Ultimate undercoating scraper (cheap jeri-rig)

[targa80]

As most of you know, I have been stripping my car body for the last year and I have tried several ways of removing the body schultz undercoating.

1. Propane torch - leaves burnt crap everywhere and stinks real bad. Can start fires real easy. Keep an extinguisher near.

2. Air Grinder/wire wheel - Rips the stuff off and throws it everywhere. Noisy as all heck and the wife just don't like it. Many days in the dog house.

3. Electric heat gun and a razor blade scraper - Works really well requires two hands one for the gun and one for the scraper. Scraper gets hot and so does the hand. It does not work well on small pieces of metal unless you clamp it down.

Don't waist your time with any of them

USE THE ULTIMATE CHEAPO SCRAPER $24.00

Work with confidence and have an extra hand free so you can drink that cold brew while your working.

Harbor Freight tools

Heat gun 35776-0VGA $19.00
3 way scraper 41906-0VGA $1.99

Auto parts store

Radiator hose clamp $1.99



You might have to bend the scraper a little so that it sits against the heat gun head.



Let the heat gun warm up the blade for a minute then start scraping. In the beginning, it will be slow but once the metal gets warm the scraper just lifts the body schults right off leaving primer and very little body schultz behind. On concaved curves I just scraped at a 90 degree angle pulling the undercoating away from the body part.



You can change to a new blade and remove most of the remaining body schultz. In my own case, I just use paint stripper to remove the primer and the remnants of the undercoating.



HAPPY SCRAPPING

[UTKarmann_Ghia]

he he he, nice one. Man, I checked out your site again the other day and I was hoping to see more progress! I had checked it last spring and was hoping you'd be almost done. How close are you getting?

[bell]

very nice imagineering

[notmytarga]

The harbor freight heat gun is on my purchase list because it is

NOW on sale - around $10 until Feb 2nd.

I have been planning to strip a few areas - so this is just in time. Most of my undercoating cleaned up well.

[scca_ita]

Be careful of the galvanized surface............

[jpnovak]

I like it. too late now as I used route #2

[targa80]

Originally posted by UTKarmann_Ghia
he he he, nice one. Man, I checked out your site again the other day and I was hoping to see more progress! I had checked it last spring and was hoping you'd be almost done. How close are you getting?

When I started last year I thought it would take between a year to a year and a half. Well I'm just past the year mark and have started stripping the other body parts(fenders, hoods, doors, bumpers and rocker panels). I hope to paint them by the middle of next month. Then I can tear down the temporary paint booth. Then it will be time to clean/ refurbish or replace each part as I start to put it all back together. I will be lucky if I get it all done in a year and a half.

I know I am not very fast at this but I only have to do enough work to please myself. I am not the type of person that starts a project and doesn't finish it. You won't be seeing advertisements from targa80 for a project car for sale.

[notmytarga]

Your project is amazing. I thought I was compulsive but I have easily decided to leave undercoating in place and not remove all the dash and tunnel wiring. The rust issues with my car are very limited.

Questions for Targa80 not related to this thread:

Why did you strip to the bare tub?

Why are you waiting for reassembly to clean and refurbish? I'm finding that refurbishment of parts and packing them away gives me the satisfaction to keep going - and it should be a smoother reassembly. I guess I am compulsive when it comes to this.

[targa80]

Originally posted by notmytarga


Questions for Targa80 not related to this thread:

Why did you strip to the bare tub?

Why are you waiting for reassembly to clean and refurbish? I'm finding that refurbishment of parts and packing them away gives me the satisfaction to keep going - and it should be a smoother reassembly. I guess I am compulsive when it comes to this.

I went to the bear tub because I wanted to make sure that I did not leave something alone and regret it later.
I have always had a desire to do a restoration.
The car had some undercarriage damage in the floor pans and I hate the undercoating look.
I wanted to put on a good rust inhibitor(it is a targa = leaks in the rain and wet carpet).
I wanted to do a complete new paint job and not just shoot over old paint.
I found rust where I did not expect to find it. I bought the car when I lived in New York City. So the first 15 years it saw harsh winters.

I am not in a hurry to complete this project I work on it when I can. I don't see a reason to refurbish something until I can get to it. Right now I am concerned with the final stripping and repainting of the off body parts.

I find this works for me it keeps me busy in my garage. My wife will attest to this I am happiest when I am tinkering in my garage.

[TRE Cup]

Clever! thanks for sharing

[notmytarga]

Thanks for answering!

I too crave tinkering time. Seems like other duties of life are usually getting taken care of before I can enjoy --- sanding to factory primer right now. Eventually. Keep us posted!

[Britain Smith]

I took your idea and ran with it...check out my new scrapper. The wife loves it also as she doesn't have to hold the heat gun all the time (well at least for a few minutes here and there).

Thanks targa80,

-Britain

[Paul Franssen]

Hey guys, PATENT ...pending?

[targa80]

Originally posted by Schmuck69
I took your idea and ran with it...check out my new scrapper. The wife loves it also as she doesn't have to hold the heat gun all the time (well at least for a few minutes here and there).

Thanks targa80,

-Britain

How do you change the blades?

Just kidding! Looks good