My New 73 240z hanging around ready to be worked on.

[bstrudg]

I bought this from a friend who took the car apart and had all the rusted parts replaced. The car has been primed and is ready to be put back together. I am not sure what I should do with the underside. I am going to blast it using walnut shells prime it and paint it flat black. Then should I undercoat it before putting the the rest of the suspension and drive train in?

[EScanlon]

Don't be so gentle with the underside, you may find that there is an undercoating that will laugh at the walnut shells.

You may need to use a combination of scrapers, dry ice, and even paint stripper to get it off.

But then, DON'T just spray prime and paint, and even more importantly, NOT FLAT BLACK paint.

Plain old primer and paint, while very good for the upper exterior of the car, won't survive long on the underside of the car after being subjected to the barrage of small rocks or debris being kicked up from the tires. Instead, opt for a harder paint. Whether something like POR, or LizardSkin, or PickUp Bed liner, make sure that the base properly rust protects the underside metal.

FWIW

E

[esmit208]

I actually took a 14" fillet knife to the underside of mine before sandblasting. After the knife I used charcoal starter on a rag to completely clean off any leftover undercoat residue. I did it in sections so it took a while but it has a thourough cleaning underneath. Besides you want to expose any cancer before you begin applying a final undecoat.

[bstrudg]

Thank you so much for the advice. I do plan to work on small sections at a time.