and money you put into your project.
Frame Cleaning
It is best to take your frame and sandblast it or use other means of media removal, such as aluminum oxide, walnut shells, or plastic media. Sand and aluminum oxide are usually fairly inexpensive, not very time consuming, and allow you to start with fresh bare metal as well as remove rust, unlike some forms of media blasting that will not remove rust. There are other means of paint removal, but most of them are very time consuming or expensive.
You might also want to consider hiring a company that will do on-site blasting with their equipment, though your local surroundings will dictate if this will work or not. There are several varieties of these services as well, including high-pressure water, walnut, glass, plastic media, etc. If you are not close to a blasting facility, you can purchase a do-it-yourself compact blaster for little money; although, a fairly high-volume, high standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) air compressor would be necessary. If you are using silica sand, you must also use a fresh-air hood and blast upwind of your project.
For the best bang for your buck—and regardless if you are doing the work or farming it out—you are better off if you put most of the parts that need blasting aside and wait to do them all at one time. It is not suggested to sandblast any large sheet metal items, however, as warpage can be a major problem. If forced to, turn the pressure down as low as you can and still remove material. This will help by not heating the metal as much.
Before hiring a blaster or doing it yourself, get all of the heavy pieces together in one place and blast all at once to save on expenses. However, be ready to treat each piece of bare steel immediately after blasting, or flash rust may occur.
Powdercoating
Powdercoating will be covered more extensively later in this chapter as well as in the paint and body chapter. With that in mind, if you are going to powdercoat the frame and there are no repairs that are needed, now would be a good time—but only after acid washing the frame—to remove all oils, contaminants, and blasting residue. If your frame needs any amount of bodywork to repair pitting or other issues, powdercoating may not be the answer for you due to the high heat used in the baking process. However, you can do welding repairs prior to the coating. If you are not concerned about seeing those types of defects, then powdercoating is a much cheaper and quicker way to apply paint to your frame and is suggested for a daily driver car.
Regardless of your paint removal and application method, you must treat the metal within hours of blasting, otherwise flash rusting will begin. You also need to be careful to not allow contaminants onto the bare metal, as this can cause issues during the painting process. Even handling the bare metal with ungloved hands will allow contaminants in the metal. If you are able to keep the frame out of the elements or high humidity, you can begin any needed repairs to the frame, such as cracks, broken welds, bent rails or other areas, repairing mounting pads, etc. Once completed, the frame can be washed in an acid solution to remove all oils and other contaminants prior to priming it.
This frame was badly damaged in a frontal collision, and these impacts can telegraph rearward and cause the frame to get out of square. The cost to straighten it is likely more than what a donor frame would cost. Let your frame shop be the judge on what is salvageable.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
