Was getting my 69 ready for a show in a few weeks.
the car looks great. In the years I have owned it - I had never cleaned the underside.

Today i washed most all the grime away and found an mostly untouched, but aged frame.
I was planning to clean and re-paint the areas that needed attention, and make it look pretty.
BUT...
what do you guys think?
The frame and undercarriage appears to have never been touched?
There is still a coat of undercoating, but quite a lot of bare metal in places. (especially where the cross flow muffler is supposed to be)
Yes - the shocks are replaced, as well as the incorrect dual exhaust.
the Dover white has been painted, and the engine has been rebuilt and repainted.
but for the most part it is an especially original car.

What do you guys think - should I leave it alone, or freshen it up - so it is show pretty?

Thanks!!!

leave it clean and natural
other than that, it will look like poop if you go to painting on it!
it will look cheap with the touch up spray can job!

LOL - I wasn't going to just paint over all that crap. :clonk:
Was going to scrape and remove all the old paint first- and then repaint like new.

but yes - I am leaning towards leaving it alone.

A fairly easy improvement might be to clean up and paint your drive shaft. JMO

Don't be silly - you think I should paint the drive shaft? - that part is bare metal? :eek:

There are only 2 choices
1- Restore the whole underside of the car to show condition.
or,
2- Leave the underside original and untouched.

Additionally at a later date I intend replace the exhaust system with an authentic system. (don't worry - I am not buying one from Gardner) ;)

number 2..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet collection of cars Jeff. Your undercarriage depends on what you are after. The best results I have had cleaning up the under carriage is by sandblasting then spraying with a semi flat black. Alot of purists would frown on doing that to a original car. If you are going for the survivor angle then I would leave it alone as much as possible. As you realize as soon as you hit it with paint there goes the originality!....Personally, I would leave it alone on such a significant car. If it were plain janes like my two cars that have already been molested I would blast and paint. :yes:

Weeks under the car washing. No not in the last few years, but from 1969. Here's a look. Click on my web site for lots more pictures. (too many for a thread) And this is nearly all original paint. Today I'm gonna do it all again.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/242.JPG

Weeks under the car washing. No not in the last few years, but from 1969. Here's a look. Click on my web site for lots more pictures. (too many for a thread) And this is nearly all original paint. Today I'm gonna do it all again.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/242.JPG
this car seems to be heavily modified:yes:

this car seems to be heavily modified:yes:

Looks good Fred - modified, he wouldn't do that - he even has his original horn relay. ;)
but Fred is one of those original owners. So he is allowed.

You can always use a wire wheel on a drill to get rid of most of the surface rust (rust never sleeps) and then coat it with (One Step) and then semi flat black.
I did one car this way.
My present project was dipped.

You can always use a wire wheel on a drill to get rid of most of the surface rust (rust never sleeps) and then coat it with (One Step) and then semi flat black.
I did one car this way.
My present project was dipped.

I know exactly what to do - have restored quite a few cars.
The question I am asking is: Should I restore this - or leave it alone?

It is only original once, so should I leave it this way?
I can restore this anytime, in just a few weeks in the evenings.
I am not worried about the rust getting worse - as the car is kept climate controlled
and rarely driven.

I guess I am really hoping everyone will say leave it alone,
because then it will save me a whole bunch of work not doing it right now. :D

So does it look terrible to be displayed at a high profile judged show, or would it be acceptable to leave it alone?

EDIT:
Here are some more pictures...
Could the metering block on the side have been originally undercoated?
Is the white over-spray on the frame original?
how about on the brake line?

If it has been painted before - Then I need to restore it.

Want to determine if this is really original, or painted years ago?

I guess the over-spray could have come from the new paint.
what about the black on everything else?

Restore it, The body plugs arre wrong finich, so somebody was under there. Also the paint on the prop valve etc.

"So does it look terrible to be displayed at a high profile judged show, or would it be acceptable to leave it alone?"

The proportioning valve could have been dealer undercoated as shown on John's survivor. http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=1205.0 Because someone already has gotten sloppy with the black spray bomb freshening up and white overspray it would be best to do the belly correctly now. There should be zero body color on the frame. That's not how they left the line. Plugs are not to be black either as stated above.
What's with the washers on the x-brace? I cannot really see in the pic very well.

Sounds like a plan - cleaning it is.
Will get started tonight.
Looks like maybe there is a Zebart type coat down there also.
my metering block is much thicker coated then Johns

I put the X brace washers there last week - will remove.

Sounds like a plan - cleaning it is.
Will get started tonight.
Looks like maybe there is a Zebart type coat down there also.
my metering block is much thicker coated then Johns

I put the X brace washers there last week - will remove.

That's a proportioning valve. Been through this before and I had a Freudian slip. Brake components are often referred to incorrectly, even by the vendors.

I moved the Camaros down from the 2nd floor of my warehouse.
Then pushed these 3 to the back wall - kind made a cool picture.

That's a proportioning valve. Been through this before and I had a Freudian slip. Brake components are often referred to incorrectly, even by the vendors.

I thought it was a pressure regulator.

OK - I give up.
I started grinding and scraping tonight, and it appears that I have gotten too old for this.
This is going to be a lot of work - a lot more then I thought.

So for now I am going to fix some of the worst spots, and hide some of the small parts.
i will get back to this one day when I am younger, or thinner. :eek:

Maybe I should have had children?

Looks good Fred - modified, he wouldn't do that - he even has his original horn relay. ;)
but Fred is one of those original owners. So he is allowed.

oh no.........not the horn relay again...

I thought it was a pressure regulator.

If you want to use synonyms but the correct term is proportioning valve. It progressively limits pressure to the rear drum brakes based on line pressure at the inlet. There is a plethera of info on CRG about this topic.

Jeff, at best touch up what's blatantly incorrect. Like the white overspray and maybe even the floor plugs. Leave the natural finish on them and not any tooling marks when taking the paint off. Try to maintain a consistent look throughout, same level of patina.

The few areas I scraped, then acid treated before painting - turned out perfect.
The little areas that I just cleaned and painted are turning out OK enough.
the paint I am using is matching pretty well.
It still looks old, and the overall effect is much better then it was - nice for the show.

going to do a little bit each evening.

Whats wrong with the washers??

Whats wrong with the washers??

Incorrect finish. Looks alike they just came out of the bolt bin at the harware store.

Incorrect finish. Looks alike they just came out of the bolt bin at the harware store.

and they did. :)
now they are painted.

Before:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l346/Marroweter/Suspension%20and%20Brakes/Rear%20Suspension/RearSuspension005.jpg

After:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l346/Marroweter/Engine/Engine%20Install/EngineInstall_Exhaust004.jpg

I didn't take the undercarriage down to bare metal but I did basically bathe it in brake clean (8-9 cans worth) then Laquer thinner on a rag until the rag came back clean. Ugh it was a pain getting clean. Then I sprayed Lizard skin. So far pretty durable. Not show by any means but cleaned up and its a street car and going to be driven hard anyways.

I actually don't mind your before picture - looks original.
The finished underside is very clean - a little too nice for my tastes.
In other words - It is too clean.

my car is actually turning out pretty well.
there is no bare metal showing anymore, and I did not have to blackball too much. ;)
one day I will take the time to do it right - but for now it looks just fine.

No offense Matt but this is the restoration forum. While your belly now looks clean and neat the deviation from factory components and finishes are would not be classified as restored. Jeff is trying to retain origionality. He's maintaining the integrity of the origional patina while not doing a complete tear down which is a tedious job. In this way it will look aged and not quickly and carelessly detailed as it was before he started. The only other way is to drop the components and do it properly, giving each the proper finish as they left the line.

Not perfect - and not exactly correct.
but looks a lot better then it did.

the novice won't even notice I did anything.
good enough for the show coming up.
the top side looks great.

Yes - yes - I know I covered some stuff up with black paint...
but I will get back at it soon.

Better now. Just stay away from any paint that is too glossy so it more closely matches the aged finish. It's a pain. You can wet into wet flat over the semi to help it. Dull bolt heads are better. Use tin foil to wrap parts where paper and tape is difficult and a combination of the two. Time consuming to do what you are doing and not make it look poorly done.

thanks - some good ideas there - will be back at it tonight.
I will pull out the flat to mix in.

I know this is an old thread, but, Jeff, I was wondering if you have any pics available of your finished product.

Like you, I want a nice, original looking undercarriage, but I'm not ready to do a frame off. Hell, I don't even have a lift, so I am really looking at lot of time on the roll tray if I undertake an undercarraige resto.

Any tips on what worked -- i.e., cleaners, paint, other coating, etc -- or didn't work for you would be much appreciated!

OMG - It was a tough job on the lift - going to be a bear on the creeper.

Just get a high speed abrasive cleaner, paint strippers, and osphoric acid (ospho) to stop the rust.
No tricks - just hard work - time and energy. Good Luck.

OMG - It was a tough job on the lift - going to be a bear on the creeper.

Just get a high speed abrasive cleaner, paint strippers, and osphoric acid (ospho) to stop the rust.
No tricks - just hard work - time and energy. Good Luck.

When you say "high speed abrasive cleaner," do you mean something like Purple Power or oven cleaner? Heard of people using both, just not sure what exactly "high speed" means... Incidentally, I spent yesterday evening underneath the trunk pan with a wire wheel... You're right: it was/is a bear. I'm also thinking it would have been smart to hit it with a cleaner of some kind first, because all the dried gunk just blew all underneath the car -- so I'll get to clean it off twice now! :sad:

When you say "high speed abrasive cleaner," do you mean something like Purple Power or oven cleaner? Heard of people using both, just not sure what exactly "high speed" means... Incidentally, I spent yesterday evening underneath the trunk pan with a wire wheel... You're right: it was/is a bear. I'm also thinking it would have been smart to hit it with a cleaner of some kind first, because all the dried gunk just blew all underneath the car -- so I'll get to clean it off twice now! :sad:
After you scrape all the garbage off, use a Norton clean strip disk on your die grinder. It's called "The Beast".

After you scrape all the garbage off, use a Norton clean strip disk on your die grinder. It's called "The Beast".

Yes - - That is exactly what I meant... a high-speed / abrasive cleaner disk.
There is no easy way - just elbow grease, persistence, and time... :clonk:

Yes - - That is exactly what I meant... a high-speed / abrasive cleaner disk.
There is no easy way - just elbow grease, persistence, and time... :clonk:

Doh! :o. Of course. Wasn't thinking about THAT kind of cleaner. Good to know -- thanks. :beers:

These are not very good pictures but here's two nights of very slow work, before and after... Any commentary is appreciated. :beers:

Was disappointed to find way more holes than I originally thought I had -- about 200000 of them, give or take, pin hole to almost dime-sized. I didn't get a very good picture of it, but I noticed all these tiny reddish mud spots hanging down underneath the trunk pan -- looked kind of like a miniature mudd dobber's nests. Upon closer inspection and a quick hit with the wire wheel, I realized it's that red filler in a tube. Bummer. Oh well, live and learn.

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/ztevans79/Camaro/5390380d.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/ztevans79/Camaro/fd6d68b5.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/ztevans79/Camaro/e6be8277.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/ztevans79/Camaro/6e558147.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/ztevans79/Camaro/95000fdb.jpg