I did a bit of searching, and I found out there was a Redi Strip in the Tempe/ Phoenix Az area. Does anybody know if they are still in buisiness? And, does anybody have experience with Chemical Stripping?
I have done some business with them a year or so ago. I heard that the business was sold to someone else but they are still in business. I don't live far away from them, I can check it out if you want. John
I called the old phone number tonight and got a recorded message. The new name is Clean Metal Industries. The phone number is 480-968-9702
It cleans every thing including rust. Rusty metal will come back thinner and heavily rusted metal will probably come back with a lot of holes. Some times it comes back with more hole than car part.
I had my frame for my BSA stripped there a little over a year ago. It turned out very well. It was run by an old guy and his wife.
Do you get it back in bare metal, or can they put a protective coating on it? Should I try and find a Paintshop in PHX that can put it in epoxy primer for me before I bring it back to Tucson? I'm getting close to the point where I have to get this cleaned. The Zagato I've been working on. And probably in the near future, my Roadster...
Depending how long it sits in the tank they can take off more metal that you would want. we have used it to lighten up cars for racing and also for restoring. it will make it look like new steel! but beware it will eat the rust to the point where the metal will disapear!!
I dont think I want it much thinner than it already is... It was made out of very thin sheet when it was new. I thought that dipping it might be more suitable for thin material like that than blasting. Is that true?
I think the process leaves a somewhat protective coating on the metal (phosphate?). I haven't had any trouble with stuff starting to rust again within a few weeks. The last part I had stripped, I got there as they were just finishing it, spraying it off with water. It didn't start rusting as bare steel would.Of coarse it may depend on the enviroment how long it lasts.
I got it back in bare metal and liked the way all the brazing looked, So I left it bare. I had it dipped to make sure there was no cracks since it was a 40 year old frame. It lookes like a gray clean metal after it's dipped. I saw a late 60's dart there when I picked my stuff up and it looked good too.
there is a guy in tucson doing mobile dry ice blasting. . . advantage to dry ice as a blasting material is no cleanup, it just evaporates. Unfortunately, I can seem to find his card right now, I'll keep looking.
Hey, I did a '58 Coupe Deville in the late seventies, clean car, 'cept for the dog house section that had been replaced at some time. The replacement tin had several bad paint jobs, and lots of filler covering more bad metal. I had all the tin dipped and the doors and deck lid dipped, as well. Big mistake! All of the panels looked clean, 'cept for the rust holes, which I expected, but I could not stop the leaching of the stripper from the pinch welds and double walled construction. It took alot of heating those panels with a torch to kill off the flow of the leaching stripper. Never again will I have a part/panel chemically striped unless it's a simple stamping with no top-hat panels, double walled areas or pinch welds. Perhaps the chemicals they use today are more easily killed, but I'm not bettin' on it! Keep in mind, those acids eat away inside of areas you can't see or get to, without cutting them open. Swankey Devils C.C. " Spending A Nation Into Generational Debt Is Not An Act Of Compassion!"
You might want to look into electrolysis - very hard to find someone to do a whole car body, but it will leave you with clean metal, no rust, no chemical residue to come back and haunt you after it has been painted and, most importantly, you will get all your metal back.
Heres my views on the most popular ways to strip autos. Dipping pros: Every nook and cranny will be cleaned of rust, seam sealer and paint. Dipping cons: Every nook and cranny will need to be rinsed to make sure there is no chemical left that will affect the new paint job. May make metal thinner and easier to warp or damage during further repair and assembly. Soda blasting pros: All paint, undercoat, seam sealer will be removed Soda blasting cons: Any pitted rust will remain, Cannot get in tight spots or between panels, body needs to be rinsed to neutralize the baking soda to prevent problems with new paint job, body may also need to be scuffed to promote adhesion of primer. Media blasting pros: All paint, undercoat, seam sealer, rust will be removed. Media blasting cons: Cannot get into tight spots or between panels, in the wrong hands the parts can be damaged. By looking at your picture, I don't see any large expanses of sheetmetal like a roof skin, deck lid or hood. The remaining parts on that tub have plenty of "shape" giving them inherent strength. I would not hesitate to have it media blasted by a blaster with antique auto experience but then again I'm a little biased towards it. Chemical dipping would work well for you also, but make sure it is thoroughly douched out before it is primed.
the thing that scares me about acid dipping is i think sometimes some of it remains in spots like pinch welds or between inner and outer doors , i had heard dodge did this on some of their factory race preped cars in the 60s to lighten them up... also heard storys of seeing them rusted out at the track only a couple of years old...i think i would opt for something different
The Redi-Strip in Indianapolis and Vancouver both offer electrolysis rust removal in up to car size tanks, so maybe the one in Arizona does, too.
Alex Dry Ice Blasting http://www.alternativeblastingchoice.com/ A youtube short about the process in general http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTirXEgu8Bo another here in town http://www.rgtclean.com/news-events Auto restoration http://www.rgtclean.com/residue-removal/residential/26-auto-restoration and they coat with a protective coating
I worked for redi strip while I was a sr in high school, heres the info on it. It is not acid, it's caustic soda, it does not remove good metal, it also does not cause hydrogen embrittlement like acid dipping does. When the part or whatever is washed for the final time with the pressure washer we did a final rinse with phosphoric acid that is injected into the pressure washer, we had a main valve that we turned on then we had an adjustable flow valve to control how much phosphoric acid gets into the water, when it comes out of the pressure washer, the water looks like the soapy water like at your local car wash. The first step in the redi strip process is to put the parts into the stripping tank (it's caustic soda that is heated to around 160 - 180 deg, the parts stay in for 24 hours. After the parts come out of the stripping tank they are throughly washed with a pressure washer (we used 3000 psi with the water at 200 - 210 degrees). After the first wash the parts are then put into the de-ruster tank which is also a caustic soda the de-rusting is done by electrolysis (just like chrome plating but it only removes the rust), the de-rusting process on the average takes around 2 days, the parts are washed once every 24 hours. The guy running the pressure washer has to make sure that he throughly washes out all the seams, if he's good there wont be any "bleeding" of the caustic soda out of any seems that will ruin your body, and paint work. If you have any other questions I will answer them the best I can, I worked at redi-strip around 25 years ago (1984 - 85), I'm sure some or every thing has changed in some way because of the EPA.
I wouldn't do it again. I had my coupe done a few years ago, and I'm glad I didn't paint it yet, because at some seams, and spot welds it is starting to show signs of rust. I was very careful to prime it real well right away, and it is in a climate controlled building. I'm not sure what to do now. I don't know if it was the place I had it done , or if they all do it, but I would go with soda blasting next time.
I had a 37 Chevy dipped about a year or so ago. Place did an excellent job, we even had them dip it in OSPHO as well.
At the redi-strip I worked at when we did the final wash we washed the seams throughly with the phosphate wash to prevent that, since redi-strip was a franchise type of business some of the owners were too cheap to throughly wash out the seems with phosphate like we did, plus we recomended that the customer prime the seams with a couple of coats of primer/sealer that was thinned a little more than normal using a higher spray gun air pressure to get primer into the seams, and to seal all the seems with seam sealer as soon as possible to prevent rusting.
If its really that thin, what about lightly coating it on the insides with Por-15 or some treatment instead? Is that even a viable option?
I have done it for items like rims and body pannels. Never done a whole frame: http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp http://antique-engines.com/trailer-electrolysis.htm http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Miscellaneous/Rust_Removal.htm
The redi-strip I worked at the tanks were 20' long, 9' wide, 8' tall, the tanks were recessed so that the top of the tanks were 3' off of the work floor. We did alot of tri 5 chevy's for a company that was restoring, them they would bring us every thing from the smallest part up to the complete body, and frame completly dissasembled.
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