Marc,
About halfway through cutting the oxide off our 1960 Pacer I got an
email from a friend who had done it. His words have stuck with me:
"Grinding the crust off an old Airstream is hard work!"
That's what you're really up against--"grinding the crust off".
Aluminum oxide is hard--that's why they use it for an abrasive! And you
will probably find, like I did, that a lot of streaks and pits show up
when you get into the job.
Sad to day, it does take a lot of work--3 passes with F7 on a rotary
polisher is about right, and it can take more. I used a Milwaukee
professional body-shop type polisher that turns pretty fast, too. Count
on going through several wool polishing bonnet.
I personally found that when "grinding the crust off" that it paid to
use more Nuvite than Perfect Polish recommends and to press *hard* on
the polisher. I would lean on the Milwaukee till it started to slow
down--and that's about a 3 HP polisher! There's definitely a learning
curve involved--the last panel took me much less time than the the first
panel. And you will find variations in the metal from one panel to the
next.
Needless to say,scaffolding is a must. You can't put the necessary
"lean" on the polisher working from a ladder.
Good luck. Everybody who has polished an old one knows what you're up
against.
See you down the road,
John & Barbara Sellers
WBCCI/VAC #1587
1960 Pacer
Dayton, Ohio
> I just attacked an area with the F7, and just seems like it needs
> someting even stronger. Is this the case? Or do I just need to keep at
> it. again, and again, and again . . .?
>
> Thanks,
> Marc