[Bull]

You guys have any tips for me? I'm about to start cleaning/derusting/painting the undercarriage of my '78 Lemans. Lots of flaky/scaly rust in various places. I am going to remove the axle and rear suspension to clean and detail, but there are plenty of things that I cannot remove, that are part of the car's structure, and that need to be cleaned and painted. The car is up on jackstands, so that means I will have to lay on my back and work that way. Should I bother trying to sandblast, or will that make for a miserable experience? I believe that I will try the Master Series silver, which says that you can just wire wheel/brush off the worst rust and then acid etch and paint. Am I just doomed to get wet, dirty etc, or are there ways to make the job easier?

[Bull]

You guys have any tips for me? I'm about to start cleaning/derusting/painting the undercarriage of my '78 Lemans. Lots of flaky/scaly rust in various places. I am going to remove the axle and rear suspension to clean and detail, but there are plenty of things that I cannot remove, that are part of the car's structure, and that need to be cleaned and painted. The car is up on jackstands, so that means I will have to lay on my back and work that way. Should I bother trying to sandblast, or will that make for a miserable experience? I believe that I will try the Master Series silver, which says that you can just wire wheel/brush off the worst rust and then acid etch and paint. Am I just doomed to get wet, dirty etc, or are there ways to make the job easier?

[Lemans1]

Wear a good set of glasses or better yet a face shield...and may God be with you!

[karl emerick]

don't forget the particle / dust mask. better yet is a stack of green pieces of paper and a facility that does plastic media blasting.

[Jeff R]

Dave,

Nasty, dirty work indeed. I don't have the money, space or time to invest in a full frame-off job, so I'm doing the same thing you are. Mine's not a show car and I don't intend it to be...well maybe I'll go that route someday when I'm retired. Anyway, I'm scraping with an old putty knife to get the worst of the crud, then scrubbing with Scotch-bright pads, then wire wheeling. Definitely have a decent mask and eye protection...and lots of crappy old clothes. Unless the car's being taken down to the frame I don't know that I would blast as I'd think too much sand/media would get into places it would never come out.

[Edward Farrell]

Would Gunk and a high pressure spray washer do the trick?

[Pod]

Why not invest (or fabricate) in a body/chassis roller. These are designed to bolt to the frame and then lift the car. They allow the car to be "spun" on its axis thus allowing any underbody work to be done whilst the operator is standing up (or even sitting down). This is a far easier -and safer- way of completing this work. Over here in England I have seen them for sale from £350 ($700) to £938 ($1800). The more expensive model can lift the whole vehicle with engine/transmission in situ. Since this sort of equipment is always far cheaper in the 'States than the UK, I reckon you could pick up a heavy duty model for less than a thousand bucks.

Pod.

[Pod]

Just scrolled down the forum and found "Firebird rotisserie". There are plenty of comments about these chassis rollers ana also some plans to download. Good luck!

Pod.

[Bull]

A rotisserie would be a dream come true, but both money and other factors make it sort of impossible for me. Money...well, it isn't there, I don't have the skill to make one, and then I am working in rather primitive conditions, in an old barn with a fairly uneven floor and limited space. You're right, though, it would make the whole job a lot easier!

[george kujanski]

How about this....

Since you are in an old barn, etc. perhaps you can get a number of 6 X 6 chunks of lumber and build a "crib" for each corner of the car.

A crib is a stack of lumber of several layers, each layer 90 degrees to the previous one. You can jack up each corner, add a layer, and repeat. You can get pretty high, at least high enuf to be able to get underneath easily. If each corner crib is about 4 feet square, that would be a pretty solid base.

An old barn probably gives you plenty of headroom.

Make sure the top of the crib is strong enuf to support each corner of the car, and prevent it from rolling.

I'd say that should work.

Or you could have a brother like mine who has a machinery moving business. Oil changes are a snap when you have a fork lift......

George

[Kron]

Dave,

I'll soon be in the same boat with my Lemans. I had been thinking about sandblasting but might try the wire wheel route and some Eastwood rust encapsolator. Shouldn't be all that bad for me as I'm replacing full floor pans, pan under the rear seat as well as the entire trunk.

I found a thread with some more info.http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...2828#208102828

Tony

[karl emerick]

whatever you do to 'get it up' will make life a lot easier for you. and then chemically treat the crud to dissolve the oil and high pressure wash with a hot water washer if possible and grease dissolving chemical/cleaner. anything to avoid hours or scraping and working directly with solvents. if you can get the grease/oil off you can directly use a product to neutralize rust.

[cheesecakeguy]

I just thought of something. Maybe it's stupid? If you have an old barn...do you have access to a backhoe? Dig out a small trench, kind of like a oil-changing pit at Jiffy lube and stand while you work. Just drive over the hole when you want to and scrape away to your hearts content. The crud falls in the hole. When you are done, just replace the fill-dirt over the crud and it's gone. I would think you'd have to fortify the sides of the trench maybe with wood or something. You can cover the hole when not in use. Is this a stupid idea?

[67vertBird]

No offense Cheese, but unless you want to be buried alive under your resto, I would not advise the hole trick.

["Teacher]

Our class project car is getting blasted. I can't think of any better, and more economical, way to go. The floor and trunk floors are removed which should make for easy access (and less money) for the media blaster. They way I figure it, the $300 for a blast job is probably cheaper in the long run than six dozen cans of whatever, rust in the lungs and eyes, heating up and scraping the fuming undercoat off and everything else. This way, we take the roller down on the trailer and pick up a "almost" ready to paint undercarriage and body. To me, to do anything else would be penny wise and dollar foolish.

[Bull]

Thanks for the additional replies and suggestions. The crib idea sounds pretty good, and I think I know what that type of structure looks like. I do have some 6x6 lumber in the upstairs of the barn, but I'll have to check on how much I've got.

The pit idea would be good if I had a backhoe and could be sure that I wouldn't be buried alive as 67Vert mentions, and with my luck that would be a real possibility!

aasimone, where in Mass are you? We are probably not that far from one another, I'm only about an hour+ from Worcester. The link you provided to the older thread is great...that guy asked a lot of questions that I also have.

One good thing seems to be that the bottom of this car is relatively dry and non-greasy/cruddy. There is a lot of flaky rust, but the area above the axle and the floorpans don't have much grease or old tar-like undercoating.

I might have a few more questions, but for now, I guess I have some ideas of how to tackle this. Am I asking for trouble removing the axle and then trying to re-install it myself, or is that not that big of a deal?

[az67goat]

I ended up paying $100 to have a pro detailer degrease and steam clean. Glad I did! One of the few things I have paid to have done.

[Kron]

I'm in Hudson, about 15 minutes east of Worcester.

Tony

[WWWYNN40]

I must be getting old but my back and arms do not do well over long periods of working over my head.

I got a set of plans to build a rotiss. Two different size square steel pieces to allow for adjustment. I got plenty of practice with my welder and did the whole thing in a week for about $350.

[lemans411]

well this is what i did for my 68 project i'm working on . i did my 67 laying on my back and vowed not to do that again