Well im thinking about dumping all my cash into my 83 gsl....I was wondering what a good price was for getting the underbody done the correct way by a pro and getting it sandblasted and rust proofing?

 

I don't know, but it sounds very expensive.

 

unless its rusted - just clean it up and rustproof or undercoat it
you sandblast and powercoat it you might as well get all the $ together
stand on top of the Empire State Building and throw it all off
you must be filthy stinking rich

 

I wouldn't powder coat it, but painting is cool. When I restored my MGB I put it on a rotisserie (http://64mgb.home.mchsi.com/64mgb_20000911.html ) and cleaned all the undercoating and other crap off, then hauled it to a sandblaster to have it stripped. Then put it back on the rotisserie and had my brother-in-law's body shop do the body work and painting, including the bottom. Very cool. The sandblasting cost me $600 for the entire car.

Rich

 

Many of the suspension parts can be powdercoated, the body should not be.

 

On this subject, has anyone ever seen a place that can sandblast your underbody when its not on a rotisserie? Just thinking about the future for my car... To ENSURE no more rust problems...

 

DIY

 

I'm not quite sure how you'd bake a whole car. It would require quite the oven. Probably cost more than the car is worth too.

 

To powdercoat a car you'd have to strip it down like trochoid's and find an OVEN big enough to put the car in. I don't know if you realize what powdercoating entails....

You sandblast the part to metal, coat it with a powder, then cure it in an oven. I can't even begin to think where I'd find a car-sized oven, but if I knew, I wouldn't stop at the underside, I'd do the whole car inside and out. Yes it would cost about as much as a Porsche, but it would last a long time and they have some really nice iridescant powders available. You could probably match your car's stock colour pretty easily.

If I won the lottery, powdercoating the whole car is where it's at.

Otherwise, just get any body shop to strip all the old rustproofing off the bottom, repair any rust spots or weak spots, paint it and then rustproof it again.

Then religiously have the rustproofing updated every year by your local rustproofing shop (or don't drive it in the winter and re-rustproof every few years.

Jon

 

You can use POR 15, Paint Over Rust, just clean the area and paint. If you have any rust hit it with a wire brush wipe off the dust or what not and the por 15 will stop the rust from getting worse.

 

I agree - powdercoating a whole body? I haven't heard of even the old Ferrari or Benz collectors doing that... but as to the bolt on bits, I'm convert - I am all for 'coating anything you can remove frfom the car body: I have 'coated the rear of my RB exhaust system, all the underside heat shields, gas tank shields, fuel pump cover - plus most everything in the engine compartment - next will be the front suspension and engine cross beam. It can get pricy if you do it all at once but I do it in sections. Glorious finish... As to the shell, its POR15 for me all the way. very tough stuff-
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

I imagine there are commercial ovens large enough to do and entire unibody. some of the hotrodders have thier frames done. There is even a rotarhead on the REPU forum that posted pics of the powdercoated frame for his truck. I'm afraid to ask how much that was.

There is also an infrared light setup to do parts that won't fit in an oven. That could prove to be a tricky and tedious task on a body.

Not only does the entire unibody have to be absolutely spotless down to bare metal, all of the seam sealer HAS to be removed. Not an easily done when it may be between spot welded panels.

 

trochoid, is that your 7?

Dude, I'd love to have a 7 done in metallic silver powdercoat. That would last a helluva long time!

What exactly is "seam sealer"?

Jon

 

That's because powdercoating doesn't look as nice as even a half-decent paint job, and it scratches off fairly easily. You can't "touch up" a powdercoating, you have to strip and start over again, or touch up with regular ol' spray paint.

Now, having the body galvanized, that would be cool. Would need to make all body repairs *first*, though. I've heard that it's not too expensive to get the actual galvanizing done, the expensive part is shipping your stripped shell to the place.

 

That was what the widebody looked like at one point, and it's not silver paint, that's all bare metal. Seam sealer is a caulk that is run along the body panel joints to seal out moisture. Look aound your shock towers, you will find some there.

 

Lol, I know that car is bare metal. I was just commenting that it would be cool to have a car done in silver PC

Ah, I understand about the seam sealer. That would take a boatload of work.

Jon

 

... as a bit of an aside, how exactly do you go about removing seam sealer? just pick at it with something, or is there an easier way (heat gun, etc?)

 

Liquid nitrogen is the way professional shops that need to get the stuff out quickly and completely do it. Freeze the stuff, whack with hammer, falls right out. Or so they say, I've never actually done it myself, but if that's the way the pros do it...

Note: Professional *anybody* do things to a higher standard than most, and they also need to get work done as quickly as possible.

 

Steel putty knife to gets the bulk of the sealer out, wire wheel on a drill for the rest of it. Remove only if there are signs of cracking, rust behind it or if it is loose.

You would be suprised how much rust is hiding behind the seam sealer in the middle of the rear wheel wells.

Jon, I would say the powdercoat bug has bitten you, hard.

 

The thread starter never said anything about powdercoating the bottom, he said "rust proofing".

Has anyone used the spray on bed liner to undercoat their car?

 

Sure have. This is the underbody, after sandblasting, sealer and an epoxy top coat, masked off and awaiting Duplicolor Truckbed Liner. I haven't found the 'after' pics yet. Note the seam sealer and the little white things are Q-Tips stuck in the bolt holes so I wouldn't have to re-tap them after the liner application.

 

The thread title is "Getting underbody sandblasted and powder coated?". I declare thee owned.

I'm not a fan of spray-on bedliner. It comes off in sheets when attacked with stones and such. You'd really want to make sure all rust is gone first.

I'm not even much of a fan of undercoating, either. It just seems to accelerate rust.

 

Besides sound deadening, the undercoat protects the paint from those little stone chips, where the rust starts. The surface has to be prepped correctly if you are going diy. This was my 2nd one, the first one does have a little peeling, mostly due to letting the epoxy sitting for more than a week, prior to coating, and not scuff sanding it.

 

Man, doing it yourself for the whole underbody is quite a daunting project!

I was going to suggest the DIY bedliner, but I was beaten. It sounds like a good idea. All they ever do it brag how tough it is.

 

Alright, well I know where to go if I win the lottery and want my car redone from top to bottom!

trochoid, are all these pics your widebody in production?

That's one hell of a car. I want to do something like that with mine some day.

Jon