Underbody cleaning / undercoating??

[alini]

I am at the point of cleaning the bottom of the body. In the transmission tunnel and above the rear axle there appears to be undercoating. It might just be dirt but it doesnt want to come off. Did the spray patches of undercoating on the bodies?? Its only in the tunnel and above the rear axle, so I could see it being applied as sound deadening but I dont think they care about that in 65

[JZRIV]

My 66 had sloppily applied factory undercoating or "Schutz" in those same areas as well as the wheel wells of course. Agree it was for sound deadening considering the areas applied. I use a heat gun or propane torch (not in presence of gas tank or lines) to warm it up then it scraps off with a putty knife/scraper. Takes a little trial and error as there is a small window where its not hot enough and then too hot. Wear a dust respirator, safety glasses, and gloves.

Or you could just leave it there depending on your goal.

Edited December 15, 2013 by JZRIV (see edit history)

[alini]

Thanks, now I need to make a decision. I did get about half it removed from the tranny tunnel. The stuff thats come off so far just crumbled, so it would probably fall off once I started driving it again anyway. Thanks for the info

[60FlatTop]

I removed all the undercoating from my Riviera with a heat gun and a dull putty knife (one with sharp corner scratches the paint). The factory paint was in quite good condition under it. I do think I lost some of the sound deadening qualities, but not much.

When I cleaned up the underside of the '60 Electra, the existing undercoat was thoroughly cleaned and a fresh coat of undercoating applied. I think we will re-undercoat the Chevy this year.

It looks as good, seals the bottom, and can be freshened up easily.

Bernie

[RivNut]

I used a pneumatic needle scaler to remove the undercoating from one of my earlier restoration projects. It worked great; just left a big mess on the floor to clean up. But it didn't create any goopy mess, it was still dry and hard when it hit the floor. You can buy inexpensive ones at Harbor freight or Northern Tools.

I found this video clip on You Tube.

[slosteve]

I didn't know such a tool exsisted until now. Thanks for the video Ed.

[RivNut]

A friend of mine in California told me about it. Makes it pretty easy, but the way I had to do it without a lift, makes for some uncomfortable positions trying to reach everything.

[rocky5517]

As far as re-installing a similiar material to the underside, has anyone ever tried that material that we see advertised on late nite TV- aerosol can- rubber or urethene- supposedly seals water out. Supposed to work inside gutters, etc. I think some mainstream manufacturers are also making this product. I sprayed some on a steel traffic barrier a few months ago and it's still there.

[RockinRiviDad]

No experience with the stuff on TV. What undercoating products are u guys using?

Regards,

David

Edited December 16, 2013 by RockinRiviDad (see edit history)

[RockinRiviDad]

Yes! Pneumatic needle scaler??…that's the ticket.…thank u.… I am getting one of those tomorrow. I too started cleaning off the old undercoating from the tranny tunnel. Only because half of it was barely hanging on. I'm assuming the years of master cylinder & power steering leaks I had saturated it for so long that it started to let loose. I was planning on taking off the small amounts left behind with a wire wheel on my angle grinder. But any excuse for a new tool right guys??

I didn't have any coating above the axle of my 65. I will probably leave the coating on the wheel wells after a good scrubbing to get it clean. Then I plan on using this stuff I bought on the entire under side & wheel wells. A friend used it with amazing results.

http://www.tptools.com/U-Pol-Raptor-Spray-On-Truck-Bed-Liner-Kit,2600.html

I read one guys post online that this kit was enough product to do his entire underside, wheel wells & the inside of his trunk. But I can't remember what kind of car is was…

Alini: what undercoating product were you planning on using? Or were u gonna go without it like Bernie did?

Regards,

David

[60FlatTop]

Here is a picture of my gas tank with original undercoating cleaned, loose stuff scrapped off, and re-coated. The floor pans, inner rockers and wheel wells all got the treatment:

Bernie

Edited December 16, 2013 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[rocky5517]

Very Cool!!!

[alini]

To be honest I dont know which way to go right now. I am not doing a complete restoration, more a rebuild because I intend on driving the car alot once its done. Knowing its factory installed undercoating I would be okay with leaving it in the wheel wells, I already stripped the tranny tunnel and the patch I had above the axle. I am thinking of just getting a can of spray undercoating and touch up the areas that are cracked and in the corners where the old stuff has peeled up and then blasting it with some black spray paint just to clean it up. My metal is all solid the areas are just very dirty from sitting in a sand lot for ten years.

[RockinRiviDad]

I intend to drive mine too. I think I am gonna spray the entire underside with undercoating I have including right over the factory wheel well stuff. I pressure washed it with a small pressure washer but once it dried u can see where I missed. My car doesn't look as bad as the pics you started with.

How clean do u guys think we have to get it before undercoating for it to really stick & stay on for a long time? Does it have to be bare metal? I would think not right?

Regards,

David

Edited December 17, 2013 by RockinRiviDad (see edit history)

[64R]

The needle scaler works great especially on the brittle stuff, but it shakes something fierce, I use my chainsaw gloves when I use it to help dampen the vibration.

[RivNut]

A mouth guard like the athletes wear isn't a bad idea either, especially if you have a couple of loose fillings.

[63 Rivi]

Thanks Ed for the info on the needle scaler. Harbor Freight has it on sale right now for 54.99, and I have a coupon to take even more off. I had left the original undercoating on my 63 in place, mostly because of how stubborn it was to take off. Think this will give me a reason to start my clean up and repainting of the floor pans.

[RockinRiviDad]

Bad news for me & my undercarriage today. My intent was to just clean & spray the underside within the next few days. As I began the clean up of the undercarriage a gut feeling had me pull the seats and carpet. This is what I found that was not visible from the bottom side. Note it's worse than when I found it due to me poking at it to see the extent.

In my inexperience, I think I will clean off all the rust on the pans, only cut out the bad section, use that as a template to cut & shape a slightly bigger new piece to weld back in, paint it all with some rust inhibiting paint, then do the undercarriage…sounds easy but am I way off guys??? Is it worse/harder than that??

Regards,

David

[64R]

Well it's a bit harder than that if you want to really do it right, you'll need a bead roller to duplicate the ones you cut out to give it strength. It sounds like you want to lap weld it when you say "shape a slighty bigger piece" which is fine but then you should ideally weld the bottom as well so you don't have the lap fill with gipe when you drive, you could just seam seal it but welding is better. Also you may end up needing a bigger patch than you think as welding to thinner semi rusty metal can be a challenge. As far as rust inhibiting paint, that would be epoxy primer if you're referring to the new metal, POR15 and the like are meant for rusty metal not fresh clean metal.

[RivNut]

What you do to fix your rust depends entirely on what your intentions are for the car. Are you trying to sell it and claim that you've done a frame off restoration back to factory specs, or do you want to drive it and enjoy it. I don't know that you need to replicate the beads in the pan, but I certainly would listen to what Rob is saying about not overlapping anything. Cut the floor back to clean metal, cut a piece to fit, and butt weld it in place. Grind down the welds, and apply the rust protection, and paint.

[RockinRiviDad]

Thanks guys. Yes I plan on driving this car but some say "everything is for sale" right?

I may have left some details out...I am not a welder, I have only tinkered with it. Thats why I suggested cutting the new piece slightly bigger but it sounds like butt welding is better? I hope to get the rust cleaned back enough to cut out and weld to cleaner metal. Hopefully I won't get into the beaded area although one rust hole is damn close.

yes the paint I have been using is called KBS-coatings.com its like POR15 (actually, research I did showed the KBS people are one half of the original POR15 people who set out to outdo POR15 with a better product) I liked the results. The floor pans are very rusty so the only new metal would be my patch work. Painting over rust just doesn't sit well with me so I've cleaned everything pretty good before painting it. Here's a couple cool videos of the said product

what do you guys think of that patchwork with the fiberglass mat? would that work?

http://youtu.be/NHGrBGViArI

http://youtu.be/R-gFyRAo_m0

Edited December 23, 2013 by RockinRiviDad (see edit history)

[RivNut]

I've heard of the KB products before. The car and frame that are being worked on in these videos has only surface rust on them, no holes to patch. This would be good for the areas that show some rust but are not yet eaten through, if they're not too thin. The fiberglass seemed more like a reinforcement over a panel with no holes it in. You've got to get rid of the rust that's eating its way through the metal before doing any of the steps showing in the video. If you don't weld, this will be something that you'll need to farm out to a professional.

[RockinRiviDad]

Ok thx I've got two master welder friends that may help with the job or at least give direction. But they can't get out here until next week or later.…damn holidays lol

Regards,

David

[64R]

While you're waiting you can cut out the piece and fab up the patch. It isn't critical to roll beads in it but its certainly desirable, stiiffens the panle immensely. Ideally it should be butt welded as mentioned but even stock pans often have lapped areas.

This is one I'm doing right now on a 65 Stang, it's only tacked in at the moment but the front and right side will be butt welds and the back is a lap with spot welds as it came from the factory. This is a repop pan so it has all the beads in it. I don't know if they make replacement sheet metal for our Rivs? I haven't needed any yet.

[RivNut]

Rolling a couple of beads into the pan will also stiffen it so it won't flex. You wouldn't want to be driving down the road with rolling thunder in your trunk. (Special effects people use big pieces of sheet metal to imitate thunder.)