Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Grumblebuns on Sunday,May 15, 2016, 01:08:41 PM
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Anyone have any experience in refurbishing the chassis on the Europa. I'm leaning towards hiring a local sandblaster to clean up the surface rust and crud on my S2. Despite spending its entire life in tropical Hawaii, the chassis looks remarkably good. There is some cracking at the junction of the rear hoop to the rear “Y” but is mostly surface rust.
Besides using a wire wheel and electric drill, is there a more effective method?
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Industrial blasters can use such a coarse medium that it is easy to damage the chassis. Take it to a blaster that has experience doing body shells and panels. I did and was very happy with the results.
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Mine was in amazing condition when I stripped it down. Given where yours has lived I certainly wouldn't worry about its condition. Good luck
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Wire brush on an angle grinder is far more effective than on a drill. Make sure you cover up and wear eye protection- ideally full face protection, although the wires pull out of your cheek pretty easily :-)
You also get plastic mesh 'cleaning fleece ' or strip disc / prep wheels for angle grinders - good for taking off old paint and light rust back to clean metal. But good brands as the cheap ones fall apart quickly.
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Can you post some pics of your chassis?
I've sandblasted mine chassis but I suggest you to use a fine sand in order to prevent damage on surface.
It's too important to sandblast the interior of the T section.