Prep for dip to remove paint and rust., DOT sticker, VIN plate, Heater tub, etc. Options

[Richard Casto]

I am looking into either doing a chemical dip or media blast to remove paint and rust. Currently I am trying to determine what are some of the practical problems and solutions to dipping the car (I am aware of the concerns about acid leaching into the paint at a future date if the dip is not done correctly). Anyhow, as part of this I have some questions (mostly issues with doing the dip)...

1. Can the DOT sticker be removed and reapplied (such as via razor and glue)? I know that official replacements can be obtained from Porsche, but they don’t replicate the original look. If possible, I would like to preserve the original sticker.

2. I assume you can remove the rivets from the Karmann plate in the door and the plate in the front trunk prior to the dip and then try to find correct replacement rivets to put them back. Is there any problem with leaving the VIN plate in place?

3. I think I read somewhere that if you dip the car you need to open up the longitudinals to remove the heater tube as it is made out of cardboard. Can someone verify that this is correct?

4. Other than needing to remove everything from the steel body (wiring, trim, gaskets, etc.) is there any other prep work that would need to be done prior to dipping the car?

5. A local vendor gave me a rough estimate of about $1200 - $1300 to dip the car. Is this in the ballpark of what I should expect?

6. I haven’t contacted anybody yet about the cost to media blast the car. How much should I expect that to cost?

Thanks

Richard