how much would it cost to sand blast an entire mini. inside and out.

I have seen figures ranging from $350 to $1000

I guess it depends on WHERE it is done, and WHO does it.

It's a bit risky though....lots of horror stories have done the rounds on here.....

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Website: www.justanothermini.com

like what? i thought sand blasting would be the safest way to get lead based paint off without warping the ... out of the panels

I don't get why it is a bit risky myself I mean if my shell was that dodgy the sand blaster ended up putting holes in it I would want to know so I can either throw it out or get them fixed before I spent money etc on getting it painted.

AFAIK there are no panels on a mini large enough or flat enough that a sandblaster will warp them as I have heard happen before

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Roads need more corners
A Deluxe(CG13DE), 2 Clubbies(998 and 1275) and 2 Morris 1100Ss

I believe that is exactly what can happen WHEN you sand / bead blast panels

Do a search on blasting...you will find numerous people who have stated that blasting their Mini resulted in warped panels (and some holy ones too)

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Website: www.justanothermini.com

yeah i was using that as a example
like if i sanded it back with a orbit sander it would warp it cause lead based paint is a crapper to get off. i was saying sand blasting would be alot safer then the chance of warping

well then whats the best way to get all the paint off without damaging my panels and without costing a fortune

If its done right the pannels will not warp... they only warp if the person doing it has no idea..

Its due to heat cause by the friction...

So I have been told.

You could use stripper on all the flat panels and then get them to sandblast the sills / roof gutters and bits that it is difficult to get at.

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Roads need more corners
A Deluxe(CG13DE), 2 Clubbies(998 and 1275) and 2 Morris 1100Ss

You can do it yourself!

If you have a compressor already, all you need is a $25 blaster from Supercrap or your local hardware,
and a couple of buckets of DRY sharp sand. Time consuming tho, and a bit messy.

As to warping, I would think it would be due to using too much air pressure?
About 100psi should be fine. I had not troubles with mine.

It took all the rust and old paint away, and the only place there were any holes
was the few places were rust had gone right thru - best gone anyway b4 repairing.

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"Why mini? 'cause it's got the edge."

ok then thanx for the help.
also the thing your sanding in that picture i dunno what its called its the thing ya bolt the bumper to. how do i make mine looking as good as those ones. on my one the holes are stretched and there warped n stuff.

you mean the rear valance? or the seam that the bumper attaches to?
the rear valance you can completely replace I believe, weld a new one on..
with the seam you'll probably have to cut bits out and weld new bits in to fix it... It's a seam so you can't replace the whole thing.

Yep. the seam is made up of the 3 panels... the lower valance, boot floor and rear panel...

"Brown_Clubman's" paint stripping method (with glad wrap). That is brilliant! I will be doing that on my GT.

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Website: www.justanothermini.com

Warping is due to the action of the sand striking the panel. The energy of the moving sand translates to heat in the panel. The stronger the blasting equipment, the greater the heat input. If the operator lingers too long in one area then it heats up and expands, when it cools, the residual stress left in the panel from its initial forming is lost and the panel warps. It is just like a panel beater shrinking a stretched panel by running a welder across it.
A skilled operator can ensure that no areas are excessively heated.
Sand blasters who do thick structural steel all day with coarse grit will make a mess of your car.
The soda blasters in Brisbane did a presentation to the MOCQ last year. It looked very impressive but is more $ and takes longer due to operating at a lower pressure and being less abrasive. You can even leave rubber bits on if you're lasy because the soda won't damage it. They quoted about $500 to do the outside of a mini, you supply the paint shop to do it in. They said about the same again to do everything and somewhere in between if you just do parts of the interior.

I stripped my car with stripper because it is a galvanised Moke. It was a complete ning nong of a job. I was using hardware store stripper and didn't know the magic of Glad Wrap.

M