A while back someone commented that the worst job in restoration was
scrapping, cleaning and detailing the undercarriage of your car. My bleeding
knuckles agree.
Now that spring like weather has arrived [low 60s F.] I have finally felt warm
enough to crawl under with my scrub brush, hose, and solvents. I got about
1/2 of the underside of the boot nice and clean, the only undercoating that
had to be removed was a grease soaked area at the bottom of the spare tire
well. No rot found, just a slight decayed edge where two pieces of sheet
metal came together.
The PO had placed a vinyl 'U' shaped trim piece around the base of the car
where the lower edge of the car body connects with the sheet metal of the
bottom of the boot. He also has this same material along the lower edge of
the rocker panels. It looks good and might protect against rock chipping but
seems to be just a water trap. Does anyone else have such trim or seen any
rot caused by such?
The boot has four holes [1" dia] in the bottom, in a row along the rear edge,
that appear to have knock out plugs. They are in quite tight and I assume
they are for drainage if your picnic cooler leaks in the boot or something.
I don't think I can get the plugs out and I don't want to. Is there any
functional purpose for these?
I plan to paint the undercarriage with POR 15. I do not plan to remove solid,
non-grease soaked undercoating, just clean and cover. I will have several
spots where I have gone down to bare metal [such as the bottom of the spare
tire well and, done earlier, the battery box... the old diff must have really
leaked]. Should I add a coat of undercoating or just paint it?
Rob Carpenter
[its April so why is my car on jack stands]
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