What's up guy's. I wasn't sure where to post this but knowing a lot of you guys had to do restorations to some of your cars I figured you would be the best people to ask. I'm doing a ground up restoration on a 54 Belair and I have a questions regarding the inside of the doors. I noticed rust inside the doors and I have no idea how to get to it. I have a sand blaster but there is no way to get it down there. This is my first resto project so I'll need all the help I can get. Thanks guys!!

 

I have some problems too with my first restoration project too, does the sandblaster really work? I have 1 sitting in my garage, I have just been sanding it normally not even grinding it.... and its taking FOREVER.. you can always get a replacement door

 

The sand blaster I got is a cheapie. I didn't want to spend all kinds of money on something I might only use once. It works pretty well but my compressor only puts out 125psi and I was told that I need more psi if I want the blaster to really work. I use it for areas that I can't get a sander into. I don't want to get other doors because I want to keep the parts that came with the car.

 

Sandblasters do work, I use one that is enclosed in a box for small parts, I also did my entire front subframe and it looks brand new after painting. Here is a pic of my A arms before and after sandblasting, took about 20-30 minutes to do 1.



[IMG]local://upfiles/10233/1F31BF4447BB4C39BC4582D46987BA4F.jpg[/IMG]

 

is there any particular reason why you want to keep the parts 'that came with the car'? there is no reason to keep bad parts, that will definitely rust out again, just because you already have them. on lots of areas on a marginal resto, you can use POR-15 to treat rust but doors are different. rust gets inbetween the frame and the skin and will always come back. if there is rust there then you should definitely separate the two and clean them out between the seams. if that's not possible, just bring them to a professional blaster and let them get in there. this isn't the place to skimp on prep just because you didn't spend enough on your tooling. as you will learn (and it is always expensive), when you try to save money in the short-term (cheaper blaster), it will always cost you more in the longrun (having to hire a pro or having the parts rust back out after doing the car over)

 

If that is going to be an expensive option then I'm willing to look in other areas. Where would you suggest to find the doors for a good price? It's a 2 door Belair.

 

that's just the type of thing that you have to do your homework with. you can try IandIReproduction.com or chevsofthe40s.com. I don't know if they will have what you're looking for, but it's a start