Is there a best practice for cleaning the underbody? I recently purchased an '84 gslse that has been somewhat neglected. Although the body is fair, the underside is a mess. Flaking debris and rust. What experience have you have in cleaning your baby's belly?
Cheers,
Jay Heaman

 

[QUOTE] Is there a best practice for cleaning the underbody?.. Flaking debris and rust..

Cleaning the underbody will be a lot of work, but how to get under the car so you have room to work?.. that's a toughie. It will help to pay the $40 or so to have a dealership steam-clean the underbody so it's nice and clean for you to work on.. no mess for you to deal with, and you can see things really well. Then, if you have a good buddy who works at a shop with a car-hoist, maybe you can use the hoist after-hours (for $ or labor or beer) to work on your car. You might talk with a "body shop" to get tips on the actual procedure itself..

 

what i did was i cut out the floors of my car and the wheel wells and replaced that all, then sprayed undercoating type stuff all over... It was alot of work but worth it. All this was done on a fork lift that was holding my car high enough to walk under.... Just make sure the car isn't at the edge of the forks and tips over....

 

If the rust isn't too bad, brush/sand it down and apply some "rust inhibitor" so it doesn't come back, and then apply undercoat paint.

Rescuing a rare classic car isn't easy, but it's worth it.

 

I went a little crazy with mine,put it on stands and took a wire wheel in a grinder to it to clean the flaky stuff off,then had the under side soda blasted,did any repairs and hosed it with zinc cromate primer before painting it,then I undercoated it,still looks mint! But I don't drive it in the winter,road salt kills cars and ONT. uses 500% more than manitoba ever will.

 

Good ideas...thanks for your input!
Jay