Sand blasting

Originally posted by Pete Ashby
Matt

I've had trucks grit blasted, sand blasted, slag blasted, spent hours using chemical strippers and a scrapper, wire brushes on drills and angle grinders, I've even burnt the $$££### stuff off.

All these methods work and they all have a place in restoration.

One last point for posterity, be prepared for an unpleasant surprise or two in the form of metal moth showing up as a result of blasting, I was doing a jeep for a guy who was nearly in tears after his good body tub came back from the blasters looking like a lace curtain after all the filler and grot had been blown out of it.
Good luck and choose wisely

Pete

Pete is absolutely right and this is very good advice.

I just don't have the wherewithal to do the number on a FV623 but I have seen the Ballards in action on various pre-war cars and their own trucks.

There is no substitute for a complete strip-down until the vehicle is just an illustrated parts list, parts can be boxed and carried piece-meal to the blaster. Even the chassis and its brackets can be de-riveted and cleaned. This way every little widget gets the treatment, the parts are treaceable in small quantities and stuff doesn't get lost/forgotten so easily - blasters like platers have a habit of loosing that unique bracket. Also the cost is spread since you need to be ready to spend several hundreds doing a complete vehicle in every detail.

You retain the oily bits for re-work and to keep them from possible grit ingress, axles can have precision areas masked, diff apertures blanked with a ply disc and half-shaft tubes plugged.

To underline the warning, you may fairly expect some parts to return like filigree lace and need re-making; at least you know but the process will be been a waste of money on some parts.

You do need to know, however, just what the chassis is really like and apparently excellent examples tell another story when the previously eclipsed areas have been exposed and blasted.

Having it all apart will find some hidden and unexpected problems (more money), road spring shackle plates and pins are a favourite.

The best blasters do immediately use a good primer after cleaning and this is essential.

Just how you find a really competent blaster is another matter of course.

R.