REMOVING UNDERCOATING

I'm a little over a year on my Deuce project and one thing really slowing me down is removing undercoating that apperntly sprayed on in the Desert Storm era. Everywhere
there is undercoating the paint is flaking and I have been pressure washing, scraping with a wood chisel and then using a cup type wire brush to remove it completly.
Anbody have any suggestions?
littlebob

My leaking master cyl on the 725 has made the undercoating fall off. Don't know how long it took though. Have you tried a heat gun and a putty knife?

Goof-Off?

I think eastwood has stuff for that.

I've been in the undercoating, rustproofing, paint sealant, etc business for 20+ years now and removing undercoating is on of the biggest pains in the ^*$% we have to deal with.

There is no easy way. You remove the bulk of it with a putty knife and heat gun. You remove the rest with many rags and solvent. The solvent would be a bug & tar type solvent that should be available in bulk (1gal + cans) from paint supply or detailing supply companies.

Don't know where you are geographically, but I've got the stuff in gallons to 55 gallon drums.

Don

A trick I have used in the past with some types of undercoating is to freeze it with compressed gasses. This way it get very brittle and can be chipped right off. If I remember correctly this was most effective with undercoating that was still somewhat soft.

If I master it I'll let everyone know how I did it. Thanks to everyone for the input. I don't have a heat gun, but with the temps around 95 during the day I can probably set them in a sunny place in the backyard and make it easier to remove. I will experiment with different solvents to see wich work best.I'm thinking there is no easy way,but any inputs on solvents would be appreciated.

littlebob

Lowes and Home Depot sell fairly cheap heat guns in the paint section. If you don't want to try that then give a hair dryer a try to see if it does anything for you.

If they are smaller pieces, try a blast cabinet. Or a plumbing/soldering propane torch instead of heat gun?

I have the same goo on my 70 Duster. It probably saved it from a lot of rust but they sprayed it on wires, fuel/brake lines, nuts, etc. I can't get the marker light bulbs out to change them.
You might try acetone, in a well ventilated area of course, since it will suck the petroleum out of the tar. I spilled some on the inner fender when I was restoring the brakes. It left the stuff dried out and you could scrape it or wire brush it off.
Do not get it on wires, rubber lines, weather stripping or any thing else you don't want FUBAR'd.
Just my .

I'm trying the same thing I want to coat the frame and underside with Rust Bullet and removal of this stuff is a pain!

I bought a pint of the Goof Off and it seems to work well. Kerosene works fairly well and may work better if I let it soak in. Kerosene doesn't evaporate as fast as the Goof Off.

Ultimately I'd like something I can spray on (plastic squirt bottle, maybe paint gun) and then hit with a power washer. Thought a heated power washer, possibly steam, would help but can't find any for rent around here. It's frustrating. I live in Los Angeles, I know it's here, I just have to find it

Due to a lack of space I can't take the body off so there are plenty of areas I won't be able to get a brush or scraper to.

I've got my homemade Haz-Mat / Painter's suit to wear and will take great precautions so the neighborhood kids don't see a flaming marshmallow running down the street

Hey have you tried paint remover ?Zep has a good paint remover the kind that burns your skin if you get any on you. I tried on a crane used an airless sprayer to apply it took old thick paint right off used pressure washer paint peeled right off . I think the paint remover would do the trick.

A hot tank is the fastest way to remove it but most of is dont have one of those sitting in the yard. I would suggest fudgeing a soak tank out of a 55 gallon drum and solvent, even diesel will work... Yeah its a waste to some extent but it sure beats doing it by hand.

wreckerman893 said:

I have the same goo on my 70 Duster.

Click to expand...

Now we found a new name for Wreckerman. I think we should start to call him "Al Bundy".

I sand blasted it off the frame on my deuce. It takes a lot of effort to get it off.

Sand blasting didn't work for me. The undercoating takes longer to remove and I ended up with pitting the metal around any blobs of undercoating.

If the undercoat material is bonded that well in certain areas, is there any benefit to just removing what is loose, and leaving the bonded-to-the-metal coating on? Does it really need to be stripped to the bare metal for a "fresh" application? I'm going to be doing a little of this myself, and though I'm not trying to take short-cuts, and I'm not lazy, but I like the idea of metal already being well etched with protective undercoat. Just shoot new over it??? It's a rough-finish you're going to have on those parts anyway, right? I'm a fan of NAPA's "Extend" on light rust and bare metal. It etches and kills the rust. I'm sure it will penetrate areas around the stuck-on undercoating. Maybe the finish you are looking for.

Borrowed a pressure washer, 3200PSI, works pretty well with the kerosene and a scotch-brite pad.

Just a follow up. The Pressure Washer & kerosene isn't working out as well as I thought. Large, easy to get to areas it's pretty good. it's the nooks & crannies. If I could pull the body off it would help a lot.

It's just the body ,M1009, on the frame but laying on my back on a creeper isn't helping any either.

I won't be doing this again

If the undercoating is hard, as in not soft and gooey, a needle scaler will knock it off pretty easily.