Brush. Scrape. Brush. Wipe. (x1000) (whine)

[area53 at validpath.com (Jeff Toomasson)]

Believe me - I considered the sandblasting route. It was as big a quandary
as I've faced in the scheme of things. But most of the resources I consulted
said that clean, tacked-up factory paint was as good as any primer out there
and that if the foundation was sound, that would be all I needed to provide
a sound base for my project. Paint adherence and the permanence thereof was
my biggest concern and since I had minimal rust to deal w/ (California cars
are good that way  :), the ultimate totality benefit of sandblasting (is
that redundant?) wasn't completely necessary.

Besides, the deck lid shelves are an absolute MUST in my scenario - it's
very much an integral part of the mk1 IMHO (my other mk1, a eurobumper
donor/interim 3A monster toy) had them removed and I almost feel that the
car is somewhat soul-less because of it.

YMMV,

Jeff
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "GGehrke" <NavySEAL2B@insightbb.com>
To: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 10:10 PM
Subject: RE: Brush. Scrape. Brush. Wipe. (x1000) (whine)


> If you're doing a ground up restoration, you might look into
> sandblasting.
>
> I know a lot of purists hate the thought of it, but I just finished
> sandblasting my Mk1's interior from the front seats back and it turned
> out beautifully.  It took me a while to get everything set up right (get
> the right compressor, blasting media, move from a siphon blaster to a
> pressurized tank style, set up a system of reclaiming and reusing the
> sand, buying 5 pairs of goggles because the sand destroys them quickly)
> and it still wasn't terribly efficient because my working area wasn't
> too conducive to work, but once I got going it made VERY quick work of
> all the stuff you're describing.  Adhesive*, paint and rust all come off
> in one sweep leaving clean, satin texture metal.  I did this without
> going for the true full restoration because of time and space
> constraints, but I was able to get virtually all the sand out and paint
> the area.  It also revealed a lot about the metal such as some
> horrendous VW factory techniques.  I uncovered a couple giant masses of
> bondo that I figured were applied by some hack fixing damage, but found
> the original factory paint on top of it.  I'm meaning to write more
> about my experience and post it to my website soon.
>
> *sandblasting is NOT a good method for removing sound deadening
> material, heavy body filler, or other such junk.  I found an air chisel
> makes quick work of that, and is terribly fun ;)
>
> Anyways, I was extremely pleased with how my sandblasting project went.
> If I had the time and space, I would have completely disassembled the
> car and sandblasted the whole body in one shot.  I estimate it could be
> done at home in a couple weeks at most.  My compressor cost $350,
> sandblaster was borrowed (~$150 value) and the media was uber-cheap.  I
> was able to clean the sand out and prep for paint in about 2 days, and
> shoot POR-15 over the whole interior in 1.  Bonded right to the bare
> metal and I didn't have to worry about flash rust.  Except where there
> were rust holes, it literally looks like a brand new car.
>
> I have to admit, though, those deck lid shelf things had to go on mine.
> I feel your pain.  I tried cleaning them before I had the sandblaster
> and after a full day of work ended up drilling out the spot welds and
> throwing them away instead.  Heh.
>
> -Grant-
> 1980 in storage :(
> Louisville, KY/Annapolis, MD
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
> [mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Toomasson
> Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 9:50 PM
> To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: Brush. Scrape. Brush. Wipe. (x1000) (whine)
>
> Someone remind me not to do this again...if any of you think you're up
> to the task to do a ground up restoration, I strongly advise you think
> long and hard. And then when you're done, think about it again. Man,
> this thing better turn out the way I envision...
>
> I just spent all day of a holiday scraping adhesive from the C-pillars
> and deck lid shelves of my mk1 (yesterday was spent removing the wiring
> and fusebox). GAWD - it sucks. I thought when I finished my research
> stint in college I would never have to mess w/ xylene again. My mistake.
> I wonder how many brain cells I axed today...I swear that adhesive just
> continues to cure over the 23+ years since it was installed.
>
> What's worse is that I still have the doors, door and quarter window
> bases and firewall to clean up and that's before paint prep. This is
> definitely one of those "no end in sight" doldrum moments.
>
> </whine>
>
> :)  Jeff
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