Soda Blasting - The Bare Essentials

The angle of attack has to be direct, but a skilled blast technician should be able to remove paint from hard-to-reach areas without damaging the contours. Too much intense pressure will damage fiberglass.

Soda blasting will reveal any problem areas, such as previous repairs or "rotten" fiberglass. For a variety of reasons, some areas on Corvettes will simply degrade, leaving "hairy" patches that need to be addressed. Hand-sanding may not root these out.

Here's where soda blasting really shines: it completely cleans recesses and contours, something you won't get with sandpaper or a razor blade. Without getting down to the base fiberglass, the corners and edges will build up with paint.

The undersides of hoods and decklids are usually unfinished from the factory, making stripping difficult. Again, multiple layers of paint will be obvious.

It takes a very light touch to blast unfinished fiberglass. It wouldn't take much direct pressure to heavily damage the underside of this panel.

Soda blasting removes the majority of the paint, leaving a little bit in the rough original texture. This is as clean as you'll get unfinished fiberglass.

Soda will make short work of paint, filler, and light surface rust, while leaving stamped numbers and other minute details intact. It will not remove heavy rust.

After the car is blasted, the soda must be neutralized and rinsed off with a power washer.

NuTech's Lanny Porter says "Holdtite" should be the industry standard for this process, as it interacts with the soda on a molecular level, rather than just covering and rinsing. If you don't properly neutralize the soda, you'll have paint adhesion problems.

Can you imagine starting with a bare body like this? Finding it in a barn is one thing; starting with a body that is essentially fresh from the mold makes so many other projects a lot easier.

Soda won't harm metal, be it stainless, stamped, or pot metal.

NuTech uses Buster Blaster equipment manufactured by The Soda Works, one of the pioneers in the industry. Because the equipment is portable, it can be done on-site at your house or shop. Be warned, though-it'll take a couple hundred pounds of soda to clean your vehicle, and it'll be nearly as fine as talcum powder after it hits. And because the soda has a pH of 8.4, you could also have issues with plants and grass.