FRP #032 The beginning...

All depends on how good a job you want to do. With it being an FRP and you seem to want to preserve it a long as possible, I'd sand blast it. I did the whole underside of my FRP, had it etch primed then paintable stonechip applied, all for £400 including Soda blasting the tank and painting.

Looking at your pictures, you'll need to wire brush, scrape, and wire drill attachment as Barry has suggested as a minimum, but if you want to do it once and forever, blast it if finances allow. None of the rust converters will deal with what you've shown on their own, plus you need to get the metal as clean as possible before you use them anyway.

I think if you have somewhere to dry store it I would pop it away over winter and save up some pennies, bring it out next year and get it properly cleaned and protected underneath and then you'll be able to enjoy it during the good weather (when you can drive it the way it was meant to be).

An FRP isn't a quick fix project. I know you want to use it as a daily but if you don't sort the problems properly rhe first time you'll regret it down the line.

XAF said:

[post]358134[/post] I did the whole underside of my FRP, had it etch primed then paintable stonechip applied, all for £400 including Soda blasting the tank and painting.

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How much did you have to dismantle for this... did you gut the interior? did you remove engine...

Thanks

xnbradley said:

[post]358136[/post]

XAF said:

[post]358134[/post] I did the whole underside of my FRP, had it etch primed then paintable stonechip applied, all for £400 including Soda blasting the tank and painting.

Click to expand...

How much did you have to dismantle for this... did you gut the interior? did you remove engine...

Thanks

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Had the inside stripped anyway, but you don't have to, but the dust does get everywhere. Engine was left in, as were the fuel and brake lines though in hindsight I wish I'd taken those off or taped them up better.

The tank and original beam and shocks were taken off, as were all the clips. I put an old slave rear axle on, some dead shocks that didn't matter if they got overspray on and transported it with some old spare wheels.

This was it all ready to go for blasting:



On the transporter ready to go:




This was it all stripped and primed after blasting:

Looks good...

so did they tape up and seal the engine compartment... did that not need doing as well...

All of that for £400 is amazing... as a Paramedic I could easily earn that in a fraction of the time it would take me to do myself...

Do they blast a the interior of the frame as well... how did you go about finding a company to do it for you...

I think you have convinced me to get it done... I sold my Streetka today so have £1k in the fund... seema like a good investment... almost tempted to get it all stripped and do the whole thing...

The coach works guy I have found locally had a Ferrari Dino in his workshop... just the steel frame... taken back to bare metal... I need go find out if he has facility to shot blast there or whether he uses someone in particular...

Thanks for the encouragement...

Christian

Got an email this evening from the couple that bought the Streetka this afternoon... it broke down on M3 in road works... took them over four hours to get home... not good...

If your coach works guy has a Dino in for restoration take your car to him for an assessment as He's obviously trusted with a valuable asset so I would assume he knows what He's doing.
Barry

xnbradley said:

[post]358143[/post] Got an email this evening from the couple that bought the Streetka this afternoon... it broke down on M3 in road works... took them over four hours to get home... not good...

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eek!..bet they were cursing you

xnbradley said:

[post]357834[/post] I am not into having a trophy car for myself and others to admire... I want a car that I can drive... as much as I can... so my aim with #32 is to over the next 12 to 18 months... probably longer is to restore it to the best quality I can... not so it looks amazing... but so it can last for the next 30 years... I honestly hope that this will be my last car that I own... which I think is achievable...
...

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Great mission statement..