dressing up the rear underside?
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 88
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dressing up the rear underside?
i'm a little dissatisfied with the looks of the rear underside of my '81. the spare carrier always looks dirty and of course rusty. the exhaust tips look pretty bad too. how should i go about dressing all of this up? paint the carrier? get some chrome exhaust tips? etc? i want to ride the factory exhaust as long as i possibly can. just to say it's all original :hat
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 2,675
Likes: 13
From: Sudbury MA
Re: dressing up the rear underside? (bkirk)
I removed the spare tire holder and washed it in the driveway with "Simple Green. Then lightly hit it with Krylon SemiFlat Black spray paint #1613 just enough so it looked black but not painted if you know what I mean. I cleaned the entire rear area with Simple Green because it is not as harsh as Castrol Super Clean (which also works well but don't leave it on very long as it is very strong); then I replaced the exhaust tips with factory originals and hit the mufflers with the Krylon also and it looks great.
Mine is a 68 coupe but same process applies.
Mine is a 68 coupe but same process applies.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,738
Likes: 53
From: Bogart GA
Re: dressing up the rear underside? (bkirk)
I removed the carrier and stripped it down to fiberglass, repaired all the holes and cracks then I painted it gloss black and the steel supports I painted the body color which is red. Then I gave it a couple of coats of clear gloss Krylon. Looks great!! I used gloss because it is MUCH easier to clean than flat or semi plus gloss contains more reason which makes it more durable. Been on for 2 years and looks like I painted it yesterday, but of course I don't drive her in the rain. :rolleyes:
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,689
Likes: 1
From: St Petersburg FL
St. Jude Donor '07,'13
Re: dressing up the rear underside? (groovyjay)
What I like to do with my exhaust is sand it down. I wrap 80grit sandpaper around it and lightly sand all the pipes. Then I go to a hardware store and get the high temp "grill" paint. They usually come in black or silver and it looks really nice compared to rust. :cheers:
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,990
Likes: 0
From: No longer a member
Re: dressing up the rear underside?
I used whitewall cleaner from a local supplier who mixes up their own chemicals. It's strong stuff like the Castrol and ate through rubber gloves and turned my hands blue, and that was a 50/50 mix with water. Any good degreaser will work well. Give the tire carrier a good scrubbing and use a product called "Forever Black," it's made for renewing black trim molding but worked great on my fan shroud.
Here's my before; http://www.c3sharktank.com/tech2/rear12.jpg
and after; http://www.c3sharktank.com/tech2/finish2.JPG
Large pic warning.
Here's my before; http://www.c3sharktank.com/tech2/rear12.jpg
and after; http://www.c3sharktank.com/tech2/finish2.JPG
Large pic warning.
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