I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death but once more can't hurt. I have completely disassembled the underneath side of my 69 pace car from the front floor pans back. This includes the entire rear suspension, exhaust, driveshaft, X frame support, all brackets, brake lines, fuel lines, etc... I started with the intention of just changing the rear springs and well, you know how it is, one dirty part led to another and the next thing I knew the underside was bare. Now, I plan to clean and paint the underside. Only problem is that the car has a thick tough undercoating. I have scraped it off in a few small places and the metal is nice and shiny and has been well protected for years. I am undecided on whether or not I should literally spend weeks scraping it off or just leave it on and clean it the best way I can and possibly spray some black paint over it to darken it up. I'd say this undercoating is at least 20 years old or more and has sort of turned a grayish color. Any recommendations?

Indy,
If, and that's a big if, you decide to remove the undercoating, it won't take you very long to get it all off. It IS one of the more 'elbow grease' intensive projects but I've done it as have others. But like you said, what's underneath it will most likely be smooth, painted steel.

I bought a Wagner Heat Gun, a couple 2" heavy-duty paint scrapers and went to town on it with great success. I think it took me a total of a weekend, maybe less. The floor is easy but the wheel wells are a big pain because they're curved. Then you just clean off the remaining film with your favorite solvent and rags. (Safety First!) Note that doing it this way will scratch the nice factory paint underneath.


I'd also like to know if it can be successfully painted. I tend to doubt it because it's so impregnated with dirt but who knows!

Whichever you decide, good luck!



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Joe
WCA Member
1969 Wallet Crusher
- HwyStar@Rochester.rr.com

HwyStar's Garage! (http://www.geocities.com/hwystarjoe/index.html)

I was working on a customers car a couple of years ago that had the same delima. He finally decided to leave the undercoating on the car (I don't think he liked my price to remove it). I cleaned it as best I could with a high pressure washer and simply recoated it with spray on undercoating. The car still looks good to this day and the new undercoating never fell off.

I have a northern Indiana '67 convertible that has most of the original undercoating. I have scraped off some that was loose and the factory paint was still there. In my opinion, if the undercoating is still there and you want a driver, keep it.

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If you don't plan on subjecting the car to sloppy weather it will look much better with a nice paint job over the steel. If you plan to take the undercoating off the rear wheel wells be careful. That was put on by the factory and contains asbestos. There is nothing better looking than a car properly detailed underneath.

SS Clone W/ZZ502 & 700R4 http://my.core.com/~ss502

If the car is just going to be a driver and has no cracks in the current undercoating, keep it...but if it is cracked it will be nothing more than a moisture trap. Old undercoating gets very brittle, cracks, holds water and will actually cause more problems than it is worth.