[71GP76TA]

Just trying to get an idea on what it cost to dry ice blast the bottom of a car. I understand costs vary etc.... Closest dry ice blaster that I know of is 2-1/2hrs away. It isn't like I can just run it by and get a quick estimate.

Car in question is a '72 Trans Am. Car was undercoated at the dealership when new and was sold new in Wisconsin. It spent the first 3 years of its life there but has resided in California since. The bottom of the car isn't rusty... but is nasty..

[JLMounce]

I spent some time thinking about setting up a business. In your case you’re probably going to need to get the car looked at and have it quoted.

How much is going to depend on how bad the car is, and what your expectation is.

If your expectation is like the car left the factory you’re probably looking at a couple days to do the entire underbody and you’re probably somewhere in the $1500 range. If the undercoat is very heavy and still well adhered there’s a possibility that dry ice blasting may not even remove it. Some systems can strip paint but most meant for cleaning operation are purposely not that powerful.

[Held for Ransom]

Expect around $3000-up.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

I saw an invoice on BaT where Dennis Collins had a survivor (northern) 72 Z28 done.
Seems like it was between $3000-4000
It sold not very long ago if you want to search for it and see the invoice.
Green car

It was probably a max effort operation.

[65madgoat]

Every shop around here in SoCal quotes undercarriage cryo cleaning work for around $2000 to $3000 --- and two days to do it. But being undercoated I would expect to pay another thousand at least!!

Engine cleaning is also an extra cost.

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

I saw an invoice on BaT where Dennis Collins had a survivor (northern) 72 Z28 done.
Seems like it was between $3000-4000
It sold not very long ago if you want to search for it and see the invoice.
Green car

It was probably a max effort operation.

Looked it up.. $3,750 which included under the hood too..

I watch his coffee walk youtube channel. Saw the video where he purchased the Z/28. Looked like a nice original car. Wonder what he paid??

[daduck]

friend of mine had his Cutlass blasted.

He said it was a total waste of money.

Would have been better off Power Washing the undercarriage at the Self Serve car wash.

[1967gto1]

My 80 z28 undercarriage was covered in rustproofing. I used mineral spirits and old cut up bath towels. I don't know how many hours it took, but it worked great. Took it right down to the paint. I wouldn't pay 3k-4k to have the underside blasted. Cost me 2-3 gallons of mineral spirits and my time.

[Bill S]

Experimented with dry ice blast cleaning decades ago in my manufacturing engineering days We found the air pressure had to real high for it work to any meaningful impact. Needed hearing protection, so no go. I agree, with trying pressure washing first.

I remember also trying nut shells and plastic beads. Nut shells = combustion risk from the dust cloud. Plastic worked okay.

[65madgoat]

Cryo blasting at the right pressures preserves paint marks, decals and stickers, rubber, etc. The right person doing the cryo work is paramount.

Regular (high) pressure washing does not work nearly half as well in those regards.

[Cammer-6]

one of my cars was ziebarted when new.
I stopped in a Rusty Jones shop and asked how to get the stuff off.
"We've never had anyone ask that before,we use mineral spirits for clean up"
I did just that and was amazed at condition of all the paint,plating etc.

[mgarblik]

I am probably going to have some dry ice blasting done on a 73 Firebird in the next 2 months. It was restored, body on, in the late 1970's. Everything from the firewall forward looks great and doesn't need any attention. From the firewall back, the car has factory/dealer undercoating and a little crust here and there. I have a privateer individual who bought out a dry ice blasting business and said he would look the car over in a month or so. If his price isn't crazy, probably going to have it done. I will report back and take some pics. I will have the engine/exhaust/transmission, and gas tank out. So access will be pretty easy.

[Half-Inch Stud]

I used a putty knife to pry thick undercoat areas, and mineral Spirits for thin undercoat areas.

[Cammer-6]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

I used a putty knife to pry thick undercoat areas, and mineral Spirits for thin undercoat areas.

Bad things happen using a metal putty knife.(ask me how I know)
Its better to use plastic ,like bondo spreaders or application squeegees used for PSA vinyl applications.
The odd shaped white one is the sharpest and is called "Lil Chizler"

[mgarblik]

I brought this back up because I have done considerable research in my area to have this process done. I have settled on a guy who does this work on an hourly basis. He charges $250.00 an hour all inclusive and thinks he can do what I want to accomplish in 6 hours. I am having it done in the next month and have before pictures. I will post the results when it's all done. If it ends up being a big waste of money, that's on me. Hopefully, it will be worth it. We will see I guess. Stay tuned.

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I brought this back up because I have done considerable research in my area to have this process done. I have settled on a guy who does this work on an hourly basis. He charges $250.00 an hour all inclusive and thinks he can do what I want to accomplish in 6 hours. I am having it done in the next month and have before pictures. I will post the results when it's all done. If it ends up being a big waste of money, that's on me. Hopefully, it will be worth it. We will see I guess. Stay tuned.

$250/hr .. yes.. Please keep us posted.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Check out the recent thread in the 70-72 section by Judge273
He just had a survivor 70 GTO Convertible iced .

[mgarblik]

That GTO convertible looked great after the dry ice blast. My car has the engine, trans, exhaust system and gas tank out. So it should be easier for the blasting process to get that undercoating off. It has a thick coat of it in some places. Hoping for similar results.

[turbo69bird]

If you go on yenko.net Gary Riley has a bunch of pictures of before and after . I think he does some other stuff as well as ice but the cars look amazing!!
I wa scary impressed w the work

[mgarblik]

My 73 TA is being dry ice blasted today. Had it towed to the shop doing the work about 9:00 AM this morning. I went back over to the shop after 2 hours of blasting to have a look. Here is my observation so far. If you have a car with thick undercoating on the entire underside, expect about 10 hours of blasting to remove ALL of it. It is a very slow, meticulous process. The thin, spray-on undercoating comes off easy and fast. The thick, factory applied stuff is plenty tough and difficult to remove. Everyone has their own budget, but at $250.00 an hour, I just can't afford to have every tiny bit of undercoating removed. I will let him blast to the limit I can afford and then go from there. As advertised, the dry ice does not hurt or remove the factory paint or primer. You can see the red oxide primer everywhere under this car now. Here are a few pics so far and a few pics before he started. I will post the finished job when I get it home.