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Under-body Protection Routine

2K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  mromaus 
#1 ·
Alright y'all, so I'm closing in on finishing my rear quarter panels and will migrate up to the cowl shoulders soon. I'm trying to look forward to the future as it pertains to under-body protection and coatings. Currently, I have an entirely new (trunk, floor, firewall) sheet metal built car. It still has its EDP coating on it. I am planning on putting it on a rotisserie (or building one out of wood google: tip-over-jig) so I can gain better access to the bottom of the car, which is why I need to finish the QPs and firewall to put it on a rotisserie.

I'm guessing I should wire wheel the entire bottom to get the EDP coating off or should I use a good aircraft paint stripper? I'm trying to figure out what coating I should reapply over the top of bare metal to provide good adhesion for a bed-liner top coat (if you want to try to talk me out of going the bed-liner coating route I'm all ears as I'm not 100% sold on it; then again I'm not building a show car...).

For my DTM process I was thinking a catalyzed epoxy primer (I'm guessing 2 coats so around a gallon?), then seam sealer (either spreadable or in a tube; again, change my mind if you have suggestions...), then a top coat of something good like a POR Bed-Liner or something similar. (Again, I don't care if the bottom of the car is black or the base-coat; frankly this thing just needs to not rust). I plan on spraying the bed-liner with a bed-liner shutz gun so it will go on thick with a somewhat textured surface. Which brings up a new can of worms; textured or not? I've heard textured will hold water. I don't plan on ever driving in the rain and it will live in my garage, if that matters

As a side note I've heard terrible stories about bed-liner coatings, from de-lamination to flaking to chipping. Do they make a catalyzed harden bed-liner? Most of the ones I've seen are single stage water-based stuff, which means you cannot go DTM with it.

Again, any suggestions and pictures of your stuff can help.
 
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#2 ·
I think you're on the right track. I did pretty much the same. I had my 67 sandblasted then shot with 3 coats of SPI epoxy primer. I seam sealed everything up with a 2k seam sealer then a couple coats of raptor liner over top. I didnt want a coarse texture so I thinned out the raptor liner then shot with an HVLP gun, I was really happy with the results. As long as you remove the previous coating and spray on a few coats of good epoxy primer, it should last a long time.

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#4 ·
I've been in this business for decades. If the EDP is quality and does not come off with laquer thinner, you can red scotchbrite it and epoxy it when doing the floors. Leave the epoxy or topcoat with satin black if you want. I don't use bedliners for floors; it's overkill. Cars I've done decades ago that I own are not failing and I actually drive them in the rain and on dirt roads. I'll blast the floors sometimes but it depends on the build requirements. EDP on the outer body panels always gets removed prior to epoxy and topcoat. Feather duster car owners often overthink rust protection procedures and products. You are going to wear out and die before a restored car rusts and rots when it never sees inclement weather.
 
#5 ·
I did similar to Crazychevelle. Stripped everything. I used Upols own “anticorrosive” epoxy primer and then Raptor. I sprayed with their gun and didn’t find their to be too much texture. I am intrigued about thinner and spraying through a HVLP because I’m gonna do the trunk and would prefer less texture for that.

If money is at all important I’d really encourage you to do the tip over jig. It’s awesome. Somewhere on here if you do a search there are threads and I think I posted pics of my version. I had some scraps of plywood so only had to buy some cheap 2x4, a box of screws and some nuts/bolts. A rotisserie is better in that you can tip both directions but for the price a wood jig can’t be beat. Once I was done I took out the screws to save them, kept the wood that was still useable and sawed up the rest for the yard trimmings collection. No big metal jig to store or have to sell.
 
#6 ·
I have been using corroseal:

https://www.amazon.com/Corroseal-Water-Based-Converter-Primer-82331/dp/B001CRETZW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=coroseal&qid=1574039295&s=automotive&sr=1-1

I for right now I will coat that in VHT epoxy paint.

Here are some pics of the stuff in action. It seems OK, better than just painting over rust maybe.

The pictures attached are with minimal prep, just wire brushed the rust. I was just testing the stuff to see how it worked out, you can see that I put the wheel on too soon and did not concern myself to much with the drum. Most of the rust is not much worse than surface rust. I'm thankful that for the most part this car is in good shape.

I used my primer gun, 1.8 tip and 1.5 tip (to try and save some material).
 

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