Well I am coming along with getting the floors and interior stripped of paint, tar, and rust. However, I am having trouble getting into the tight spots and I'm not sure what to use. Is there a thread that covers this, or can someone give a newb a tip? Specifically, I am having a lot of trouble around the e-brake handle attachment area and where the e-brake cables enter the firewall. I have used a grinder with a wire wheel for almost the whole thing so far and I have made tremendous progress, but now I am stumped on how to proceed.

I have never done anything like this, so I have no experience in this type of thing.

Help...

Tips?

suggestions.....

Please.

Knock the scale off and hit it with Metal Ready or OSPHO or some sort of chemical rust converter (not a rust encapsulator).

the converter changes the remaining rust to a new compound that stops it from rusting further, but you have to have the scale off and make sure that everything gets coated.

metal ready and OSPHO are acids that eat away the rust. Some acid compounds have to be washed off or they will also eat the good metal. I *THINK* Metal Ready leaves a lite zink coating - but the last time I used it was 2005.

Zach

The scale is what I am having the hardest time with. I just cant seem to get in there good enough. Is there a better attachment I can use instead of a wire wheel?

BTW, I was looking through your build thread last night, nice car. I like the horns you have showing through the grilles, what are those?

The grinder-wire wheel works but is pretty frustrating on anything tight or round.

Vacca Rabite's advise on chemical solutions is effective, just get the right compound and protect yourself (very well-fumes too-).

I have had incredible success with "sand" blasting and now soda blasters. Sand blasting throws these abrasives against the wounds like liquid sand paper- so to speak. They work great! Sadly, "sand" blasting released silica crystals causing a lung disease if not very well protected. Soda seems to be ok. It is a hard media that removes paint, rust, scale and such. Steel beeds, glass beeds, even crushed walnut shells are used to polish soft items like glass and wood. Blasting leaves a factory looking finish that is like a casting surface. Very nice satin and even. A high flow air compressor is required to effectively do quicker work and a commercial unit built onto a trailer (like the ones you may see attached to jack hammer equipment) can be rented for a couple hundred dollars for a day. You could blast 20 cars in one day (good luck!) and split the cost to cheap. Blast media is reusable by spraying on plastic and against a half open car canopy like tent or just a tarp tented by rope ties to trees. Suck it back up with a shop vac and screen it and blast again for free. Look up "sandblasted" on google images and you will be impressed. It is easy to do. Harbor Freight supplies cheaper sets and the pressurized blasters are effective but the cheaper ones are much slower. Enjoy! Jazon-

Thanks for the info. I was thinking I might have to blast those spots, just didn't want to fork out the dough if there was another way. Splitting the cost is a good idea, I have a buddy that wants to sandblast a jeep frame, maybe we can go in together and have a sandblast party.

If anybody in the Ohio area wants to join in, it sounds like it would be a BLAST

other options to knock scale out of tight areas:

sanding disks on a dremel or air grinder.
Wire brush (non mechanical, just a wire brush with a wood handle.)

I did not think of spot blasting. I did not have that capability when I was doing this job, and now that I do I don't like doing it. Blast media goes everywhere. From a work:elbow grease ratio, though, blasting wins hands down. Just a lot to clean up and expensive to get set up.

Zach