Clean that baby up

[RonnieK]

The 68 Charger I bought. Oof. She’s dirty down underneath…

We’ve got 50 years of dirt, cancer, nastiness and stock market crashes under there and it’s gotta go. what have y’all used to clean the undercarriage? Degreaser? Putty knife and elbow grease? Some of this stuff is rock solid like cement. Then afterwards, anything I should be considering to coat once clean to prevent rust? Any thoughts appreciated. Not going for show quality. Just don’t want an inch of **** on the undercarriage.

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

Welcome from North Florida !!!
That's the factory undercoating.

 

[Don Frelier]

Welcome from NY

 

[Runner 68]

Welcome Ronnie. I'm in Fort Fun CO. Where are you at?
Oof is correct. How bad is the rust / rot? Depending on what you want to do, you're still looking at some labor.
That factory undercoat does not give up easily. Thankfully you're in a relatively rust free part of the country.

 

[Red63440]

Welcome from Western NY Ronnie
Heat gun and a putty knife will soften the undercoating.

 

[polywideblock]

G,day from Australia

 

[RonnieK]

Wow. Y’all think this is really the factory undercoat? I pondered that for a second but figured that no way it’d last this long. After sitting for so long, I would’ve thought it would’ve rotted off by now.

it’s got rust in typical spots but good bones and the worst is already done (trunk. Lord was that a battle.) will do rear quarters soon and that basically eliminates 95% of it.

before/after pics attached. If this is the factory. Think it may be best to leave that undercoat?

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

Address what needs repairing and leave the rest alone unless you want a full restoration.
As others have said the factory undercoating is a bear to get off.
JMHO.

 

[HD539]

Welcome from Washington State.

 

[66 Sat]

Address what needs repairing and leave the rest alone unless you want a full restoration.
As others have said the factory undercoating is a bear to get off.
JMHO.

That's exactly what I did - checked it all, removed it in areas that needed fixing, and left the rest.

Unless you're one of those guys who has mirrors under his car at shows, then who's looking under there?

It's lasted 50 years, might last another 50.

 

[multimopes]

Welcome aboard from NJ & best of luck with your new old toy!

 

[68sprtsat383]

Welcome

 

[hunt2elk]

Yep, that is the factory undercoating. A cheap needle scaler from Harbor Freight works pretty good at removing it. Still a time consuming deal though.....

 

[mr. b]

welcome to FBBO from Pa

 

[Hey-O]

Welcome from Missouri!!

 

[Runner 68]

Yep, that is the factory undercoating. A cheap needle scaler from Harbor Freight works pretty good at removing it. Still a time consuming deal though.....

Let's put it this way, I stripped my car completely down to the shell, had the entire thing, undercarriage included, professionally media blasted. When I picked it up they apologized for not being able to get it all off. After about 10 hours under there with a cheap Harbor Freight needle scaler (as Elk suggested) It was finally clean enough to finish. Grinding, sanding, hot knifing, all of it, just heats it up and it smears.
The scaler actually works really well. Blows it right off of there.
https://www.harborfreight.com/air-needle-scaler-1108.html

 

[Budnicks]

welcome to FBBO

 

[Dennis H]

It’s toxic too. My welder ended up in the emergency room with the nastiest rash ever when scraping enough of the factory undercoating to weld in the USCartool subframe connectors. This was summer and not properly dressed. Take provisions.

 

[1STMP]

The 68 Charger I bought. Oof. She’s dirty down underneath…

We’ve got 50 years of dirt, cancer, nastiness and stock market crashes under there and it’s gotta go. what have y’all used to clean the undercarriage? Degreaser? Putty knife and elbow grease? Some of this stuff is rock solid like cement. Then afterwards, anything I should be considering to coat once clean to prevent rust? Any thoughts appreciated. Not going for show quality. Just don’t want an inch of **** on the undercarriage.

View attachment 1244462

Rent a steam cleaner. Wear some coveralls,
and get after it. Another alternative is to check
and see if your local semi pot wash will
let you use their facilities. Big trucks get
pretty nasty with grease and road salt.
Welcome to FBBO!

 

[1969VAGTX]

Welcome from Fredericksburg, VA.

That is definitely the factory undercoat. You might consider taking the seats and carpet out (if you haven't already) to get a look at the floors from the top. That will tell you if you really need to try to remove the undercoat or leave it be. I cleaned up a previous A-body that I had with factory undercoat by jacking the car up, spraying the underside with a ton of de-greaser and then laying on the ground with a pressure washer and spraying her down. Not the easiest way to do it, and it was a mess afterwards, but it did get pretty clean.