Firewall undercoat - engine out - replace ??

[Keith B.]

Have the L-36 out of the 66 now thanks to the great assistance of many members here.

1) My car has undercoat/tar on pass firewall over halfway to steering column then turns to red oxide and blackout. The undercoat is thick black tar from under body lip down behine bellhousing. When it received its Top Flight it was never deducted, but I'm don't think it is right. The entire under car when I bought it in 2004 had Luby Chevrolet dealer undercoat under fiberglass front to back. I spent 3 mos taking this tar off and even found my 198 Job code #'s under pass foot well. If this firewall tar is not factory correct - should i remove it??

2) Now that the engine, rad, shroud, etc is out for the first time. Beyone the obvious frame clean-up and detail, What should a person replace now that everything is accessible, ie I see allot of rubber bushing that are dried and cracked. Best advice please.....

[Rick S.]

Re: Firewall undercoat - engine out - replace ??

Keith,
Your story sounds like what I went thru 4 years ago. I spent about 3 months cleaning off the underside of my car of undercoating but the engine was not removed. Here is a photo after cleaning the passenger side footwell.
Rick

[Rick S.]

Re: Firewall undercoat - engine out - replace ??

Keith,
I would think that anything applied after the car was delivered would be all over everything attached to the firewall, if they sprayed the firewall. Here is a photo taken last year when I pulled the engine for a rebuild.

Rick

[Keith B.]

Re: Firewall undercoat - engine out - replace ??

Great, thanks Rick for the excellent pics. It appears I have some more scraping to do with my heat gun and solvent. What tricks did you use for removal of the undercoat??

WIth your engine out and all that room, what things did you replace in the form of rubber bushings, etc>> thx. Keith

[Rick S.]

Re: Firewall undercoat - engine out - replace ??

Keith,
I also used a heat gun and scraper and then in tight areas I used an orange based paint remover from Home Depot. Followed that up with a water soaked sponge and rag to clean it up and neutralize the paint remover.
In regards to bushings, those had been replaced but I would suggest that anything that needs to be replaced/restored, now is the time to do it. I usually suffer from "while I'm at it" disease.

Rick