Undercoating removal methods?

The boneheads that owned my project '66 before sprayed undercoating in the luggage compartment, over rusted and solid metal. Would like to remove and paint, but the only solvent I could find that works is gasoline. Anybody have any ideas?

I've used gasoline as a solvent many times and I very probably will never use it that way again. Please don't. Besides being explosive (a good reason by itself) the oil companies put additives in them that are POWERFUL carcinogens. And it irritates my skin.

Undercoating usually seems waxy to me, so a petroleum based product might work well. GOOP hand cleaner, and similar others, are parafin-based. Kerosene makes an excellent degreaser and would probably work well, but it is still nasty, though not as nasty as gasoline.

A friend removed all undercoating from a 914 (twenty pounds - he weighed it). I'll ask how he did it.

As a solvent, I keep a big can of Mineral Spirits around. It's not harsh and usually works well. Don't know if it will soften undercoating, but it's pretty cheap. Perhaps worth a try.

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'83 SC

Heat it up with a hot air gun and scrape the lifting underseal off. Don't use a gas axe unless you like explosions.

Remove the residual underseal with some petroleum spirit.

It's hard, messy and slow, but it's the best way.

Thanks guys- I hadn't thought about a heat gun- will probably work ok. Believe me I won't use gasoline, but it sure works to get it off your hands!



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Mackskibum
'66 911 Work In Progress

my new eastwood catalog which i just received today has a new product featured on the cover called 'under gone.' it is used specifically to safely remove undercoating. i read the description; it looks pretty effective and not too messy. the kit is 59.99. don't know if it works, but you might want to check it out. their number is 800-345-1178. hth-

adam

Two thoughts. First Wurth's orange base hand cleaner might work. Second if you have rust think about media plasting the area. Some of the blasters use ground up plastic at very low pressures and it does a great job of diging out that rust. I live on the ocean in the Pacific Nortwest about 150 miles south of the Hoh rain forest and all of the hot rodders (old car buffs) here blast.

that same orange hand cleaner stuff, like Goop, is petroleum based, and is most excellent for cleaning hands. Much better than gasoline, if you don't mind the comment. The stuff should be on your work bench.

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'83 SC

I accidently got some brake fluid on
some undercaoting and it lifted right off..

Be carful with the heat... The undercaoting
can become flamable.

Good Luck
Joe A

Have you tried furniture stripper? I haven't either, but I do a bit of antique furniture renovation & I'll bet it'll work. Get a small can of the paste type to try it out. Brush on & let it sit for 15 min., then use a putty knife to get it off. My take more than one application, but I bet it'll work!
regards,
jlex.

Some may cringe at this, but I used a small, handheld propane torch on LOW flame to heat the tar-based undercoating, then it scraped right off with a putty knife-I wore a filter mask and had a box fan blowing through the garage while doing this, however-messy job! Be sure to rinse the metal w/mineral spirits after removing the undercoating (and extinguishing all open flames), then apply naval jelly or something similiar to the bare metal to prevent it rusting in the future. POR-15 paint is wonderful stuff-just DON"T get it on your hands-NOTHING will remove it once it's dry (I tried).