Under Car Floor and Frame Cleaning

[55 Fargo]

Hi all,today I started my undercarriage clean-up. My plan is to wire wheel and scrap all the rust, dirt and crud off, then to prime/paint and undercoat where applicable.

This is tough job, there are many areas around the frame, I have started at the back end of the car, where the gastank is normally hung. Once this is cleaned up I will do little more forward and the outer sides, hoping to eventually get all the floor cleaned up and de-rusted, I will also need to seam seal, my panel joints I have welded in to repair the floors, they are seamsealed on the topside, but I would like to do the bottom side also.

This car will not be winter driven, and I wouldn't be driving through torrential rain storms either, not sure rain water would really do much damage, as salt, snow and crud like you get here in winter.

I know guys who have done no prep under there cars, they don't seem to care, and because the cars are not winter driven, they don't seem to be rotting away either. So many of our cars have done there major floor rusting when they were allowed to stay on the ground in some field where the grass and moisture and wet mud you name permeated the undercarriage. My car had it front suspension in the mud, but the back end was propped buy a steel barrel, it was like that for years, before I got it.

What have some of you guys done, I am not going to sandblast under there, and it won't be chemically dipped either, just hope to clean it up and topcoat...............Fred

[Young Ed]

We are currently finishing this on the 50 chevy. The PO did most of the removal of the old undercoating. Once we get the last of it scraped off the floor rockers etc will be wire wheeled and painted with black rustoleum. PO had the frame sandblasted and its already repainted. We have the body off the frame but I don't see why you couldnt do basically the same thing while its together. Will just be harder to get the top of the frame and that area of the floor.

[RobertKB]

Fred, it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it. I did the same thing to my '48 Dodge D25 many years ago that you are doing to your car now. I scraped, wire wheeled, chiseled, varsoled, etc. and applied a single coat of Tremclad to it and even after all these years it still looks pretty good. The car sees occasional rain, lots of gravel roads, and plenty of dead bugs but is kept inside most of the time. If I did it again, I would probably go with two coats but I did mine with a brush so it went on fairly thick. I would certainly spray bomb some of it now where it is hard to get at. Have fun!

[james curl]

I scraped, power washed, degreased with varsole and painted with a brush one coat of rustoleum, then spray bombed the entire undercarriage with two more coats. Since driving through the brime water going in and out from Bonneville salt flats during speed week and driving on the salt I have washed the entire bottom side of the car five times and sprayed with rust converter twice, will have to repaint most of the underside. The salt sticks to the paint and resists removing even with water and a brush, tries to eats through the paint.

[55 Fargo]

Thanx Guys, BTW James what are you doing up so early, I know my excuse, going to work, but being a carnut, just had to look here first..LOL

[55 Fargo]

All the undercoating is off, a little grease and dirt around trans tunnel, gonna just keep hitting it with the wire wheels and brush attachments, use a little varsol, and paint with black Tremclad (Canadas Rustoleum)............Fred

[Plymouthy Adams]

I start work 6AM EST time..like getting off work at 2:30 in the afternoon...especially when the time changes..get home in time to do some work about the place before the sun falls out of the sky...used to come in at 5 and get off at 1;30 but they figured we were enjoying that too much....

[55 Fargo]

Lots o fun, thats for sure, but let me tell you, fabbing little ptch panels and welding/riveting them to the bottom end down below the kick panel was the most fun I ever had, besides putting my trans back in by hand.........LOL

[55 Fargo]

Tim, I had the same shift for years, 0600 to 1430, mon to fri. Today and the next 3 days, I work 0700 to 1930, 12.5 hour shifts..............Fred

[Plymouthy Adams]

I like the OT but rther just go home and let them send me the money...I turn down OT quite a bit...just rather be at the house whether I am doing anything or not...I paid off my house in two years with OT money ...got burnt out I guess..

[55 Fargo]

I like OT also, but this is my regular shift. It goes like this, 4 shifts on 3 days off, 4 shifts 7 days off. Next to where I am posted at the med/max prison, you can work all the OT you like, some guys earn $120000.00 per year. But I like my sanity....LOL

[james curl]

For Rockwood, I have gotten up at five ever since I was in the Army in 58/59. Even as a kid in the summertime I would get up early and ride my Cushman or Whizzer and then later my Famous James Motorcycle out on the farm to market roads out side Kerrville Texas in the Texas hill Country. Early in the morning is the best time of the day, I love early mornings, watching the sun rise, seeing the birds all starting to leave their roost and everything elsewaking up with the dew on the grass. Life doesn't get much better than that unless it involves old cars, hot rods, old trucks or races.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Noisy woods....I pitched my tent on the hilltop at my aunts place in WV years ago...it was me and the wife. Great spot, thick carpet moss for nice soft padding...anyway..about 2 AM two hoot owl got in a hollering contest..they worked themselves slowly closer and closer...about 3 AM they met and did battle..lots of thrashing about in the dry leaves about 50 feet from the tent..then long before sunup the birds started chirping..sounded like there must have been in the tens of thousands of them...(we know not) but after a long 10 hour drive...set up camp and try to et some sleep..nature really pushed me to the limits that first night.

[grey beard]

Fred,

I feel your pain - have done the same thing. I discovered Zero Rust on this forum - suggested by GTK, if memory serves, and am now on my second gallon. Like POR 15, it will really stick to rusty surfaces, but is about half as spendy. I found that after the wire brushing and scraping, I wipe the floor surfaces down with enamel thinner or varsol, and then roll the Zero Rust on - works out much better for overhead applications than a brush, and holds lots of paint - I use 4-inch foam rollers and thin the Zero down somewhat with lacquer thinner per suggestions on the can. Looks good when finished, especially if second coated, and does not need to be covered with paint - is okay as is, AND cleans up with lacquer thinner.

My favorite undercoating after the Zero Rust is dry is rattle can bed liner from Auto Zone - $7 a can - use lots of them, and it's a pretty good seam sealer, as well. Give it a try. JMHO

Good Luck:)

[55 Fargo]

Hi Dave,

You know anything worth doing/having deserves a little sweat equity, I don't mind doing the job, I just love seeing a finished product, after it looked like crap and ends up looking good.

Zero Rust is a good product, but so is Tremclad, and thats what I will use, I also plan on uding the 4 inch foam rollers, a brush and spray bombs where necessary...............Thanx Fred

[toddbracik]

I like the OT but rther just go home and let them send me the money...I turn down OT quite a bit...just rather be at the house whether I am doing anything or not...I paid off my house in two years with OT money ...got burnt out I guess..

2 years?!? Did you sleep Tim?

[Plymouthy Adams]

yeah..two years of about 7 days a week..10 hours a day..only let us work 8 hours on the weekend days...when I was DoD Navy..them folks motto was if we are going to mess up your weekend with OT..it was 12 hour days...

[55 Fargo]

Hi all , okay so it's not perfect,and I missed a few spots, it's nly the first of 2to 3 coats of paint, and it is harder to clean and paint an undercarriage with the body on frame and no hoist.

I cleaned up quite a bit under the car yesterday and this morning, did paint a side.

Used semi-gloss black Tremclad Rust Paint, applied with sponge roller, sponge brush and a rattle can. The sponge roller works slick, you can paint into tight spots fairly easy, and it looks like a sprayed finish.

Next will be to complete the whole undercarriage, after 1 coat, I am thinking of applying the seam sealer to the joints then, or I may wait until the last coat, the seam sealer is black, it's the caulking style, I also have the brushable seam sealer for the difficult spots.

All in all , I am happy with the early results, but this is a very labor intensive endeavor, would be many times easier body off, and on a rotisserie. Just the way it is in my corner of the world............Fred

[BobT-47P15]

Fred....looking good so far. I need to do that sort of thing myself. Have left the frame and underside mostly untouched since I got the car.

To make your work a little easier......had you considered jacking up the front, then the back on the side being worked......putting jackstands under that side to tip the car and get it up off the floor further.

[55 Fargo]

Bob, I did have the car up on stands, makes access fairly good, but doing it like this is always tougher than if it was off the frame and staring you in the face on it's side. But I will get her all done.I figure it will take until the end of the month, as I can't go at it everyday..............Fred

[BobT-47P15]

The best way is just keep on keepin' on. You'll eventually get it done.

Be nice when you do.

[Young Ed]

We sprayed the first and probably only coat on 1/2 of the underside of the chevy this afternoon. Looks good. Will have pictures to post when its done. Rustoleum applied with 17.99 siphon gun from harbor freight. Realized when we were buying the supplies that the hvlp wont work upside down like that!

[55 Fargo]

Ed, the gravity feed HVLP would have a hard time flowing upside down or on it's side. I have one of these, but a siphon feed hvlp should be okay. I really like painting with the sponge rollers, it goes on real slick, you can paint corners, tight spots, around the mounts/brackets, quite easily. It's not as easy to paint these areas as a spray gun would be, but there is no overspray and mess either, or very little of it.I will keep plugging away at it, hope to be done in a week or so, it's a big job. The inner fenders/wheel wells, I am sure I will use my spray gun for these areas. Although I have cleaned painted under coated my interior floors, I am going to put another coat of black Tremclad on it, definately going with a sponge roller, tried a test spot in there, goes on great, and no overspray, will also do the interior roof...........Fred

[1just4don]

Is there a 'way' to lift one side at a time 3-4 feet off the ground "safely",,,so at least for half the time you are working at comfy levels?? Was thinking of a couple cherry pickers,or chain hoist,,,even a fork lift or tractor loader propped up???(would think MUST be propped to avoid sagging cylinders).

Would a old rug or blanket cushion where the chain runs over the edge of the body?? Or would this 'make' more problems than it solves?? just wondering--just don--