after soda blasting

[56hotrodred]

Well I ran out of baking soda after blasting off about 10 bags over 3 or so days and cleaning numerous parts including all the front end pieces the inner fenders, tailgate, rad support, firewall and all the cab except the roof (outside & inside). Quit a job especially around the windshield lip - inside and out. I still have to take the big back window out and do that and the top.

I really like the way it turned out. Only rust so far is the cab corners and a little bit around the bottom hinge area.

I figure another 5 or so bags and a good day to finish the entire cab, my extra grille and a couple of other smaller pieces.

In looking at the inside of the cab I was wondering what you all are doing with the numerous overlapping seams such as the ones between the door pillars and the inside of the roof. They look too big to merely fill with bondo so do you weld and grind them smooth, leave them or what? They sure would look good all smooth.

I will try to get some pictures now that I have cleaned most of the mess up. It was way too dusty to even think about pulling out my digital camera.

I have spent some time looking at truck interiors on the forum and in magazines and they look pretty smooth.

Thanks in advance.

56hotrodred

[53'gmc]

it doest really matter you can do it either way it just depends upon your preferance and if you saw most others looking smooth that could be because the smooth look is a desired and fineshed appearance

[56hotrodred]

I have since spent a couple of hours looking at as many interiors of cabs as I could find. I really like them smoothed out. I think I will practice my welding a bit and do a combination of weld, grinding/smoothing and filler.

Thanks

56hotrodred

[wycheguy]

I've got a 49 that I need to do strip as well. Can you post some pictures of your progress?

[56hotrodred]

I was thinking on doing that real soon. Just did not want to bring any of my digital cameras out in the damn dust floating around the shop right now. I am currently sanding the roof - just about done - and will be doing some more soda blasting for edges, seems, another grille, undersides of box rail, other small parts, etc...

I highly recommend the soda blasting in conjunction with plain old fashion sanding, although it is a little dirty.

I will try in the next day or so to get some pictures up for ya.

56hotrodred

[solidaxel]

What is the cost for ten bags of soda?

[56hotrodred]

A bag of soda up here costs about $40.00. I am sure there are cheaper but my access to it is very limited. I also have to pay shipping from Calgary. That increased the cost to closer to $50.00 per bag. So I have about $500.00 (Canadian) into soda and then there is of course the cost of the machine - couple of hundred bucks with safety stuff, etc... Still worth it in my estimation. I am thinking that I would have paid more than $700.00 or $800.00 (1 1/2 day in a body shop) to get all the parts clean that I did. Plus I did it myself - makes me feel good and gets me away from the computer & work for a bit. Very cathartic!

Be prepared for a mess though. I am going nuts on this messy work now before I have a crew come in and finish the inside of my shop so I can heat it this winter.

Hope this helps.

56hotrodred

[dan76]

What machine did you use for the blasting? Are you happy with it's capability?

[special-K]

They get $150 per hour for soda blasting around here.

[56hotrodred]

I got the 50 lb imported abrasive blaster from Eastwood. I think for my purposes it works well. If I was going to use it on any kind of a regular basis I would upgrade it to something more heavy duty. If I can get this project blasted and ready for primer it was well worth it. One of my buddies is starting a 1953 Chevy 1/2 ton I sold him and I am hoping he will get his done also.

I had no idea what anybody would charge for soda blasting. They probably have a much bigger system and can do more in an hour than mine but I still think I am ahead of the game by doing it myself plus as said it gets me out of the office.

56hotrodred

[special-K]

Yeah,I was just giving an example for those curious.The guy I talked to figures he`s making $50 of that and $100 goes to the machine/truck/etc.I forget some of the examples of how long it took to do what.But,I was impressed how little time he claimed.But,to save most of that $150 and hour by doing your own is worth a little more time.