Undercoating removal

[gmcdermit1]

I put pics of this in my project updates for my Trans Am but I figure this is where it should be. It had 30 years of nasty thick undercoating on it that I couldn't hardly work around so heres how I removed it. Other than having the whole body dipped, I haven't found a better way. I first laid down some plastic to catch the big clumps and most of the gooey tar, then saturated the whole underneath with gasoline and let it sit for about 30 minutes. I then used a high pressure industrial steam cleaner that my father in law has on it. It heats up to around 250 degrees, you can rent them about anywhere that rents equipment. I had to repeat this process a few times, but it did a great job. I then had to use a degreaser on it to get the final film off. Now she's ready to do more metal work on. I know this doesn't seem like the safest idea but it really works great. I tried many other ways like heating it up and scraping,acetone on arag, oven cleaner etc, but none of those could compare.

[BADVELLE]

What ever works is what I always say! I have used a heat gun and then scrapped it off, that works also. Good luck on the build!

[speedshftr]

looks like you did a great job/i used a torch and semi hard grinding wheels.i couldnt jusify the payout for the blaster.

[manicmechanic]

Looks good on the clean-up, but that undercarriage has had a rough life!

[gmcdermit1]

Extremely Rough! I have had this car since I was 15 and it served daily driver duties in Ohio snow,salt and all, throughout and after high school. It had some really bad patch work done on it when I first painted the car. I got it done by someone for cheap, but it was a terrible job. This was all done before I started my career as a welder,fabricator.....so now I can go back and fix it all correctly, or close to correctly! I am doing it on the cheap so I will make most all the panels on my own, but they will definitely be more than presentable, just not factory exact. It won't matter as this car will never be back to original anyway and is getting a home brew mini tub job, custom rear suspension etc.