I just got my car apart on my 71 firebird the subframe is out and the firewall is stripped of everything that would come off. My question is, can anyone recommend a good way to strip the paint and goo off of the underbody, and the paint off the firewall? i could just use a wire brush for the firewall but that would take forever on the undercarriage! any products tips or hints would be great!

I scrubbed the firewall with steel wool and Jasco Premium Stripper. Jasco is water soluable and is pretty aggressive. Available at Home Depo for about $20/gal. I wasn't as ambitious as you on the underside, I just used a high-pressure washer and a wire brush.

Cody,
Is the underbody coated with rubberized undercoating? If it is, it's probably hard and brittle by now. I made real quick work of stripping it off by using a heatgun and one of those heavy duty paint scrapers. It's got a sharpened notch on one side and it sharpened almost like a knife. They last forever and will scrape anything. I used a 2" and 3" putty knife also. The stuff came off like butter but it took a while to get all the nooks and crannies. It's a hell of a lot easier and a lot cleaner and safer than using a chemical stripper. Heat and scrape....
This is the type I'm talking about.... http://images.orgill.com/200x200/2385680.jpg
Just remember to wear good eye protection and\or a faceshield and maybe even earplugs to keep the crap out of places it shouldn't go. ;)

On the firewall, I used a palm sander and 80-grit, then paint stripper and a wheel on the hard to get spots. The sander got me down to bare metal in no time.

http://home.flash.net/~tomgr/pic/Chevelle/During/Scraping.jpg

Just give your kid a putty knife and stand back.

Oven Cleaner works great but probably wont get the undercoating.

Originally posted by figbash:
Just give your kid a putty knife and stand back. I recruited an unemployed twenty-something from the neighborhood to do alot of the dirty work. I think he's developed a fondness of MEK :eek:

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/TimC/dsc_461.jpg

Originally posted by figbash:
http://home.flash.net/~tomgr/pic/Chevelle/During/Scraping.jpg

Just give your kid a putty knife and stand back. Quick Q - How did you get the car on its side and positioned like that without being able to turn it once it is mounted like a regular rottiserie? Awesome idea and I am interested in following suit.

Just cannot figure out how you lifted the car up sideways, or got it from normal position to mounted sideways like in the picture.

I would also like to know how you managed to get a setup like that working. We've been thinking of a few ways to support the body above the frame while we worked on the frame. If I could have it on its side like that next to the frame, I could keep it all in the garage and still have room for the woman's taurus. lol.

http://www.accessiblesystems.com/