I was hoping to post a title that might just garner your attention, but the title is correct, I am going to be cleaning and painting the underside of my 1974 Convertible project car soon and I am seeking to learn what paint, in what form, did you use to achieve the results you wanted.

Passenger side.


Firewall.


Driver side.


Passenger side channel.


Driver side channel.


Tunnel 1.


Tunnel 2.


Passenger side seat.


Driver side seat.


Rear bumper area.


Wheel wells. Looks like I still need to remove some dirt from this area as well.


I am listing some options below because honestly I am not certain I have the right setup here at my home garage to do much in the way of spraying the underside of the car body and the engine bay, but I'd like to hear what you have to say about it as well.

And what did you use to get those good results for your project? I have listed some options below and thought now is the time to ask though it will be a month or so before I am at that point in my build.

Paint gun? (I have never used one).
Rattle can? (Lots of options here).
Brush? (Have heard it done, never done it on a car).
Roller? (Again, have heard it done, never by me).
Color? (Black, Charcoal, etc.).
Brand? (Eastwood, store brand, other?).
Finish? (Matte, Satin, Semi-Gloss, Gloss?)
Type? (Lacquer, Acrylic; Latex, other?)

Please just share with me, share with others here, and if you don't mind bragging a little, show your results with the details and give us all some good advice.

Your help will sincerely be appreciated by me, and certainly by others as well.

Thank you in advance and best regards,

David Howard
AllVettes4Me

 

This was done with a lot of spray cans

 

sug, your after picture looks great, thank you. I have my chassis powder coated and all the components for it are as well. Looking for advice on the underside of the body. Did you lift the body during your restoration and paint the underside of the body?
Thank you for sharing.
David

 

I have done every thing with the body on and cleaned all the black over spray on the underside with acetone and scotch brite pads on my back with the car up on axle stands. Have a lift now (wish I had it before I had taken the Muncie out twice .Just left the fiberglass under the car raw

 

Chassis is in pretty good shape now. I am having the transmission cross member powder coated to match the frame (satin black) and working on the engine and transmission in preparation for putting those back together and putting them up on the chassis.


Engine is an L-82 with 350/350 cam; Edelbrock performer 2101 intake; Edelbrock for Quadra-Jet 750 CFM carburetor; Patriot headers to a 2-1/2" Magna Flow exhaust system.


Transmission is the stock Turbo Hydromatic TH400 that has been cleaned, detailed, ready for service.


If you have never seen the rear bumper of the 1974, well here it is. They mounted this to the rear impact section hanging on the frame to absorb the impact of a 5 mph impact which was the requirements in 1974. Later this became much more sophisticated but in 1974 this is what you got. You can see the mounting holes on the left and right side.


And this is where that bumper mounts. Impact zone on a 1974. And now you can say you have seen one.

 

Dave

 

Thanks Dave. They took it back to natural, got it. I am leaning towards a satin black finish on mine, not worried about NCRS like the video, but do appreciate the help.
I do have some stripping to do as well, never have used acetone in there, but will give it a try as well.
Thank you.
David

 

Further along in the series they show the black out procedure for the cars. On mine I de-greased and pressure washed it and then I like you are doing satin blacked it out only with truck bed liner for noise control, I added trans tunnel insulation to finish it off, have fun.

Dave

 

That's going to look awe some when put together David ,Its all in the detail

 

I am in the middle of this at present David.

started with kerosine (or a degreaser), followed with simple green and finished with acetone.

cloths and scotchbrite pads

then either leave the fiberglass natural and/or in sone places use paint or use a Bed liner (inside guards)

metal parts cleaned and painted.

 

Be prepared to do a lot, and I mean a lot of picking and scraping.....mine looked 10 times worse than yours did. I wanted to preserve the natural fiberglass look without painting, undercoating etc, but with a few repairs it was never going to look good.
I started just scraping off the thick stuff and the bulk of the undercoating using a heat gun. Next was the scotch brite pads spraying on mineral spirits, and lacquer thinner. When everything was gone I followed up with brake cleaner. Sprayed an epoxy primer then a mix of Rustoleum Professional with hardener added and acetone to thin it. I mixed gloss and flat to get the right semigloss sheen. Outcome was good but it was a fair bit of work.

 

Haven't done my vette yet(did under hood years ago) but every other vehicle has gotten the scrape/kerosene/soap and water scrub downs. Then I use gallon of rustoleum for paint both inside and out. Mainly started with it due to rust belt issues. It looks decent if take your time applying it and frankly I'm a cheap SOB and if not being seen most of the time it looks good to me. You can spray it I believe bit it'd be a mess I bet.

 

Following along
this will be the next project I tackle
allvettes4me looking forward to see what and how you do it.
Keep us updated on progress
thanks Dan

 

For others considering this project: If your car is running and the underside has a significant amount of grease/crud/dirt/etc on it, drive it to a place that does steam cleaning. They'll raise the car and 'go to town' on that junk is short order. Just point out those areas/items that you don't want to get full pressure. This process GREATLY reduced the amount of personal labor spent and the amount of [brain-robbing] volatile cleaners needed to get a good start on that job.

P.S. The underside is fiberglass. If it is cleaned well, there is no need for any painting. In fact, if you decide to paint, make sure the paint you use can FLEX. It needs to have an elastomer added to the paint in order to flex. I assure you that those fiberglass panels will vibrate/flex when driving. A hard paint on flexible fiberglass has the risk of cracking and/or popping off in pieces or sheets.

 

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

 

I have way to many pics to post here but I ussed VHT spray paints and a good heavy rustoleam oil paint and a thick brush on the inner fender wheels on the wheel side
Before cleaning and masking

I had pulled the motor out the top and slid the tranny out the bottm

I used acetone and a roag to get everyting soaked and used a wire wheel and a razor blade to lift all the paint and undercoating



Then everything was wrapped in Thick tin foil from walmart. The thick stuff tended not to rip as easy as the thin stuff

the entire front end was masked then I covered I painted the frame with VHT frame paint. IT was a higher gloss than the body

Then I covered the frame lightly to paint the fire wall and fenders with a VHT satin


All the parts went in the dunk tank with a cleaning solution that was just a straight cleaner from jugs that I got at walmart

Then they were painted with VHT as well. SOme parts got stainless silver, some cast iron and others an aluminum.

















The brake booster and wiper vacuum can were repainted a stainless steel later



So all my small parts like nuts bolts and washers were wire wheeled on a bench top grinder on a stand.

Large parts were soaked, Hand brushed with a wire brush then the stubborn stuff was wire wheeled or hand grinder using a cup brush. The fiber glass was sprayed with brake cleaner, then soft wire brushed

 

And we only lost 40 points on our I.Q. scores from all the volatile cleaner fumes we sucked up during the cleaning process...
(I did it much the same way.)

 

Your car came out very nice, thank you for the pictures. I took away a few items from your response including the brown paper; heavy duty aluminum foil; and more. Thank you for your help, much appreciated.
David Howard
AllVettes4Me

 

I really cannot afford to lose any more points in the I.Q. area personally.
I appreciate the help.
David

 

Launch the underside is that pretty, how do you justify putting the body on right side up?