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Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 8 2010, 11:10 PM

I'm still having strut woes on the ass-dragger so it's Billy-time.

I took these over to my soda blaster guy and look what I got back. I just wanted to show the miracles of soda one more time here. Spindles were not taped off. Shock shafts were not taped off!

Nothing like factory metal to work with... just amazing results. The smallest of stampings, codes and markings come back to life. Almost a shame to repaint them...

Posted by: underthetire Mar 8 2010, 11:18 PM

I don't think it's wrong at all. Those look like they just came off the production line!

Posted by: zymurgist Mar 9 2010, 06:24 AM

Posted by: 914Sixer Mar 9 2010, 07:26 AM

Ok, I need to go get a soda blaster. Man, those look ready good.

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 9 2010, 08:27 AM

Yeah huh? Almost every time I have something soda blasted, it's like a step back in time. It was one of the coolest things to have my tub soda blasted and see the factory welds on the rear suspension consoules. All of the heat marks and blueing were there hiding underneath the paint.

It felt weird, like I was there just after the guy welded the car.

Posted by: tdgray Mar 9 2010, 09:27 AM

Yepper... that's why I have one on order... can't wait to do that to my transmission, springs etc... gonna be step back in time. SCHWING

Posted by: tat2dphreak Mar 9 2010, 09:37 AM

those look amazing

Posted by: Randal Mar 9 2010, 10:13 AM

Hey Todd, which one did you buy?

Posted by: tat2dphreak Mar 9 2010, 10:14 AM

I have one question... how big of an air compressor do you need?

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 9 2010, 10:33 AM

The guy I use has a portable deisel compressor mounted on a trick trailer. He does grafitti and such.

Posted by: tat2dphreak Mar 9 2010, 10:49 AM

so, you're saying I'd need bigger than my little portable 110v?

Posted by: zymurgist Mar 9 2010, 11:37 AM

I used to have a 36 gallon portable tank compressor, but its duty cycle didn't allow the nearly continuous running needed for sandblasting. I replaced it with the Home Depot special 60 gallon tank. I used that for sandblasting all the remainder of my Corvette parts. I would guess that soda blasting has similar requirements.

Only major issue I have is moisture... I put a water trap at the end of my main hose and sandblast with a short whip hose connected to it, and I still have to clear out the water a couple of times in a blasting session (east coast humidity FTL).

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 20 2011, 12:10 PM

for Larry.

Posted by: rick 918-S Mar 20 2011, 01:19 PM

I have one. I am using it to strip just the top layer of paint from the front and rear trunks and engine bay of the Raspberry car. I'm trying to leave the original finish. Or as much as I can anyway. It works really nice for that.

Posted by: jmill Mar 20 2011, 01:45 PM

The blaster you buy should give you required compressor specs, ie. 90 psi @ 10 CFM

Posted by: sixnotfour Mar 20 2011, 02:51 PM

looks great, here are my fav. soda blast pics , real factory GT 705, There is another on the dash but the pic is on RoadGlue.


Attached image(s)

Posted by: pete000 Mar 20 2011, 03:11 PM

WOW !

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 20 2011, 05:53 PM

Oh yeah, those rock. I remember that...

Posted by: wertygrog Mar 21 2011, 12:18 AM

How much does it generally cost to have an entire bare tub soda blasted, ballpark?

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 21 2011, 07:52 AM

$600 - $1,000 depending on the blaster.

Posted by: pete Mar 21 2011, 08:26 AM

I made the simple one from info on this forum. Did a great job on my trans. Any ideas on how to contain the dust though? I did the trans on my driveway and positioned an industrial fan behind me. My back yard was white by the time I was done.

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 21 2011, 08:40 AM

Water?

Just a heads up gang. This is commercial soda not Arm & Hammer stuff. While you can get a simple gun and shoot Arm & Hammer (good for carbs and small parts), the commercial stuff comes in 50lb bags and you sometimes pay by the bag. The commercial soda has the consistency of large grained sand.

My car was under $600 because we had glass hoods and we DA'd all of the flat surfaces prior to bringing it in. We used soda on both trunks, the engine compartment and the underside.

Posted by: Krieger Mar 21 2011, 09:15 AM

Are you kidding...no faceshield?

Posted by: r_towle Mar 21 2011, 09:24 AM

After I used my soda cabinet on a set of carbs the first thought I had was, "where have you been my whole life"

So no, its not wrong imho

Rich

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 21 2011, 09:52 AM

What you see is what you get. After about an hour I asked him if he wanted to use my saftey glasses. His eyes were bleeding.

Posted by: gothspeed Mar 21 2011, 02:28 PM

Where does one get the 'soda' .... ??

Posted by: Smitty911 Mar 21 2011, 03:21 PM

http://sodaashdirect.com/buy-sodium-carbonate-online.html

Posted by: ldsgeek Mar 21 2011, 08:01 PM

Or everybody's favorite junk shop http://www.harborfreight.com/50-lbs-medium-grade-armex-soda-blast-media-65929.html

Posted by: nathansnathan Mar 22 2011, 12:29 PM

I was worried about paint/ primer adhesion with soda blasting as I'd read about the chalky residue that it leaves - some say just soap and water will take it off, some say add vineger to neutralize the ph, others talk about the need for elbow grease. The thought of my paint falling off led me to getting glass beads instead for my project. For engines/ carbs, the soda seems the way to go though as it is water soluble.

Posted by: Eric_Shea Mar 22 2011, 12:35 PM

My car got a vinegar bath. Pain came out perfect.

Posted by: rgalla9146 May 10 2013, 07:21 AM

Does it remove rust ?

Posted by: d914 May 10 2013, 07:27 AM

No, paint.....

Posted by: ConeDodger May 10 2013, 09:04 AM

No. It only removes paint. You need to switch to sand to take out the rust areas. They say that soda blasting can take the paper off a cigarette filter without harming the filter. I switched my cabinet to soda...

Posted by: Eric_Shea May 10 2013, 09:06 AM

Just paint. It leaves the metal as new as the day it was born. There were a few spots around the engine shelf that needed rust repair and that was spot blasted with a sand blaster and replaced with new metal. Soda even left the factory seam sealer in place which is what we wanted.