Mike, Bill, et Listers,
When I had my Tiger restored, Dale (at my insistence) used walnut blasting
instead of chemical dipping. However, he replaced the front clip and that
part as well as the hardtop was chemically tank dipped. The dipping was
done somewhere in Dale's area (San Bernardino)and I don't know the details
of the chemicals used. I do know that I've had a lot of problems with
corrosion, but just on the parts that were dipped and I blame it on acid
that wasn't properly neutralized. With the metal origami that constitutes
the unibody construction, there are numerous places to trap the chemicals,
so even with some kind of neutralization step, it would be hard to get it
all passivated.
The only problem with the walnut shell blasting was a lot of it got into
the ventilation system, etc. and it took a lot of driving around before it
all worked its way out. Some strategic masking off of holes and cracks
should help this problem a lot.
With respect to removing sealant, etc., Mike, I think that caustic dip will
do a very good job of removing all of this organic-based stuff, paint and
caulking alike. The caustic just leaves the metal surface less prone to
corrode, and does not itself attack the metal. However, it does not do much
good as far as removing rust either. For that, you need acid. Seems like
the best plan would be to dip in caustic first to remove all organics like
paint, caulking, etc., then acid to remove rust, winding up with some
neutralizing, passivating dip. This "Full Monty" process might cost a bit
more than $400 bucks though.
At 02:07 PM 1/6/99 EST, MWood24020@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 1/6/99 10:04:16 AM Pacific Standard Time,
>bgullatt@mesahq.com writes:
>
><< I
> use Redi Strip in Evansville, Indiana (Dan Payne). They use an alkali
> solution rather than an acid. It won't come back and haunt you like acid
> dipping does. No seeping seams!. >>
>
>Bill-
>I am going through the same decision process, trying to decide how to get to
>bare metal.
>I have been told that when you dip the uni-body, you lose all of the sealants
>used in the manufacturing process, like in the body seams. Are you telling me
>that alkali based dips don't cause this same headache?
>Thanks-Mike
>
>
Bob Palmer
UCSD, AMES Dept.
rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu
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