounting areas where corrosion can jeoprodize any structural integrity. As long as you are just talking about minor surface rust your plan seems like total overkill. I would just deal with the problem areas and paint it; it will leave you enough money in your pocket for some serious upgrades.

GeorgeK

I have acid dipped a 1976 (galvanised) 911 shell. The process is 3 step. First is alkaline to remove all paint, sealer, bondo; the second is acid that removes *all* rust; the third is a neutralising process.
Beware you have to put cavity wax everywhere, but only after letting the tub dry for at least 2 weeks (6 months is better but a little long.
I have done that in 1998, and the car shows no bad news since. It is used in the rain, has seen snow, but no winter driving, and no salt.
If you are doing all this, I doubt you'll have problems.

Swedeboy

Agreed. Most professional blasters will be used to industrial applications and will not have sufficient understanding of thin sheetmetal which will need to remain perfectly straight.

87951

There is a company in Toledo, Ohio that will dip the shell for you. Plan on something North of 12-1500 to do this. The process will remove all paint, rust, undercoating etc. You then have some options for coatings to preserve the remains-all of them expensive. Probably cheaper in the long run to purchase a rust free car, especially since the prices have declined quite a bit over the last 2 years.

DAR951

Acid dipping IS ilegal for a number of sactioning bodies... need to check the specific rules for any one you may consider competing with...

Another option I know some fellow competitors are trying/using is high temp baking. It basically involves finding/using a large industrial oven and baking the tub for 12-24 hours (lightly seasoned). Not sure about temps, but the process removes all paint and insulation, leaving the bare sheet metal ready for seam welding or whatever.

Bill_396

I have a 68 1/2 cobra jet mustang I had dipped about 24 yrs. ago in Grand Rapids, MI.. Long time/term project, just getting painted now. That place appeared pretty shakey then. Make appointment, guy waits at the street to waive you in down the alley, door up, door down, no traces. I looked into getting some more stuff done recently. Found a place south of Detriot for a dip, neutralize and e-coat, pretty spendy now. Bill