SanFord the Great! A 1956 Ford B-600.

[Skoolydoo]

Yea do you by chance have a link to that blaster, also do you know how many coats of paint was on the truck?

[Docsgsxr]

Holy decibels that pump is loud!!! Looks like it is going to work for a while for you though.

[Toyman01]

Originally Posted by Skoolydoo

Yea do you by chance have a link to that blaster, also do you know how many coats of paint was on the truck?

Many.

Primer, School Bus Yellow, Black, A mix of black and gray primer, what appears to be zinc chromate primer, a pale yellow, and white. A lot of that blasted off with the pressure washer. What is left appears to be the bottom 3-4 layers.

Here is the link. Water Sand Blaster

[Toyman01]

Originally Posted by Docsgsxr

Holy decibels that pump is loud!!! Looks like it is going to work for a while for you though.

The pump sounds a lot louder on the video than it is in person. I have a modern version that is about the same volume.

[Toyman01]

I made a little more progress today.

The glass in the rear door has been replaced as well as the seals.



Side window has been glazed. It's waiting on the paint on the slide tracks to dry.



And Amazon dropped this off today. The existing tank was a home made job out of chip board and fiberglass that had a large hole in the bottom.



More to come as it happens.

[Robin97396]

Pulling it together. That's multitasking.

[Toyman01]

I'v been on the road for the last couple of weekends so progress has be slow.

Floor pans reinstalled. I still need another shift boot, but it's on the way. I have to pull these back out to clean up the rest of the floor.




I guess the tires made their last 1000 miles on the way home. This one blew out sitting in the driveway.




The cowl gasket was badly deteriorated and leaking. For now, it's been removed and the joint sealed. We'll see how it holds up, it may stay that way.







This afternoon, I reinstalled the side window. I still have one more to replace the glass in.

[Tango]

Excellent progress. Keep up the good work!

[cadillackid]

what a kickass build this is!!!! Love it!!!

congrats on such a great classic Bus to build
-Christopher

[Toyman01]

Today was Blast Day.

We will call it a qualified success. It's no faster than regular sandblasting. You will still end up with sand in places you didn't know existed. It does a really good job removing paint and a fair job removing rust.

It goes through media at an alarming rate. I ran 600 pounds of media through it today and finished about 1/3rd of the bus. Since the media is now wet, you can't shovel it up and run it through the gun again. I'm going to try to dry it and reuse it. We will see how that goes.

The best part is not having to deal with the dust. No masks or hood necessary. It also doesn't warp the panels.

If I was to buy another one, I would find one with a ceramic nozzle. The metal nozzle in the Norther Tool kit doesn't hold up too well. I went through two of them today, and they are $30 each.








Tomorrow it will get a Ospho treatment to neutralize the flash rust and a coat of primer.

More to come.

[cadillackid]

what media did it use? I once soda Blasted a car shell i was working on... the nice thing is that with soda you could practically hose away the media that ended up everywhere... I used a yard blower to dry it and then quickly got the primer gun out as the flash rust started very quickly... I never tried to blast anything as large as a Bus.

I was thinking you wouldnt want to dry, capture and re-use the media as its going to be mixed with bits of paint / rust / dirt, etc that came off the bus with it...

[Toyman01]

I'm using crushed glass for media. It works well. It's spread on the driveway now, drying. From there it will be run through a screen to get the trash out and I'll see if it's usable for the other side of the bus. I really don't wan't to buy another 600-800 pounds of media.

I sprayed a coat of Ospho rust converter on it this morning to neutralize the rust. I'm hoping to spray a coat of primer on it this afternoon.

Before Ospho.



After.

[Toyman01]

This morning it got a coat of Ospho to neutralize the rust.

Started with this.



The Ospho turned it to this.



While that was drying, I spread all the media used yesterday, on the drive way.



Lunch, a few trips to stir it, and a nap later, I recovered most of the media. We ran it through 3 consecutively smaller screens to remove all the trash and paint chips. I shouldn't have to buy any more to finish the other side of the bus.



After that, the Ospho was dry and it was time for primer.



This is not going to be a show quality paint job. This is a stop the rust and be durable paint job.

Today was a good day. More to come.

[Docsgsxr]

I love the fact you took it down to the metal. That will make it a much longer lasting finish.

Glad you posted your snares with using the wet blaster. I will rethink my decision to use the same process. It's easier to tarp the ground an recover dry media I think, and 600 lbs is a bunch to go through. I already have a blast hood so it isn't like I would be doing myself an injustice by using a dry style of blasting.

Keep up the great work!

[cadillackid]

that media looks surprisingly good after you screened it!!! great job!..

Bus is lookin good!

I personally rather have the durable paint job than I would the show paint job.. esp for a vehicle thats going to get used out in the real world... if I put hours and hours into a show quality paint job then a kid knicks it with a bicycle handle bar.. id be rather upset.. if its a durable every day paint job.. then you just touch it up and go on with life.. great choice !

-Christopher

[dgorila1]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

that media looks surprisingly good after you screened it!!! great job!..

Bus is lookin good!

I personally rather have the durable paint job than I would the show paint job.. esp for a vehicle thats going to get used out in the real world... if I put hours and hours into a show quality paint job then a kid knicks it with a bicycle handle bar.. id be rather upset.. if its a durable every day paint job.. then you just touch it up and go on with life.. great choice !

-Christopher

I agree, the guy with the $500k Prevost that scrapes some low hanging branches or has something fall against the side while at camp is going to have a fit, while the more sensible durable paint job skoolie owner is just going to take it in stride. Well done, can't wait to see the final results!

[Toyman01]

Life keeps getting in the way of projects, so progress on SanFord has been a little slow.

I pulled the tail lights. The plan was to clean them up and reuse them. Unfortunately all that is left of them is rust and electrical tape. That left me with 6" holes to cover with a new light. There isn't much out there for that other than bus lights.



I don't particularly like them, but they will do until I come across something better.

I have also pulled all the clearance lights and finished the prep work on the roof for paint.



Last was replacing the roof vent that ins't getting the A/C.

Old bent up vent.



Empty hole.



Shiny new vent.



I'm fighting a cold at the moment so I'm not sure if I'll get more done this weekend or not. We will see.

[Toyman01]

Well, SanFord hasn't gone to project hell yet. I'm still plugging away at it. Life keeps getting in the way. How about some pictures to show where we are now.

White on the roof.



Lights.



More lights.



More blasting.



And painting.



And blasting. With air this time. I've completely worn out two water blasters.



And painting.



And more painting testing out the chosen colors.



And another primer to solve a bleed through problem.



That's where it stands at the moment. Slowly but surely, I'm moving forward. I'm hoping to finish most of the exterior paint in the next couple of weeks. Then we move inside.

[dgorila1]

Looking good! I like the lighter blue color on the upper portion.

[Robin97396]

Wow, some serious work going on there. Love those bent glass windows in the back.