I am intersted in knowing when a off-body operation is required and when you can leave it on and just sandblast and paint the underside.

Thanks in advance

MonteMan. The need for blasting starts when panels or pans suffer from serious rust. Surface rust can be removed in other ways. Rusted through panels should be replaced ?
If you have the equipment and you can handle the cleaning up afterwards, blasting is rather easy/quick and thorough. Cover with paint within 8 hours!
Body off is only required when rust exists above the chassis. Body mount bushings can be replaced piece by piece, does not need body off.

Body off is up to you : accessibility, completeness, money, labor time. The thing that bothered me the most is that you will never be able to remove rust between spot welded panels though, (unless they must be disassembled anyway).


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www.si.hhs.nl/~rob (http://www.si.hhs.nl/~rob)

I vote for body off. You can sandblast every little detail, get a better paint job, etc. Only thing is that it costs a bundle unless you can do most of the work yourself.

This is an interesting topic for me & would like to hear other' comments.

When I began restoring my 67, I decided to do a frame-on restoration. If the underbody panels where in bad shape, my decision may have been different. The underside of my car is as solid today as the day it was born/built, without ever having touched it.

I am putting a lot of money into my car & plan to show it. I chose to not not strip & paint the underbody, not only because it is fine, but also because I plan to "DRIVE" it! In so doing, I know that it will never be a huge show attraction (mirrors, etc.) or big points car that will challenge the trailer queens. That's ok. I felt that if I did do a body-off, I would be afraid to drive it & mess up the underbody.

OK, I know that there are those that have gone the underbody detailing route & do drive their cars. I'm not trying to trash anyone, in fact, I would like to know how you deal with it. Are you constantly washing the underside? Did you do the frame-off for show?

Perhaps after a year or so of driving my car, I will decide that a full body-off, concourse re-restoration is in order. Of course, then I may have to give up my aspirations of driving/showing a 67 SS427 Convertible. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif



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Phil Wise
67 SS Convertible
(now on the down slope of the resto curve)
ACES # 834, TC # 231
Photos of a work in progress (http://users.starpower.net/pwise/chevelle)

Thanks for the replies people,

It's interesting to see that my repeating post has produced different responses.

I feel that Phil Wise has brought up a valid point and from my perspecitve I don't deem a spotless undercarriage important in my ride. I just want something that won't rust and is cleaner than dirt to work on. Obviously everyone has their own ideas and expectations on their ride.

For budgetary/time reasons I am considering just wire brush/ sanding my undercarriage and then POR-15 it all. The car is from South Carolina and the rust looks to be mininal. Mr.Landry brings up a good point in sandblasting is a pain to clean up after and that sand can get into bad places. It would be much easier to clean if the car panels etc have been stripped down/frame off (ie doors, front clip) but that is alot more time and money. Unless it is deemed necessary why do it? I would rather drive the car than spend months$$ doing bodywork.

I understand the wire brush/sanding is very labour intensive but just how? I read a post that stated 40hrs is it that long? I used to paint houses for a living so I know all about sanding.

Thanks again,

I'm in the middle of this right now. When I restored the car last year I left it on the frame. I did the engine compartment and front portion of the frame. Now I just finished the detailing the front suspension (control arms, spindles, steering linkage, etc.) Moving to the back, I'm putting a 4:10 in. I pulled the axle and control arms out. Dropped the exhaust, etc. I'm staring at dirty floor pans, gas tank and such. There's no rust to contend with, so I'm going to clean the underside with Easy Off oven cleaner, skuff it and shoot it with paint. No major detailing other than the axle and control arms. I don't want to spend a ton of hours underneath. Looking back, this would have been a lot easier to do if I would have taken the body off the frame. But this isn't a numbers matching SS, and it's driven often. So I'll be happy with it being cleaned and painted. The part that makes it tough is I have a good friend restoring a 70 Shelby GT350. This car is perfect in every way. I helped him with the bottom of his car. He's spent a lot of hours under there making it correct. BUT this car is worth it! Not to say mine isn't, but I think there's always a limit to what makes since to do. When you do it, and the money and time used. My car is a head turner, and I'm proud of what I've done. My plan is to have the underside completed, and the car driving again by the end of April.
I think it comes down to what you'll be happy with.

Here is another perspective to add some fuel to this fire. I recently completed a frame-off on a 69 SS. I have owned the car since 1986 and am the 4th owner. It came to me with a NOM so that part was never an issue. I always wannted to try a frame-off, so I did.
It took 4 yrs. and mucho dinero! The car was pretty rough and it got worse as I went along. But, that is all behind me now. It was built to drive and it does get dirty. I try not to freak out too much about that aspect and just wash it. Now that it is done, I know that I would not have been as happy with the project if i had tried anything but a frame-off. I learned a lot and for me, it was worth it.
I think that each person has to sit down and figure out what they want, and then, how are they going to get there. Then , JUST DO IT!