Hello All

I have today decided to do a full underbody restoration i have the ok from the garage owner to do it and take as long as i need as he loves the car too

SO.......from lying under there today its not too bad but definitely needs work now before it gets too bad .
heres where i need your help please guys......What should i remove first and then what and then what etc etc I already know in my head how i want it to look under there and im sure it will do Im keeping the underseal on but want to clean it up all prior to painting it...what should i use to remove all the years of black grime etc?
I want to do it body colour but the only red hammerite do is garage door paint Looks a good red though....any tips for other reds spotted anywhere that would suit my needs??

Also any tips or things i should prepare myself for....good or bad ?

Many thanks
Mart

 

mines is painted mallard green underneath mate
and it looks spot on.

if i was you i would paint it the same shade of red as the car.

 

I knew it wouldn't be long!

 

find someone to steam clean the under side first then drive car till petrol nearly empty,exhaust off,rear bumper off,drop tank,remove fuel pipes,undo prop,undo rear brake pipes,remove h/brake cable,loosen rear diff bolts,drop rear beam [hoping bolts dont shear off on rear mounting plates] complete with rear suspension etc,its very heavy ,or you can strip rear suspension off first to lighten the load,remove fuel pipes,fuel breather,remove pipe clips,then its just a case of removing front suspension and anti roll bar [again hoping roll bar bolts dont break their captive nuts ] im assuming youll be p/coating all suspension components etc? youll prob find your fuel pipes under the car to be rusted to bits,dont know if you can still get these nowadays thats about it then after dinner you can refit it all

 

@ nick

I can't believe you are going to do this Mart
Best of luck

Get your resto thread sorted

 

mine is goin in for this in a few weeks mart i'll keep some pics for you

 

only thing i wish i did when i did mine was paint the floorpan j/violet,instead i did it black to keep a more "normal" look, its bugged me ever since,lol

 

You should be able to get smooth red hammerite so you can paint the underside.

Could get some 3m stonechip then paint over it with same colour as bodywork

 

you will have to get all the susp. parts powder coated too,especially while there all off Mart.

 

Thanks to All

I came to this decision after trying to fix the gear linkage yesterday,it appeared hard to get to and i thought if im dropping this down to get to that and that to get to this.....so may as well do the lot. Havent taken anything off yet or undone anything either, so got a lot ahead of me

Before pics should be on a resto thread tonight

Bit late for steam cleaning Nick ,its on stands ready to start, the fuel is just above the red so i will make sure ive got help when i get to that bit. Ive got new pump to go in the tank too

Ive got some panel wipe to clean the existing waxoyl up with, not sure whether to stone chip it or just give the existing waxoyl a good few coats of red TBH

Yes the underside will be body colour, fuel lines arent great TBH which i would like to replace definitely!

All arms,bars,brackets etc will be powder coated yes,all bolts either zinc'd or new stainless ones...not sure yet
I want to paint the diffs and shafts up whilst theyre out and put new oils in them too.

I have a huge list of jobs and niggles so will start a resto thread in the other room!

Many Thanks Guys
Mart

 

itll look great if you strip it to bare metal,then paint it body colour never looks right in my opinion if the underseal is painted on top should keep you out of mischief for a while when i did mine i had to wait for months for the fuel lines from germany,and that was several yrs ago now,so best check if theyre available before you bin them

 

Martin if you need a pair of hands let me know mate

 

bloddy hell, bufty buftyness

i would love to do it to martin as i am a tad bufty at heart,
but i dont have the patience, mayb consider it once the 16i is finished
and up and running,


if yo need a hand or ought, let me know

 

Mart - I think you're bonkers mate! - but i've not doubt that it will look even more minty fresh once its done!
Defo need to update your resto thread will all of the progress!

 

Thanks All

Nick, stripping it all would take an absolute eternity and it all looks ok TBH, plus if everything would bloody come off instead of rounding off i would have had more time to be fussy How on earth do you get the Stub axle off the rear beam ...do you take the hub off first had to cut handbrake cable off

What have i let myself in for

the fuel lines can be resurected looking at them today, they need a good rub down and painting which should sort them out!.

Resto thread to be started in resto room once internet speed goes up a bit

 

remove rear hub nut,rear discs and you will see a hole in the hub flange just big enough to get a socket bar through,just turn it to correct place and loosen all 4 bolts that hold rear hub assembly on,you can then remove hub assembly complete,it will just tap loose and pull off the drive shaft you can then decide if you want to strip it and renew bearings whilst your at it

 

Martin, get some pics up

IF i was keeping mine, i was sending it to John Taylor for this Cheating, yes, but im not doing it

 

AHHH wondered what the holes were for, thanks Nick, wish you lived closer haha

MAD RST pics in resto for you mate, im one of those people who wont pay anybody to do something i can do myself mate!....be prepared for the pics though my cars had a hard life...its quite rusty under there!

 

OMG.....you never right mart....defo got more patience than me...good luck....

 

Cheers Frosty

 

fuel lines can be shot blasted and powdered for a longer lasting finish

i used petrol to get all the oil/grime off mine

then etch, primer, basecoat and lacquer

i thought about stripping underseal but changed my mind

it would take a lot of work !!

do it in same as body colour, red looks good

 

Dave maybe a daft question but did you brush the above on or spray??

 

Cheers mate im glad the fuel lines can be blasted, i wasnt sure TBH. Ive started cleaning the underside and the underseal is in great condition on the floorpan The red paint underneath is going to look fantastic.

 

PICS

 

i should inspect the fuel lines carefully martin as mine were rusted to hell and the car was under 10 yr old at the time

 

Thanks Nick, can you run braided lines down the length of the car do you think or do they have to be metal?

 

mat

mine was sprayed but u can brush it no problem

just depends how fussy you are

a few people have braided underneath all the way through

i did not do mine but probbly will over the winter !!

 

Dave where did you get your braided brake lines from that run along the rear arms please? I think these look superb and are something i had never even thought of i spent ages looking at your car at Croft and was simply stunned at the quality and detail thats gone into it . people were looking at me gone out lying on the floor looking underneath it

Thanks
Mart

 

I wouldn't know where to start