| Author |
Message |
Bryan Larrabee (Busasaurus) (24.69.255.205)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 27, 2002 - 12:41 am: | |
We have some rust in both front wheelwells on the underside of the bus. The game plan was that if we could clean it up under there, remove the rust and undercoating, we could weld some sheet metal in there and put in new undercoating.
We blocked up the bus, removed the wheel and went after it with a grinder. It worked, but was one messy job requiring a mask, eye protection and a couple of hours fighting to remove the undercoat which seems to be petrolium based. This stuff had been on the bus since the early 60's.
Before I tackle the other wheelwell, I thought I'd ask if anyone has had any experience with this?.. (short of using hand grenades).
-Bryan
Vancouver BC |
Jayjay (67.217.51.82)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 27, 2002 - 10:53 pm: | |
Hand grenades on undercoat? Try C-4 it's a lot more oomph per ounce. Always a mess, so keep at it, and don't breathe the dust. Good Luck, and Cheers...JJ |
John Biundo (Jbiundo) (64.175.37.23)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 12:27 am: | |
FWIW (disclaimer: I don't have much relevant experience, and certainly haven't tried removing undercoating, but), you might try a heat gun???? I've used one with alot of success to remove all the tarry, gunky stuff like the butyl tape and caulk sealing all the metal joints, and the mastic under/around the floor on my MC9. Heated it up and scraped a bunch of it off with a paint scraper (get a really solid one with a SHARP edge) and/or a razor blade scraper. Still needed some solvent and/or grinding to remove the last of it, but it gave me a good head start. Don't know, but it might work for you. HTH,
john |
johnwood (206.252.250.232)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 4:55 pm: | |
Why don't you try a paint stripper? Go to a local paint store or auto supply and ask for a stripper that is for oil based paint on metal. Most of them are a gel and will lay on the coating for quite a while and lift most anything. Then you could powerwash off the resultant goo. |
dougthebonifiedbusnut (24.218.119.24)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 7:23 pm: | |
johns right on the heat gun gets it to a point where you can tsake it off with a putty knife then remove the residule with carb clean and a rag but make sure you have lots of ventilation and use some rubber gloves |
dougthebonifiedbusnut (24.218.119.24)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 7:34 pm: | |
oh ya dont ever use a grinder for anything but ferous metels if you fill the wheel with that gook and try to grind metal the wheel might come apart in a hurry due to the expansion of the gook imbedded in the grinding wheel |
Bryan Larrabee (Busasaurus) (24.69.255.205)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 11:39 pm: | |
Thanks for the ideas. I was thinking of a heat gun AFTER we tried the grinder. The undercoat doesn't seem too thick, and is hard (not sticky, and didn't melt with any heat the grinder probably created).
I obviously should re-think the grinder idea anyway. Thanks for the safety tip, I never considered that the wheel would come apart.
We're having another go at it tomorrow.
Once this is all done, and the rust is fixed, any thoughts on what we can replace the undercoating with?
-Bryan
Vancouver BC |
Merlin Moon (Mrmerlin) (65.24.96.77)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 01, 2002 - 12:11 am: | |
I'd go with the electric heat gun suggestion, a putty knife and then to remove the last bit of black goo ... try brake cleaner (available in spray cans). I found some for 99 cents at a discount store. Works as good as the higher priced stuff from NAPA. What to do after you have derusted? Well, how about looking into POR-15 paint? A tad pricey but it is super stuff for stopping rust. Then you could foam coat on a 1" layer and top off with spray undercoating the next day. This is pretty much the process I went through under my bus on places where the undercoating and foam insulation had worn away. |
bob reed (205.188.193.57)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 13, 2002 - 4:09 pm: | |
There is a special tool used by car restoration folks--can be had from t.p. TOOLS-1-800-321-9260 or Griot's Garage [www.greotsgarage.com]orWinzer corp. 1 800 527 4126 |