Should I undercoat my car

[87mj]

I bought an early 240 a few years ago (a 6/70). One thing led to another and much of the underneath side needed replaced.  Both frame rails and both floor pans.  It is still at the body shop.  The underneath side of the car looks fantastic.  I think it will look factory after painting.  My car is in the final stages of metal work and priming will begin by the end of the week.

The early cars did not have any undercoating.  My body shop is strongly encouraging me to have them apply "raptor".  Apparently, it is clear and they would add color tint to match the paint work.  They describe it as a thin layer of bedliner type coating. It will match the paint almost exactly.  I see why it would be a benefit but I hesitate because I wanted the factory look.  

Can anyone offer advice on whether they would go ahead with it or stick to paint?  They are prepping the underside for paint so they are not trying to hide shotty welds.  They are just making a strong recommendation.  

Anyone?

[DatsunZGuy]

IMHO you will reap more advantages undercoating than not. 

Better sound insulation and more of a protective layer from flying debris that may chip your paint exposing bare metal to possible rust. 

Ultimately it's your call.  Franky, I rather side on longevity over vanity especially on a section of the vehicle that is prone to road damage and really won't see unless one is crawling underneath.

Edited June 3, 2023 by DatsunZGuy

[26th-Z]

I had my car painted last year with a color tinted Raptor finish underneath.  I am very satisfied.  Did it for the very reasons DatsunZGuy pointed out.

[SpeedRoo]

2 hours ago, 87mj said:

I bought an early 240 a few years ago (a 6/70). One thing led to another and much of the underneath side needed replaced.  Both frame rails and both floor pans.  It is still at the body shop.  The underneath side of the car looks fantastic.  I think it will look factory after painting.  My car is in the final stages of metal work and priming will begin by the end of the week.

The early cars did not have any undercoating.  My body shop is strongly encouraging me to have them apply "raptor".  Apparently, it is clear and they would add color tint to match the paint work.  They describe it as a thin layer of bedliner type coating. It will match the paint almost exactly.  I see why it would be a benefit but I hesitate because I wanted the factory look.  

Can anyone offer advice on whether they would go ahead with it or stick to paint?  They are prepping the underside for paint so they are not trying to hide shotty welds.  They are just making a strong recommendation.  

Anyone?

Are you sure your car did not have any undercoating? My 05/70 and 08/70 have some type of protection under the paint. Even the very original BAT $310k 240Z that was built in May 1970 has it.

 

[26th-Z]

Another good point in favor of the Raptor finish.  The Raptor finish on my car has a little more texture than what SpeedRoo showed but it's close.

[87mj]

I really appreciate the feedback.  Silly details like this really bother me.  My 6/70 looks like the green car.  To me, it looks more like 3 coats of heavy primer with some poor quality over spray. I have a 5/71 that received similar treatment.  None of them are like traditional undercoating. So if a person were to go for accuracy, it seemed to me that base+clear would be more accurate to what they did at the factory than traditional undercoating.  I have a later '71 model year car that has undercoating similar to what was done to the later cars (It's vin tag is gone so I dont know the mfg date). 

I assumed the texture would closely resemble bed liner but it looks like I may be wrong.   I am always suspect of cars covered in bed liner because I assume they are using bed liner to hide poor work.  I wanted to avoid that for sure. So I will take a look at a sample and go from there.  

Thanks 

[inline6]

9 hours ago, 87mj said:

Can anyone offer advice on whether they would go ahead with it or stick to paint?  They are prepping the underside for paint so they are not trying to hide shotty welds.  They are just making a strong recommendation.  

Anyone?

You may find a few posts from my restoration thread helpful starting with this linked post below.  I also made this video which shows my final result: 

Edited May 24, 2023 by inline6

[emccallum]

I did raptor liner with body color over it. I am really happy with how it turned out. Maybe one day the other side will get paint!

 

 

[dutchzcarguy]

That raptor stuff sounds a bit like the stuff we call "bodyshoot"  It's a sort of hard rubber like stuff.. i used it under the paint on the lower parts of my 280zx. It's a anti chip for keeping the paintwork in it's place.

If you want the original look... well than you will have a lot of rust under your car in a few years.. and yes that's original.. but i wouldn't do that!!

Take the good advice of the paintshop. (I would.)

[emccallum]

I think raptor liner and 3M body Shutz are basically the same. To me the advantage to Raptor is the kit comes with its own sprayer that hooks to an air line.