Turbo Odyssey Part 11 -- Multiblasted

 January 17, 2005

The temperatures in mid-Michigan are down in the single digits today but at least they're positive.  Always look on the bright side of life.

This time of year I build models with my sons rather than going out and facing the brutal cold in the pole barn, but a few projects are moving on the convertible, most important of which is bodywork.

When last I posted, the car was on its way to Multiblast in Montrose, Michigan for media blasting.  I delivered the car there on my open trailer on December 15, 2004.

I plan was to have Multiblast strip the car and then transport it to Bob Reeve, who is doing the bodywork and paint, in Jim Neal's enclosed trailer.  After further consideration we decided to have Multiblast up the car in VariPrime self-etching primer to protect the car from flash rusting during the trip from Montrose to Eaton Rapids.  My fear was that going from the warm shop to a cold trailer and then back into a warm building, condensation was virtually inevitable, and I see no point in giving rust any toehold after going to the effort of having the car stripped.

I picked the car up on January 11, 2005, about a week after it was finished.  Jeff Triggs, the owner of Multiblast, has a first rate body shop, and they did a great job on my car.  Here are a couple of pictures I took at the shop.  Jeff is the gentleman standing in front of the car:

 

 

The car sat for the rest of the week in the trailer while I tried to find time to get out to Eaton Rapids to drop the car off.  Bob had just finished some touch-up items on the red Corsa, so things were shaping up nicely.  I would drop off one Corvair and pick up the other, allowing Jim's nice trailer to do double duty for me.  

I won't go into the confusing details of picking up kids and dropping them off at sleepovers and whatnot that consumed half of Saturday, but eventually I ended up at Bob's place to make the swap.  We rolled the car out of the trailer into daylight and got a chance to inspect the job Jeff did in detail.

We were very pleased with what we found.  It was apparent that Jeff and his crew used two different types of media, one more aggressive to clean out rust damage, switching to less aggressive material to strip old paint.  As a result, they left virtually all of the factory seam sealer intact.  They also left the factory paint intact inside the hood and decklid, which was in good shape.  A common amateur mistake is to blast these areas, thus creating circles on the outside of the panel matching the round holes in the inside reinforcements.  We saw no such mistakes on the car.  The doors, hood and decklid were removed for blasting and then reinstalled after they were completed.

It was fascinating to look the car over with all its secrets revealed.  I was relieved to find that it had few, if any.  The holes in the passenger side rocker were no surprise.  The floor on the driver's side has some rust and will need a patch.  The area below the windshield was a known problem but at least now it is free of rust:

  

We knew that the tail end of the car had some rust and collision damage.  The worst of it was on the passenger side: 

Here are a few more shots of the car in primer:

 

 

 

 Despite some collision and rust damage, overall the car is straight and solid.  It looks like rust repair will be a manageable task and this car is a worthy subject for restoration.  Total cost for stripping and priming was $1,212, which was very reasonable in my opinion.

I realize this is a Ford product, but I can't resist posting a picture of the Shelby Mustang Bob is in the process of painting:

The convertible will not be done until sometime in March.  I hope that I will have pictures to post as the work is ongoing.  In the meantime, Dan Konkle dropped off the transmission and diff cases for painting, so now I have to figure out the best way to coat these without doing more harm than good.

Multiblast can be contacted at (810) 639-6244.  Car Shine Auto Refinishing (Bob Reeve) can be reached at (517) 663-6676.

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