[68ragtop]

Not a specific place for this topic, so I thought I would place it in the Lobby. Hope thats ok...:roll eyes:


I recently purchased a well preserved 26 year old Trans am that I have been detailing. It has been rustproofed & everything is well coated underneath. After seeing what BentwheelBob did with his 1978 Trans am last year, I decided to see how easy it would come off. I used a mild PPG wax & grease remover & it breaks down pretty easily & shows a well preserved chassis underneath the goo.

To me, this seems like a large undertaking to attempt to remove it all. I think Bob might have used a kerosine type solvent, scrub brushes & a pressure washer. (hopefully he will chime in) My concerns are, I don't want to trash my four post lift or my driveway. There are also areas that I will not be able to hit with a scrub brush, much like in the photo behind the brakes lines, etc. Will solvent & pressure washing alone be enough?

Anybody ever attempt this, & what did you find successful?

[necdb3]

The best thing to use is a pressure washer/ steamer. That will basically melt it right off and not scrap it up. If you go the scraper route, use a plastic one.

I have in the past used a heat gun and scraper. once you soften it, it peels off then wipe it with mineral spirits.

Dave

[68ragtop]

Not to sound too lazy, but if it requires a scraper, I'm probably not going to bother. It's sprayed everywhere including the control arms, nuts & bolts, etc. Areas that just won't be able to be scraped. What I did notice is the degreaser I applied seemed to break it down from just sitting on the sprayed undercoating. IF I can find something that will soften it up & not evaporate too fast, I'm thinking the pressure washer just might work. But, Im not very excited about the mess its going to make.

[YNOBIL]

Removed the "tar type" dealer undercoating from my '72 GTO back in 2007. I used Eastwood Undercoating Remover - Eastwood Under Gone. It was messy but did a great job. I wore those throw away coveralls.
http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-s-u...g-remover.html

[camerjeff]

If you are willing to pay for a service, about 10 years ago the class I was taking had a demonstration of a dry ice blasting service. The cold made the undercoating brittle them with alittle adjustment of the pressure they were able to take off just the undercoating without harming the paint surface underneath. If I remember correctly just removing the undercoating would cost $300-500 depending on how much area and time was involved.
It was also cheaper if you could bring the car to them.

This was the company that did the demonstration. It was impressive.

http://www.atexbuilders.com/dry-ice/

[Stuart]

You could wait until January - when it's -20 out, that stuff will probably chip off pretty easily.

[Bentwheelbob]

I would give it a try if you can hook your pressure washer up to a hot water source. Without scrubbing and some hand work you won't get it all, but you'll get a lot and will still be happy. Get one of those little 2 quart pump spray bottles to apply the solvent you decide to use and allow it to soak at least over night. Soak it again in the morning and then go after it with the pressure washer. once you've run out of hot water, stop and soak it again while the hot water supply replenishes. You'll want to get tyvek suits, heavy rubber gloves, and a full face shield at HD or Lowes, and wear old shoes. You'll also want to buy a rotary spray head for your pressure washer. Don't even think about without this rotary head.

An alternative would be to find a contractor with a stean cleaning rig on a trailer. That would produce the best result and leave the dirty work to someone else.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/POWER-PRESSU...8AAOxyBvZTTvlk

[bird72]

I have same dilemma on 72 with 48K and it is in great shape so I am not sure if tackle or not. I don't prefer it as most I guess.... it does preserve though from what I have seen.

man I like your idea Bob, portable steam clean guy! I am going to remember that for spring! Smart!

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

I would give it a try if you can hook your pressure washer up to a hot water source. Without scrubbing and some hand work you won't get it all, but you'll get a lot and will still be happy. Get one of those little 2 quart pump spray bottles to apply the solvent you decide to use and allow it to soak at least over night. Soak it again in the morning and then go after it with the pressure washer. once you've run out of hot water, stop and soak it again while the hot water supply replenishes. You'll want to get tyvek suits, heavy rubber gloves, and a full face shield at HD or Lowes, and wear old shoes. You'll also want to buy a rotary spray head for your pressure washer. Don't even think about without this rotary head.

An alternative would be to find a contractor with a stean cleaning rig on a trailer. That would produce the best result and leave the dirty work to someone else.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/POWER-PRESSU...8AAOxyBvZTTvlk

Bob, what did you use for a solvent on your 78? Did it degrade your lift at all.
Sounds dumb, but I am really worried about trashing my lift. I have a castor kit like you have, so no problem doing it out in the driveway, Just worried about the mess its going to make. Can you post those pictures you have (if they are handy)

Also, what does that tip do differently?

On the flip side, all the brake lines, floor, etc should be well preserved underneath.

[Bentwheelbob]

I used diesel fuel. It works great, but has a little smell and leaves a film. After that I degreased with ZEP purple concentrate, both the bottom of the car and the lift. I spead a huge tarp under the lift to protect the driveway from the worst of the clumpy grease and undercoating. Cover the pump and motor on the lift with a trash bag. Get a big box of rags to use and three or four plastic scrapers. Have a trash can handy right by the lift for the dirty rags and stuff you scrape off. After you move the lift back inside spray the driveway down a couple times with ZEP purple and power wash. You won't hurt your lift, get it a little dirty - it's not a barcalounger.

BTW - The best way to move one of these lifts is with a riding lawnmower and tow strap.

We did this in one day.

[Alvin]

Below are how my new Hero's got it done...

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

So the undercoating has been eradicated, and it happened one day ahead of schedule. I thought it would take all weekend to get the underbody cleaned, but we got it done in one day. Actually I cheated a little and got it positioned last night as posted earlier and the overnight soak with diesel certainly helped.

I'm really pleased with how it went and how it turned out. We used only diesel fuel as a solvent, plastic scrapers and a pressure washer. The process went like this - soak with diesel from a pump sprayer for thirty minutes, pressure wash, soak with diesel, scrap and clean with a rag, pressure wash and repeat. We started at about 9:00am and finished about 6:00pm. Clean up took a couple more hours to degrease the lift and driveway, and get everything back in the garage. There are still two or three places where there are dime sized blobs that are coked on, but those will be dealt with. The key was the hot water for the pressure washer. I keep the water heaters cranked up to 145 degrees and that helped so much.

Here's a few pictures. I'm the good looking one.



Before

Edit: see post #176 here => http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...=755425&page=9

[68ragtop]

I picked up another car last month & its been undercoated. I sprayed WD40 on it & to my surprise it starts breaking down fairly easy. a Few big blast cans, Hot water & the pressure wash might work on this one

[codyyy]

I tried a few different methods on the '68 GTO I had. I used aerosol aircraft stripper (put on goggles and make sure you have ventilation), using EZ Off oven cleaner for lighter coats of that stuff and let that sit overnight, and also use a propane torch on the bigger chunks with a scraper. Obviously make sure the EZ Off and aircraft stripper is gone from the car before using flames on it. Also with heat, if you have carpet in the car and you didn't realize that undercoating is covering a hole in the floor pan, use caution. A better idea is a heat gun which I think was already mentioned.

[NBF823]

Mine is a '78 solar gold TA also. The undercoating was so old and dry, I was able to wire wheel it right off with little effort.

My car is on a rotisserie and I'm painting it all.

[Jerry H.]

Another key to getting the best job is the remove most, if not everything, that can be removed. Like every nut, bolt, screw, brake line, fuel line, etc. That way you'll have access to all the gunk. I've used diesel fuel in the past and tilted a body on it's side and set the underneath on fire and let it burn off in sections. Of course we were standing by with fire extinguishers. Wouldn't do it again.

[68ragtop]

That 60's stuff was/is like concrete & tar. Removed mine with a heat gun, propane torch & a scraper. For sure can't be removed like the stuff from the 80's