My 63 Fury

Saw my car in person last Saturday for the first time in 15 months. It was been in the resto shop for 5-6 years, I lost count. Part of the delay was looking for parts and my money, lack of, contributed to the slow process as well as the shop going through some changes. We waited until AMD released their trunk and interior floorpans to get them installed. I had to find both new doors, another hood and a firewall was purchased, delivered and installed in North Carolina from DVAP. A rear half of a wrecked 65 Satellite convertible was purchased in Athens, Ga and I went to get it. I needed a quarter panel donor to supplement the AMD quarter patch panels, got one of the first pair available. Turns out the donor body was only able to donate the wheel well lips on both sides. Took this picture Saturday, the metal work is finished on the right side and just a little left on the right and the block sanding begins. The shop owner asked me question I hadn't thought much about, do I want the car painted underneath like the rest of the car or do I want him to do an undercoat type cover for the underside but make it so it doesn't show looking under the hood, will paint into the transmission tunnel the body color and phase the black underneath. He says it will save me labor and paint cost going with the undercoat, but I'm wanting to drive the car and think that if it was painted underneath the same as the body I would be afraid to drive it and scratch the paint.

Any suggestions from you guys that have gone down this road on what to do underneath the car on a total restoration?

Personally I would go with paint. (How much more could it possibly cost?)

Do you know what the undercoating "Type" product is?

Looks like my first car! Ragtop and all, except mine was a Sport Fury.

Do you look at it like precious metal? Now mine is a 64 Sport Fury. Went to the bone on it, too. Was worth the effort to paint underneath, just like original, and added a lighter coat of undercoating in all the usual places.

Looks like you've already primed underneath.

Check out this thread if you havent already. Both types of lizard skin and 3M body shotz over that on the underside. Lots of detail work under the car for you to consider. Lots of time and time is $$$$

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?1121-B-Body-stiffening/page11

First of all, nice work man. I know what it's like to restore a car from the ground up and have to scavenge money and parts for years to make it happen. Not sure I would go that route again but I have a couple of shiny cars to show for my efforts.

In response to your question about paint or undercoating, that is a tough one. We had our altered on a rotisserie as well and it just seemed like painting the belly was the right thing to do on a race car that you are constantly crawling all over. Makes finding oil leaks easy as well. For a street car there will be a lot of road dust and if you like to keep things looking meticulous then you may have a problem. Ultimately, it's up to you but I say paint it. You've come this far.

A lot depends on what you want to do with your car..........

If you ever intend on selling the car in the future, and want to get top dollar, go with the paint. If a prospective buyer in the future looked under your car and seen undercoating, they would try to beat you down on the price to account for the cost of getting it back to a painted status.

If, however, you intend to keep the car for a long time and do any cruising or vacations, I personally would have a quality undercoating applied to keep the metal in the best shape possible. Then you wouldn't have to worry about getting caught in bad weather when you're a couple hundred miles from home.

Rick@Laysons said:

A lot depends on what you want to do with your car..........

If you ever intend on selling the car in the future, and want to get top dollar, go with the paint. If a prospective buyer in the future looked under your car and seen undercoating, they would try to beat you down on the price to account for the cost of getting it back to a painted status.

If, however, you intend to keep the car for a long time and do any cruising or vacations, I personally would have a quality undercoating applied to keep the metal in the best shape possible. Then you wouldn't have to worry about getting caught in bad weather when you're a couple hundred miles from home.

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Rick,

I cannot foresee selling the car, I hate to think how much I have in it at this point. I would literally get pennies on the dollar if I wanted to sell it, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of my cost if I'm lucky. This car should be show quality, but still I want to be able to drive it 200 miles to the beach for a weekend. I'm thinking very seriously thanks to Darius of using Lizard Skin on the floor boards and underneath.

Blackheart said:

Rick,

I cannot foresee selling the car, I hate to think how much I have in it at this point. I would literally get pennies on the dollar if I wanted to sell it, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of my cost if I'm lucky. This car should be show quality, but still I want to be able to drive it 200 miles to the beach for a weekend. I'm thinking very seriously thanks to Darius of using Lizard Skin on the floor boards and underneath.

Click to expand...

Don't miss inside the doors and inside the rear window cavities as well as all the way over both wheel cans!No way dynomat can get where this stuff can.

I'm happy for you seeing some progress again.
Since I'm familiar with the car, and I've been down this road several times,
I'll comment.
If they are still using Winzer GGU for the coating, it can be sprayed with
different degrees of texture. So you could end up with anything from a fine,
grainy appearance, to a heavy texture. It dries to a hard surface, not rubbery
like spray undercoating.
Painting the underside can add considerable time and materials to the job. Don't know what Walt
explained, but here is why. If you still go with the originally
planned color, it adds lots of additional (expen$ive) base needed. Then it has
to be cleared, versus a couple hundred in epoxy primer coating.
Because the floors are new, no pitting there. But there may be on the frame
rails and other original under structure. There might also be some weld distortion
underneath on the frame flanges from the new floor pan welds. Any tiny dings or frame scrapes will need
fixing or show with paint. GGU will hide those.
I've spent numerous hours slickening undersides to be painted that would require
less time if primed, even less if coated with GGU.

I can tell you more if you want to call me. Good luck with it, I know what
you've been through getting the car done and I hope it's everything you set out for it to be.