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I cleaned everything with putty knives, scotchbrite, many many rags with varsol and then laquer thinner (and lots of fans and showers)
wire wheeled all the stuff that couldn't be unbolted (riveted panels) masked and sprayed with eastwoods chassis paint
then after they dried for a few days, masked them and dust coated the fiberglass with krylon fusion semi gloss black
The wheel wells also got a coat of 3M 08883 while the jack and battery boxes and the area in between I used 3M 08881, adds a litlle texture, hides the bare fiberglass look and I can pretend it adds .001% of protection
Of course a couple of years later and the forward floorpans are now covered in DEI heat shield
M
Very helpful, thank you sir. Get out and enjoy the day while the snow is still away and thank you again.
David
I think I may have shared this before but I scraped as much of the heavy grease and road gunk as I could then used degreaser ("Degrezer" from Napa seemed to work best) and power washed everything. It took a few goes, especially the tight crease, nook and cranny areas. Once everything was dry I then used a wire wheel for all the steel areas and then a plastic bristle brush I made for a drill from a dish soap washer. I used a spay bottle with acetone and lacquer thinner with the brushes and then paper towels and with acetone and lacquer thinner.
I then when over the whole underbody with scotch bright knowing I was going to spay it and wanted to make sure I had good adhesion. I did section at a time so I wasn't overwhelmed - it's a lot of cleaning in areas that in your mind you know no one is ever going to see but you'll know. I sanded the engine bay fire wall in places to make sure I had good clean surfaces. I didn't want a show surface, but didn't want it all lumpy with old body goop used to adhere everything. There's still some of that but it's not as bad. I went back and forth on what I wanted to do underneath...nothing, paint, bed liner etc. Ultimately I decided to use SPI epoxy. Like you, I've never really spayed anything so I was not sure how it would turn out but I reached out the SPI guys and they walked me through everything. I used a $9 harbor freight spray gun that I modified a bit so it would work well. There's some YouTube videos on this. I spent a lot of time masking everything off so I didn't get overspray on the paint. Once the epoxy was down I almost left it as is, but ended up applying a few coats of SPI Matte Black. You can control the sheen by how much activator you mix - The SPI guys helped with that as well. Everything came out just as I'd hoped. Again, I wasn't after perfection but rather good consistency and clean. I spayed everything from front to back - front light area, front and rear wheel wells, engine bay, floor/tranny/battery box and rear. Everything. I also re-attached the rear well splash panels so that it was all painted at the same time. I'm glad I spent the time prepping the way I did and the SPI layed down very nice...it wasn't blotchy or runny.
From a can perspective, I've tried A LOT. My preference with the cans is Eastwoods 2K ceramic underhood black. It spays very nice with a nice finish. The issue is that it's got a 48hr pot life and there does not seem to be much in it ….and it's expensive. IMHO it's the best of the sprays cans. Next for me would be krylon 1613 - I used this most for interior parts though and never sprayed in the underside.
I did a Frameon on my Underside and what a PITA but a labor of love. I went thru 2 drills using wire wheels and sandpaper and putty knife to decrud everything. I sandblasted and Por15’d all the Parts and Frame before topcoating and also Por15’d the entire underside shell making it easier to clean. I used Krylon Semi Black on the Frame and Engine Bay.
