Need advice on next step.

[Zak's Z]

Heres where I am: New floors/rockers/rails are in. Rear wheel wells stripped of old undercoating and freshly POR'd. Front inners POR'd. Car is rolling chassis only, but engine still has fuel and brake lines and booster and clutch/brake cylinders are still there.

Here was my plan: Remove fuel/brake lines, and strip engine bay, clean it out, POR it, then tie-coat prime it. THEN send rolling shell off to body shop to prep/paint.

Heres my problem: I cant get the fuel/brake lines out easily without removing the differential. It's still there, and it looks like if I take it out, I gotta drop the whole rear suspension. Also the rear underside (including all suspension components) need to be stripped of old undercoating and POR'd.

I wanted to get the body in to the place I have lined up soon to do the prep/paint. Then when I got that back, I was going to BREATHE EASY and take my time, clean the bottom, refresh the entire suspension, get all bits and pieces, etc...

So can I realisticly leave the fuel lines and rear brake lines in and just remove the front stuff I can access? I plan on replacing the brake lines (ive never seen a replacement fuel line and mine isnt bad, so I was gonna leave it). I think I will have enough space to clean/POR everything and as long as the paint shop can do it with the lines in I'm OK right?

Assuming I'm ok to bring it in with the lines still in the engine bay (but masked off), SHOULD I strip all the paint off the car first and bring it to bare metal. Most people Ive talked to say bring it to bare metal to see whats under it for sure. The body shop says I can bring it in either way. It will be a pain in the a$$ to strip all the paint off, but if it makes that much of a difference, I will.

Any advice on this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Zak

[=Enigma=]

You CAN remove the diff without dropping the whole rear suspension. Just unbolt the diff isolator from the front diff mount, unbolt the half-shafts from the wheel side, and unbolt the diff from the moustache bar. There may ba a little more disassembly required to get it out in one piece, but you can put enough of it back in place to leave yourself with a rolling chassis.

Personally, I'd remove everything, strip all the undercoating and paint off down to bare metal, then POR it.

[Zak's Z]

Thanks, I'll have a go at it tomorrow. I might as well put off the prep/paint session till I get everything right. I guess its better to get the whole bottom cleaned off and POR'd before painting anyways, that way no chance of cross- contamination after.

Zak