Addressing the Underside Visual Advice

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Hilton

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Went down to the shop today to clean up a bit and sat down to ponder addressing the underside of my 71 Demon (currently stripped down and on the rotisserie with the underside facing me). The car was originally a red and has been repainted at some time in it's life. She is going back yellow as my original one was. No real rust to speak of , just surface in places and old paint with dirty black undercoating in the fender wells and frame, very little on the underside pans and sheet metal. I can't remember what mine looked like back in '74 so I need your help and your advice on what you have done or would do. Removing all the undercoating seems to be a dauting task. I'm just having a hard time picturing what I should do and what it should look like when it is done. Please let the ideas and advice begin.
 
From the factory it would be mostly gray dip primer with color overs pray and the wheel wells undercoated. The easy thing would be to undercoat it all or paint it black.
 
The wheel wells had 'sound deadner' standard, they used the same material as undercoating.

If the car was specified with the undercoating option, much, much more was covered.

It helped save many cars over the years, on my cars I prep & repair any damaged areas in the undercoating.
 
From the factory it would be mostly gray dip primer with color overs pray and the wheel wells undercoated. The easy thing would be to undercoat it all or paint it black.
Since you already have a rotisserie, that's an item most people don't have. It all depends on the amount of work
you want to do and how much money you want to spend. Like previous poster said it would have a factory primer
and body color over spray. If you are going to paint it yellow, the under side would look real nice yellow. For
practicality you could just undercoat it. It's your, car do what you want.
 
for mine, we epoxy sealed, black epoxy paint, then black raptor bed liner on the entire underside.

Will use color matched white for the front wheel wheels, black in the rears.

Batman.
 
I removed all undercoating, sandblasted, and then used the POR-15 trio products, and then top coated with black paint. Was just under it tonight and it still looks like the day I did it, 4yrs ago. I believe I wiped it down maybe 2 times.
 
From the factory it would be mostly gray dip primer with color overs pray and the wheel wells undercoated. The easy thing would be to undercoat it all or paint it black.
That makes perfectly good sense as to what I am seeing. I was wondering why I see gray primer with original red overspray on both the bottom and the inside. Couldn't figure how that got there in those layers, now I know. Thank you for the explanation on the undercoat to, also makes sense on the amount and area I am seeing it. The wheel wells have evidently been touched up once upon a time but the underside and frame look to be original to the car. AdamR, you are right on point with your info...Thanks!
 
for mine, we epoxy sealed, black epoxy paint, then black raptor bed liner on the entire underside.

Will use color matched white for the front wheel wheels, black in the rears.

Batman.
That's what I would think would be the cleanest and complete option but not sure I can bring myself to go that far, I'll consider it, Thanks Batman, I respect your choice.
 
Great advice guys, I always can't wait to get your input, it keeps me on the straight and narrow
Hilton
 
If you decide to strip the undercoating, I soaked mine down with PB blaster, let it soak overnight, most of it then scraped off with a putty knife. Had to give it another shot or two in some places. Then I use a few different scrub brushes, brooms, dustpan broom, whatever soaked in Dawn and scrubbed it down, and hit it with the sharp blast from the hose. Did that a couple times two. Different scrub brushes, brooms, dustpan broom, whatever soaked in Dawn and scrubbed it down, and hit it with the sharp blast from the horse. Did that a couple times too.
Like I said, took a couple times, but the work was not hard at all. Found some rusty spots I didn’t know I had.
 
From the factory it would be mostly gray dip primer with color overs pray and the wheel wells undercoated. The easy thing would be to undercoat it all or paint it black.
Interesting. My '72 Duster 340 looked like it was originally black underneath. Front inner fenders were the body's TB3 with the deadener on them. I couldn't tell on the back wheel wells but I assume they were TB3 covered by sound deadener also. Couldn't tell if it had the overspray or not but I assume that to be true too. There were just too many places where it had the black to believe it otherwise. Seems like every previous owner did half assed work on it for the black to be that consistent. What do you guys think?
 
Interesting. My '72 Duster 340 looked like it was originally black underneath. Front inner fenders were the body's TB3 with the deadener on them. I couldn't tell on the back wheel wells but I assume they were TB3 covered by sound deadener also. Couldn't tell if it had the overspray or not but I assume that to be true too. There were just too many places where it had the black to believe it otherwise. Seems like every previous owner did half assed work on it for the black to be that consistent. What do you guys think?

I replaced front floor pans and strengthened the tunnel , (had a trans explosion once) laying on my back, and on my knees inside the car.
Do it right now while u go it on the rotisserie , u`ll regret it later if u don`t ! I wish I had at least mini tubbed mine while I was building it .
 
I replaced front floor pans and strengthened the tunnel , (had a trans explosion once) laying on my back, and on my knees inside the car.
Do it right now while u go it on the rotisserie , u`ll regret it later if u don`t ! I wish I had at least mini tubbed mine while I was building it .
How much could I get away with on mini tub before it got into affecting the interior seat etc. ?
 
How much could I get away with on mini tub before it got into affecting the interior seat etc. ?
Do you have the flip down rear seat & panel or not? If you do, it may affect how much you can go. With a standard coupe, you may be able to go all the way to the vertical sides of the frame rails. I didn’t want to cut the lip off my frame rails, so I went as far as the folded lip. (About 1.5”)
 
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