Paddles

I am curious if anyone has any insight as to what would be best for an underbody finish for my 1955 olds. I don't have access to a lift to get it up very high at the moment. I built some stands for my jack stands to sit on to give them about an extra 6" of height. My power washer wand is to big to effectively get under and keep some distance away for safe cleaning. I am thinking a hose and degreaser and them some form of chassis saver or some kind of eastwood paint but was curious if someone knew of a better product or technique that would help my cleaning and finishing process. (currently there is like a thick rubber layer of coating underneath and very light surface rust you can almost wipe away with a rag.

Ozzie

My '55 has something which is similar to what you describe. It is a sprayed on "undercoat" material that was applied at the dealership as soon as the car was delivered from the factory. This seems to have fallen out of favor somewhat in more recent times, but mine is still intact, and there is no rust anywhere. It does seem to provide a bit of "sound" insulation also. Be sure that the car is secure before working under it.

Tedd Thompson

Will this be a points type restoration or are you just trying to clean it up? If it's just to clean it up I would get the car up as high as you can and use something like Simple Green and your pressure washer, stiff scrub brush and a crawler. Get and use eye protection and plan on getting wet. I have an adapter that will let me use hot water from the washing machine outlet to the pressure washer and that helps melt off some of the old crud especially if you have had a oil leak in the past. That black tar crud is a protective undercoating and it can be duplicated and found at most all auto parts houses. It's a bitch to remove all of it by hand but if you just want to re due it can be had in a large spray can or by the quart it's not that hard to do. Eastwoods paints would probably be fine for the steel frame and front suspension and rear end. The heavy metal parts on mine were primed with a product called Rust Destroyer then on the sheet metal I used a DTM (direct to metal) Rustolium product and a 3 inch roller and brush and did it by hand with no problems.

There are probably a dozen ways to do this but with a body on restoration they all require a ton of hand work.... Tedd

Rocketowner

Sounds like your car was probably undercoated when it was new at the dealership where it was sold.This was a common practice to try to keep down rust problems Are you sure that it is surface rust,because the undercoating usually kept salt from getting to the metal.The undercoating is terribly hard to completely remove,you might just want to scrape away any loose areas and spray more undercoating over it.3m makes it in spray cans. Larry

ignachuck

I count my blessings. My Super 88 was never undercoated, and has no rust.