Sandblasting
Just got a call back from the sandblasting place I had checked with. They do the panel replacement as well, so they could fix the cab corners and rot.
They also primer.
The cab will be $500. The bed will be $450. The doors are $100 each (plus I have to BUY the doors, which will be about $300).
$40 to buy the new cab corners. $20 for the floor support. $60 for the floor pan sheets. $200 to have those put in.
All this would get me is the exterior. So the interior of the cab will not be done. I would have to remove all the trim and whatnot myself. And take off the bumpers. I do not know if this includes shooting it with primer. I’m SURE it doesn’t include taking anything else out that they would need to. He said they don’t usually do them on the frame – which says to me “We don’t mask anything. These things are already stripped bare when we get them.”
That puts me at $1570 JUST to get it to the metal and perhaps primed, if they include that.
Now, the good news is that would REALLY clean the panels, so no overlooked rust. But seeing as that is over half of my total paint budget – and it still leaves filling, sanding, and blocking and of course actual PAINT – I doubt I will be able to do it for what I was thinking. It WOULD however leave me in a prime spot to continue the work myself. The prep work, I could do. I just wouldn’t want to. That is a whooooole lot of wet sanding.
We’ll see.
EDIT 2014 Update:
Honestly, full sandblasting isn’t really viable unless you are doing a frame-off. And at that point, you’re better off just looking for a better candidate vehicle. I ended up having some stuff done by others, like floors and rockers. They did a crap job, and I wasted my money. I would have been much much better off investing in a quality welder back then and doing it myself. Live and learn.