TheSaint

Anybody here having any good advises of how to clean and restore-paint the frame and undercarriage of my Corvette coupe?
There is no rust on the frame but it needs paint and so does the rest of the underbelly of my car.
Any good advices on how to do this is more than welcome

shemp

I used lots of degreaser,wire brush,sanding discs and wire wheels on electric drill. It takes a while and alot of busted knuckles.
Shemp

darguy

I think you can do pretty much what ever you want with the body still on (you can swap the mounts one side at a time), and there is even a guy on the forum who figured out how to swap the fuel line without pulling the body. However, as you've got a pretty rare car (365 HP metric spedo export), you'll want to take care to note any markings on the frame before you start stripping anything off. Guys who've restored their frames can tell you more, but there are notations made during assembly for the number of body shims, among other things. Also, not everything was supposed to get painted...

Grey Ghost

Steam cleaner or pressure washer. You can use a roller to apply the paint or POR15. If you are going for factory correct. The fiberglass is un-painted.

66jack

keep any and all HIGH PRESSURE equipment away from the fiberglass...or you will end up with a drain somewhere where one was not intended...

jack

oldsarge

I just went hard at it, as noted above, just made sure everything was nice and clean. Then air hosed everywhere and painted frame and parts by hand, with a quality brush, on my back like Da Vinci. Ended up looking pretty good I thought.

TheSaint

Thank you for good advices. I do it the way you have done it.
But i think i am going to cover up the car and spray paint the undercarriage.

vettegozzzz

I agree with Schemp, many hours under the car scraping, brushing, cleaning and painting. Also replaced body cushions, suspension, brake lines and almost everything. Mine is a resto-mod, not a correct restoration.

TheSaint

Hi vettegozzzz

If i can get my car like yours then i will be a happy man.
Must say it looks as nice as you can get it
Gonna try to do my best to get my car looking a little like yours

What kind of paint did you use? And colour codes?

vettegozzzz

I used a medium gloss black that I ordered from Corvette Central. The part number is 102012.

I also used a paintable black texture coating that I purchased from a local automotive paint supplier for the fiberglass areas. My under chassis had previously been painted so the fiberglass was not bare as from the factory.

SupremeDeluxe

This is the result of some wire brushing and POR-15 applied by brush. Honestly, I am not that satisfied with the cosmetics but it sure is durable!

toddalin

Lots of Simple Green, wire brushes, and scrubbie pads. I first spread out a painter's plastic disposable drop cloth under the car to catch most of the muck.

When I got it all clean and hosed down, I sprayed it all, including the fiberglass, (had been repaired from where the half-shaft came into the car) with the Old Krylon Semi-gloss black. I did the '64 on my lift, but we did our '70 on jack stands.

Jeff Garner

Like the others said. Basically clean, clean, clean. It's a hard dirty job, especially if covered with undercoating but a lot of satisfaction when you're done. Another tool that is very helpful that I use is a 4" grinder with a 4" tiger disc, which is a grinding disc with small squares of sandpaper or emery cloth that shines up the frame before priming and painting.

DansYellow66

I have to agree that while you could use a regular pressure sprayer, you need to use a fan spray and be careful with it. From my personal experience (I learn a lot the hard way) stay away from a steam cleaner. I used one on the entire underside of my car (on a lift) when I was getting ready to tear it down to restore. The hot water on the underbody - contrasting with the cool interior (winter time) -turned the inside of my car into a complete sauna. Not good.

POR 15 is amazing stuff - the only paint I know that looks sprayed on when it's been brushed on. However, if you get it on you, you will live with it for a good while.

Dan

Hitch

Lots of good information in this post. I didn't worry about cleaning any grease off anything when I was doing mine. My DeWalt angle grinder with a wire knot wheel would remove almost any paint or under coating that I could find. What I couldn't get to with it I used a wire wheel on a high speed drill and lastly wire wheels on the dremel sparingly.

Once all cleaned up POR15 with foam brushes. It flows out well and lays smooth with no brush strokes. Best of all the brushes are cheap just throw them out as needed. I top coated with Rustoleum Industrial Gloss Black. It's held up well over the last six years. Now is this correct heck no. It was what I wanted, if you want a more correct sheen top coat with some semi-flat black.

Dave

vettegozzzz

It's great to the see the bottom-side look almost as good as the top side. Shows alot of dedication.

TheSaint

SupremeDeluxe you got that result using a brush? Then i am amazed.

There is no rust on the frame of my car(mostly old paint)but there are some nuts welded on the frame(home made exhaust i think they was for) that needs to be cut off.And a lot of cleaning.

It is just as easy for me to respray the parts but then i have to mask all of the car so i really don know if i should spray the undercarriage or use a roller and brush?
I really want to get my car like your cars.
I suppose that getting a result like on your cars i have to take off alot of parts? The leaf spting, rear axel, drive shafts exhaust the hole works?
Great if you can tell me what you took off your car.Makes it easyer for me because i know what i need to do.

vettegozzzz you oil filter. What is that bolt i see on your oil filter?

Originally i planned that the first thing i would do was to deliver the car and have it washed with high pressuere hot water but i see from my friends here that using hot pressure washer is a big no no.

How long did it take you to get a result like this? I suppose many many hours of work.

I bought my way back in 1993 and this was something of the first i was going to do on my car and now it is 2010

TheSaint

Been thinking about the undercarriage of my car and the best way to do it.
After i have cleaned eveything i thought about getting the car on a lift stand. Then i will spray paint everything in a nice black colour.
After the black paint have dryed for some days i will take off the parts that needs to be painted grey and paint them and put them back on the car.
Does this sounds like a good idea?

But i still play with the idea of high pressure washing the undercarriage first of all but you guys warns me not to do it so i think i listen to you.

Hitch

What you are proposing is just a rattle can restoration. I wouldn't even bother to be honest unless you are just worried about rust. Just my opinion...

Dave

TheSaint

If you take a look of the pictures of the cars above.They look very well would you not agree?

And off course the engine and trans are getting out of the car.Forgot to tell you that.