Topic: My Clean Belly

[bryancobb]

Man! I'm not ready to do my body and body shell stuff right now. I want to drive and enjoy the car some this summer.

I have a concours restored engine, xmsn, and rear end.

I couln't put that brand new-looking stuff into a car with a filthy belly. The quick solution was to just clean it up.

I took a brass wire brush in the drill and lightly went over the belly. Then I sprayed on mineral spirits and Castrol SuperClean and let it soak for 20 minutes. I wiped it with clean rags, let it dry, and then wiped it with a damp lacquer-thinner rag.

After it dried, I shot it with "Spray-MAX"catylized polyurethane clear from an aerosol can. http://www.repaintsupply.com/prod_im...clearcoat1.jpg
This stuf is cool! They put a 2-part poly in a high tech spray bomb that has a chamber for the part B. You remove a button from the cap, install it on the bottom, and push it in. It ruptures the inner chamber and releases the catylist. Just shake it up. It lasts 3 or 4 days before it won't spray any more. It's pricey...$24 per can but it's a lot cheaper than buying a pint of clear + hardener + thinner to clean up. This is professional grade paint like PPG Concept etc.

MY BELLY LOOKS LIKE IT ROLLED OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE YESTERDAY, EXCEPT FOR A FEW ROCK-CHIPS FROM THE LAST 45 YRS, AND FRECKLES WHERE THE FACTORY EPOXY PRIMER DIDN'T STICK WELL TO THE GALVANIZED FRAME RAILS!!

I'll post some pictures as soon as I get the drivetrain in and take it to a friend's house and raise it on a lift. I tried taking pics with it on jack stands but I just can't get far enough away to show it.

NOW I HAVE DECIDED THAT WHEN I DO MY CONCOURS PAINT ON THE EXTERIOR, I'M NOT GONNA DO ANYTHING ELSE TO THE BOTTOM. IT LOOKS SO GOOD, AND THAT WAY, THE JUDGES CAN SEE THAT THE CAR IS ORIGINAL AND HAS NEVER BEEN ON A ROTISSERIE!

[Pete Bush]

Bryan,

Did you have to remove any undercoating?

Is the SprayMax Gloss or Satin?

Pete

[bryancobb]

Nope, NONE!!!   No one had ever sprayed any crap on there and messed it up.  Metuchen, undoubtedly didn't put any sound deadener on the bottom.  Now the wheelhouses had deadener.  I didn't do that part.  I only did pinchweld to pinchweld.

Check out this thread.  This is when I had just started cleaning.  http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=2641.msg13988#msg13988

The joints where the frame rails met the floors and the inward facing corners of the pinchwelds had a a bead of black caulk that had dried up and gotten hard.  It popped off easily.
Since I won't be driving on wet roads, i didn't put it back right now.  I'll do that next year when I do the body.

Now If you've been following my project for any length of time, I replaced the trunk dropoffs last year where a bad exhaust system had eaten through them a little.  The original conditions in that area are lost forever since I just took out the old ones and tossed them.

I wish now I had cleaned them up and took pictures.

[bryancobb]

Is the SprayMax Gloss or Satin?
Pete

It's gloss but so is my original epoxy primer.  In some areas, the red primer is as slick and shiny as the body paint!

[Pete Bush]

Bryan,

I'm kinda jealous. Although my '66 Sprint convertible is also  a Metuchen build, it had a DSO of New York instead of Atlanta and spent allot of its early life in Connecticut. It has a heavy undercoating (not sure who applied it) and several rusted spots. I'm waiting to get it on a buddy's lift so I can do a really good inspection. But it doesn't look anywhere near as good as yours. But it's better than some I suppose.

I saw the SprayMax in an Eastwood catalog about a year ago and have been waiting for an opportunity to use it. Glad to hear of the good results. I think Eastwood's is asking $19.99 a can.