Medial blasting wheels and valve covers.....

[Idle]

I have come across some early steel wheels for a 108 that I want to restore. There is no one in this area that offers this and I don't want to drive 400 miles round trip to find someone who does.

So I am hoping someone can either walk me through or talk me out of doing this myself.

I would also want to have the capability to clean up cylinder heads and valve covers.

My expertise in this area is currently at the level of zero so don't worry about offending me or my ignorance.

Where do I start? I already have a good compressor. What else would you recommend?

And yes, I know there are plenty of sites that offer this information but they all want to sell me something. I would rather put my trust in those that have been there and done that.

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by Idle

I have come across some early steel wheels for a 108 that I want to restore. There is no one in this area that offers this and I don't want to drive 400 miles round trip to find someone who does.

So I am hoping someone can either walk me through or talk me out of doing this myself.

I would also want to have the capability to clean up cylinder heads and valve covers.

My expertise in this area is currently at the level of zero so don't worry about offending me or my ignorance.

Where do I start? I already have a good compressor. What else would you recommend?

And yes, I know there are plenty of sites that offer this information but they all want to sell me something. I would rather put my trust in those that have been there and done that.

Check out the below link to a thread where others have discussed doing this - hopefully it'll be helpful to you. Best of luck!


-Dmitry

[97 SL320]

A few things.

If you use soda blasting and don't treat the surface before painting, there will be adhesion problems. I don't use soda so I can't speak to what the post blast treatment process is.

Rough grit is fast but leaves the surface rough.

Coal cinder ( trade name Black Beauty ) can be had in various grits and is till pretty aggressive. Crushed glass works pretty well but be sure to change it as it continues to break down into powder.

Have a look on the TIP tools ( Ohio ) web site, they have bought up some of the older blasting companies and have good pricing on tools. Shipping grit gets $ so try to buy local.

[tyl604]

With alloy wheels with (bundts) you can just strip the paint and repaint. Are you saying that you cannot do this with steel wheels for some reason?