Cleaning Undercarriage for Paint?

[oxytousc]

Does anyone have any tips for cleaning a grime ridden undercarriage to get it ready for paint? I was contemplating either having it steam cleaned before taking it to the painter or trying some Easy Off (the crap that you use to clean a stove) and a pressure washer?

I am looking for the easiest way, which I am sure there isn't one.

 

[Broken Mopar]

Put the car on a rotissorie and sand blast it. Thats what I did to my 64 Savoy. But of course the car has to be totally disassembled to do this. Spook

 

[MoparMitch]

Or you could acid dip the whole car as I did , if its apart. Worked really well and , ate / or found all the rust. Expensive , but worth it

 

[Ron 73]

If its not rust ive sprayed "GUNK" on and left it sit, then power wash it. Even if its rusty under neath the grease and stuff you could still do it this way and then get quite dirty wire brushing. Outside of what Spook120 an 68chicken said there's no easy way ive found! Got the email..

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Degreasing is the best first step. Steam cleaning first, then try to remove as much undercoating as possible. I used a propane torch/heat gun and a scraper...not a fun job but it will save money at the sandblasters which is your logical next step. Acid dipping is great...but you will never be able to regain corrosion protection in the pinchweld seams that was there from the original e-coating process. The acid seeps everywhere a spray gun can't access unless the dipping facility can phosphate and re-dip the body in e-coat. Big bucks for the average guy. Plastic media blasting leaves the nicest finish if you can find someone thats doing it near you!

 

[oxytousc]

Yeah. I think acid dipping is out of my budget and I am not planning to have the car blasted. This is one of those jobs that I'd rather spend a couple of hundred dollars and have someone else do it. I really have ZERO desire to do it myself. I think I'll cover it in engine degreaser, trailer it to the car wash/steam guy and let him go at it. Honestly, $100-200 is well worth it to avoid the grime and the grit.

 

[Propwash]

I degreased, needle gunned and wirewheeled all the areas on the underside and the outside of the inner fenders on my roadrunner. I only had about 50% of the entire bottom to do because the rest was brand new metal. It literally took me about 8-10 hours of dirty hard labor on my back to get it clean enough to coat.

If you can find someone to accomplish this same task or even 100% of the underside for $100-200 bucks, you better take it. But then again, what kind of job would they do? Around here there is no place that would do it for that cheap using conventional methods. I sure wouldn't. Good luck!