Original sound deadener on center tunnel-78 280Z

[One Way]

The tear down continues on the Z and evaluating as we go.  A lot of bad areas of rust but also a lot of sections looking like new.  Game plan is to blast or dip the bare shell eventually before replacing bad sections and then reassembly process.  Should I keep the factory deadener material on over the tunnel area or try to remove it?  That is one of the areas that looks factory fresh with the original paint still showing some shine.  Also what is best recommendation for the  painting of the shell after the cleaning?  Loads of products out there all promising to prevent any rust but looking for hands on experience suggestions.  I have used the POR-15 brush on system on some other projects and have been pleased with the results but a whole body shell would be a much larger project than I have tackled before.  Thanks for any suggestions, John-Lugoff, SC

[Kurbycar32]

Remove the factory sound deadener, its been my experience that its the primary cause of "old car smell".  Assuming the entire shell is cleaned up, in my opinion a dedicated anti-rust system like POR-15 or RustBullet isnt necessary with "perfect" metal.  A nice epoxy primer compatible with your selected paint system would be your best bet.  Go with a name brand like PPG, DuPont, Sherwin or Valspar to name a few.  More importantly ask the guy who's painting your car.  In general almost everything is compatable but paint people dont like mixing and matching brands when coating a car.

[Patcon]

Remove the existing factory deadener. I would treat the shell with Ospho or some other phosphating chemical, then epoxy prime. Kurby is right most systems don't approve of mixing and matching brand names. although I have done it without problems..

[One Way]

Thanks for the input.  The refinishing process is still well down the road, but I am trying to formulate a good game plan for the project as I evaluate the vehicle during the tear down process.  Thanks again-John-Lugoff, SC

[rossiz]

the factory sound deadening material can be a pita to remove - kinda like stripping an old vinyl tile floor: some areas pop right up, others will give you blisters scraping.

i've seen some threads here describing using dry ice to freeze it and the stuff shrinks up and comes right off - i'd investigate this and save yourself some misery.

[wheee!]

Took me about 4 hours start to finish to remove mine with a steel scraper. Exactly like rossiz said, some was easy, other parts hard. Determination and elbow grease does it! And it's worth doing. I found cancer under some perfect looking sections...

[Kurbycar32]

I used a scraper blade attachment for a reciprocating saw, knocked everything out in about an hour

http://www.amazon.com/MILWAUKEE-3-In-Scraper-Blade/dp/B004F5JCSW

 

 

[wheee!]

I tried that too but the scraper worked better in the end. Too many creases and folds to work with.

[grannyknot]

When I removed the sound deadener from my Z it was winter and cold as hell in the shop, I found that if I let the car cool off over night and before turning the heat on if I went around with a cold hard rubber mallet and gave it all a good wack 50-60% would just bounce off. Then do my days work and next morning under the same conditions I would do it again.

I ended up having to scrape very little.

Chris

[charliekwin]

On 2/4/2016 at 4:58 AM, rossiz said:

i've seen some threads here describing using dry ice to freeze it and the stuff shrinks up and comes right off - i'd investigate this and save yourself some misery.

I did the dry ice method, and it made quick and easy work of all the horizontal sections.  Not quite as effective on the tunnel and other vertical parts where it's harder to keep the stuff in place, but I've heard that mixing rubbing alcohol with dry ice to make a slurry will help with that.

Toughest bits to remove were where the exhaust runs; the heat broke down the deadening material and it would stick to the sheet metal and come off in pieces instead of sheets.

[wheee!]

It all comes off eventually.... you may need several methods but it will come!