The Great White Brick - '69 Valiant

70Dart: Same to you 70Dart, start a thread (if you don't have one already...maybe you do, I'm really bad at finding threads around here). Glad you're getting a whole new pan. Tom did most of the pan work and he said it was a ***** and a LOT of work, but it's like a new car now!

Evilscamp: Yes, I like the Master Series. I hope it's all they claim and doesn't rust through. It's different to apply then por-15, but I like how you can leave it and come back to it later and I like how it's more like paint then a plastic coating (Por-15 always seems like a plastic coating to me)

Oldvart: It was Evilscamp here that referred me to Master Series. It's a US product actually, and I had to have it shipped up here. It's a rust inhibiting paint that was originally designed to paint bridges I think. It's like por-15 but you can paint over it, doesn't require as much prep work and it builds up and fills in pits and scratches really well. It's supposed to stick better and last for 25 years before rust through again. So far so good.

To clean the bottom of the car I started with a variety of scrapers. I bought a $5 kit of gasket scrapers and pokers, one looks like a dental tool. On my back I scraped (with safety goggles of course) and poked and got as much **** off as possible...one little square inch at a time. Probably took me 60 hours. In some areas I softened it with a heat gun first, then when it was dry it would flake off easier. Then I went over everything with a wire brush. They you spray WD-40 (liquid, not the spray cans) on and scrub with a wire brush and the dental tool again in areas you missed. Oh ya, I used a paring knife at one point until it broke. Then I degreased with Marine Clean degreaser and a 3M green scrub pad and brass brush. Then rinse a few times, then 2 coats of Master Series and finally we'll put a finish coat of Master Series chassis black, sprayed on. A lot of work but you could eat off the underside of this car!

Rust bled through a bit on my van bumper (that is REALLY rusty) so I emailed this guy that has a website about the stuff and he said I didn't mix it well enough. He was right, I remember only mixing it for about 20 seconds because I was in a rush. I mixed it really well and recoated and the bumper looks great now.