Chemical Dipping

[oliverjamesthomas]

I'd be really appreciative of anyone letting me know where I could get an entire bodyshell dipped, in order to remove rust and paint, etc. I have heard of it being done in this country before, although it seems to be a more popular process in the USA. Any info would be gratefully received!

 

[ClubSport 911]

In their rally bodyshell preparation, Francis Tuthills (Nr Banbury) have the shell burnt in a gigantic oven. I have seen the before and after and can concurr with them - it comes back as clean as a whistle, with zero traces of paint, underseal, oil etc etc...

It might be worth giving them a call ?

details are here

Rgds

Steve

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

Many thanks Steve - that sounds like an interesting proposition that I'll certainly investigate.

Regards

 

[early 911]

I was going to suggest the same thing.

Pretty sure he takes the shell somewhere to do it (i.e. he doesn't do it himself). Think he mentioned than there can be very slight distortion of panels due to the heat, but this is something you can check with them.

Phil

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

Many thanks to you too, Phil.

I seem to be making some progress. I have found a firm in Halifax with what they term to be a 'pyro' oven. They seem quite strict about how it is used too - they won't do doors, engine lids or wings. Apparently there is too much danger of 'smaller' bits warping at 400 degrees, but with larger items they are able to control the situation to a greater degree. The quoted cost is around the £250 to £300 mark, which isn't as much as I thought it might have been.

I'll let you know how I get on and once again, many thanks.

 

[early 911]

That sound cheap to me . . . I've heard the stories of people spending days scraping off the underseal (luckily something I've never had to experience[]).

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

It sounds cheap to me too, especially as I've had the 'scraping of the knuckles and a bit of underseal' experience. Not a process I'll readily repeat[:'(] I think I'm going to give the burn a go. Could be interesting!

 

[38F3E1]

My specialist (GC Racing in Leicester - highly recommended for work on early cars) uses a company in Wolverhampton that does this sort of thing with chemicals. They dip it in weak acid for a couple of days followed by a light bead blast. They do all panels inc doors, engine lids, etc. Cost I think is around 450 to 500 + VAT.

I don't know if Wolverhampton would be convenient for you.

Ian.

 

[Nick Moss]

I spoke to Tuthills today about this process. They used to acid dip but the company closed down and they had had problems with paint reaction no matter how carefully the shell was rinsed.

They now use a company in Birminham to bake the car, then they sand blast to remove rust and any loose paint or stonechip

I had a shell sand blasted a couple of weeks ago. The company said that they could get the stonechip off without a problem. They couldn't and I am now having it stripped by hand. It will take 3 days at least so it could well have been cheaper to bake 'n blast

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

Many thanks Ian and Nick. I'm currently removing the final bits of the wiring and headlining in order to have the work done. I have seen threads on American sites that refer to similar problems with post treatment painting, although others refer to an acid being used to strip and then an alkaline being used to neutralize. Sounds like a big job!

I have blasting equipment of my own that I use for engineering work and to be honest Nick, you're probably lucky they stopped short of removing the stonechip. From experience, you have to really blast away at that type of stuff to get back to metal and the heat transfer arising would probably warp a panel like nobody's business! Apparently this oven method involves a gradual warm up and a gradual cool down in a bid to keep panels from warping, so it's fingures crossed!!!

Once again, many thanks to one and all!