Detailing undercarriage

[rocketrod]

I have 69 Camaro and I am starting to plan my winter projects for the car. On the top of my list I would like to remove the entire rearend and gas tank. The plan is to then cleanup/detail the undercarriage of the car. Does anyone have any suggestions on the stripping the floorpans (sandblasting, wire wheel, etc??)? Also how what type of products should I use to recover the undercarriage (paint, POR-15, etc??)? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[MrQuick]

Hey RR, welcome to the site...if you could,please include your name when you post,I feel kinda weird calling you rocket rod...j/k.
It really depends on the condition your undercarrige is in. If its rusty recommend blasting,if its covered in under coating a heavy dirt a scapper and easy off oven cleaner works nice. Hopefully the car had some leaks and its old undercoating and dirt. Cause all that stuff covered in grease and trans fluid make rermoval real easy. Im a por 15 skeptic so I can't comment on the stuff.Used it acouple times and it didn't work to my liking.Maybe it was me? Not sure.
I like to scrape all the old crap off and buff it down with scotch brite pads and 180 grit. Prime with DP90 or Vari prime, seam saealer where necassary and then rubberized under coating then prime and paint. Works for me and I like it.

[Andrew McBride]

if you are going to take it down to bare metal and put the car on a rotisserie you might want to consider rhino liner. I had my 68 sprayed underneath after smoothing all the seams with bodyfiller and primer than took to a rhino liner shop and they sprayed it on. It should help with road noise, but also add a little more weight vs. por 15. I have heard good things about por 15 also. good luck, Andrew

[rocketrod]

Andrew,

I was just at a cruise tonight and several people mentioned using rhino liner. Do you have any pics of yours??

Rod

[Andrew McBride]

Rod,
yeah I have a few pics give me a couple days to make a cd and post them. I have pictures but no scanner so I am going to take the pics to wal-mart and have them make a cd.

Andrew

[rockdogz]

RR, you can check out what I did here:

http://www.camarorestoration.com/gallery/undercarriage

I'll second Vince's statements - this is one time when you hope the motor leaked some oil down the trans tunnel and on the bottom of the car a little as mine did - it makes that part of the car real easy to scrape clean. I used a combination of paint stripper, wire wheel, and sanding/scotchbrite pad. I then used picklex rust inhibitor and zero rust paint. I think a rhino liner finish is probably the most practical for the street - I imagine that I will be constantly touching up scratches. I just couldn't bring myself to coat the bottom with that stuff after I just scraped all that old undercoating off!!

[Richz68]

I completed the removal of the undercoating on my '71 Camaro a few years ago. The car had tons of coating on it from not only GM, but Ziebart as well.

I initially started removing it by using kerosene, carb cleaner, mineral spirits, etc. but it was slow going. I asked around and got the absolute slickest advice... ...A guy at a restoration shop told to specifically use a few cans of "Mr. Muscle" oven cleaner and a pressure washer to rinse it off. He told me to resist the urge to use less expensive brands of oven cleaner just to save money......So naturally when I went to the Wal Mart and seen the difference in price; I bought a few cans of the cheapest cleaner I could......

Well, they didn't work any better than the solvents I was using. I went back and bought two cans of the Mr. Muscle and it was awesome!!!

Spray it on let it set up for few minutes and blast it off like mud!! The difference between the brands and their results are due to the fact that Mr. Muscle is the only oven cleaner that does not require oven heat to work...the other cleaners require that you heat the oven for best results.

You will have to go over a few spots here and there and use the plastic scrapers to loosen it up before blasting it again later. Once it was blasted with the pressure washer it actually exposed the factory primer but did not remove it!!! It looked great when I was done.

**Things you will need**

6-8 cans of the cleaner(keep the reciept to return uneeded cans)

If you don't already have a pressure washer; rent one from a Sherwin Williams/or rental store.

A few plastic paint scrapers in various widths

Saftey Goggles...not just glasses, they need to seal to your face.

Gloves, work shirts that cover every inch of you skin!!

Danger...Danger!!!

This stuff will literally EAT YOUR SKIN OFF!!! Since I did this in the middle of Summer in a driveway on jack stands it was hot so I took my shirt off??? After I coated my car and was lying under it, a glob of this stuff dripped on my rib cage. It didn't even sting....well at first!! I got up a few minutes later and looked down at it and a long drip of blood was flowing down my ribcage....

Be very careful and enjoy!

[rocketrod]

I have to thank Richz68 for the tip on using Mr. Muscle oven cleaner to remove the undercoating from my car. It was incredible to say the least. I just sprayed it on let it set over night then blasted it off with the power washer. My biggest probelm was none of the stores in my area carry Mr. muscle oven cleaner, but I did find it at Home Depot on line for $2.95 a can. I ordered 7 cans and will probably have a couple cans left over when I am done.

Now that I have most of the undercoating what should I do with the floorpans. The previous owner, a bodyman/painter by trade, painted the entire undercarriage PINK , click here to see undercarriage pic. Its a shame to because he did a really nice job, but the upside, gotta be optimistic, is that it is real easy to tell when you have removed all of the undercoating with the PINK background.

My original intentions were to take the entire undercarriage down to bare metal then use chassis black POR-15, but with the BC/CC he applied it is going to take a lot of hours to go down to bare metal.

Since this is not going to be a show car so I am thinking it might be better to just clean up and POR-15 the bare areas, then take a scotchbrite pad or block the rest of the undercarriage and just paint it. Of course the rearend, leaf springs, etc will get stripped and repainted. I just am looking for some input on what to do with rest of the PINK undercarriage.

Oh and if you are wondering, he painted the subframe, inside of the trunk, etc., etc. PINK also, but he came to his senses before he painted the interior.

Thanks in advance,
Rod

[BADVELLE]

Is this stuff easy to clean when dirty? I was just wandering if it will fade over time like undercoating once dirty. Does anyone know? I have thought about using this on my Chevelle, looks really clean and like mentioned earlier, should help with road noise.

[slck6t9]

Oven cleaner is the SH$T. I once told a relative that I couldn't stand that this is what he needed to use to clean under the hood of his car. Needless to say there wasn't any paint left when he was done.

Scott

[Tom Welch]

I am in the process of doing the bottom of my Firebird, I'll definitely try the ovencleaner. As for POR-15 I have had good success with it in the past and am using it followed by a bedliner kit I picked up from Walmart. I suggest scuffing the clear coat and brushing on POR ,it will stick well and is fairly easy to apply. wear protective clothing however. Spraying your color of choice over the scuffed clear will work about as well since there is apparently no rust to contend with.

[BRIAN]

Be careful with that POR if you are going to top coat. It could flake. Try SEM bedliner it can even be tinted. You could simply brush on one of their primers if you really do not want to spray. Do not see the POR attraction unless painting small suspension components or doing quickie repair.

[Richz68]

I forgot to follow up on my tip, and I am glad to see others using the process!

As far as coating the undercarriage; I can offer this newest tip. If you are interested in sound deadening the interior compartment call 877-278-9468 and talk to Bob Call about his AMAZING product called Lizard Skin. I tis a sound deadener/temperature barrier that is applied similar to that of bedliner, but a thickness of a credit card.

The have a website too:


www.coollizard.com



Please tell him that Rich From Ohio sent you!