body off midyear, how to finish underside?

[Tony DiGiorgio]

Hello all, I have carefully removed all the gook and slime off of underside (bottom side of floor pans, jack compartments, etc) of midyear vette,(body-off) then DA'd the fibreglass .

Question is:

What are most of you doing to finish the look underneath?

I've had people tell me to use a wax, some tell me to use WD-40 to protect and someone else said shhot bare glass with lacquer clear flattened....

What are most of you doing to finish the look underneath?
Thanks in advance,
Tony 937.477.1022

[Mark S. Lovejoy]

Re: body off midyear, how to finish underside?

Tony,

The underside of the body was bare fiberglass except where there was some overspray. The wheelwells got the blackout treatment and a small amount of undercoating.

Mark
27152

[Barbara S.]

Re: body off midyear, how to finish underside?

Tony, I put my '67 body on a four wheel dolly and then raised it on the car lift. I sprayed on alot of de-greaser and scrubbed with a bristle brush and hot soapy water. I repeated that several times and rinsed occassionally. I used a steel bristle brush to clean up the underneath metal parts. Eventually, it came out looking clean and bright. I found some interesting original grease pencil writing on the pass side firewall and the rear underside where the front of the gas tank goes.

There is no quick clean way to get it looking clean and bright again.

Good luck.
Tony

[Dick G.]

Re: body off midyear, how to finish underside?

The fiberglass underbody is an unsanded finish. Put that DA away. If you must scrape use a plastic scraper. Get some eye goggles, rubber gloves, and a fan to move the fumes away from you. I first tried lacquer thinner (unhealthy and dangerous). Then I tried aerosol cans of contact cleaner/carb cleaner). Again that stuff is nasty and unhealthy, but really got the grime out. I ended up using a product called Big Orange. It is an Orange/citrus cleaner. I used a nylon bristled brush with this cleaner. It was much heathier and worked wonderful. Again use goggles, gloves and a fan. Get this underside as clean as you can and leave it alone till you are completely done with the body and paintwork, if you're doing that. Then apply your blackout/undercoat to fit. Your fiberglass body wants to breath. NEVER apply any petroleum product or wax onto your BARE fiberglass body Anywhere, if you want to paint/undercoat it later. The underside of these old cars can looked stained but you may have to live with that. Shooting a clear on the underside would show every 40 year old stress crack and booger. Leave it alone. Just my opinion. Good Luck Dick Gutman

[Tony DiGiorgio]

underside is cleaned and ready to go

Hey guys, thanks for y9
our responses, however underside is cleaned and ready to go in bare fibreglass, question is now what to do to seal it or preserve look if possible

[Patrick H.]

Re: underside is cleaned and ready to go

"question is now what to do to seal it or preserve look if possible"

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Get under it and clean it once a year with diluted Simple Green if you're anal like me.

Patrick