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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Undercoating/Seam sealer removal

Posted by: mr914 Sep 12 2003, 07:30 AM

Help!

I'm looking for a better way to remove the damn undercoating in the fenderwells.

I tried aviation stripper and it laughed at it.

I tried sand blasting -

Tried the heat gun, it's way to slow.

The only way I've found so far is the wire wheel on the angle grinder --- slow....

But then, how do I get into the nooks and crannies?

Also, what's the best way to remove the seam sealer?

Any magic bullets?

Posted by: tod914 Sep 12 2003, 07:49 AM

You could try a citrus degreaser to melt it. But, if the aircraft stipper wont remove it, I don't think that will work. Mineral spirits/paint thinner might work too.

Posted by: Brad Roberts Sep 12 2003, 09:31 AM

There is NO quick way. You have to use the heat gun and a 6 inch wide puddy knife to get off the large pieces.. then come back and use the 4 inch hand grinder with a 4.5 inch large wire wheel. Its labor intensive and there is NO way around it. I'm not sure what hand grinder your using.. but anything under a 4 inch electric and your spinning your wheels. My elcheapo Craftsman hand grinder rips thru it about 20-30 minutes per fenderwell. Set the trigger stop on full speed and plow thru it.

I can show you pics later of what we use... right now I'm packing for the German autofest.

B

Posted by: Jeroen Sep 12 2003, 09:45 AM

A wire wheel on a drill works good too.
Usually those are smaller than the ones you can put on a angled grinder and allow you better access to hard-to-reach places
It's pretty time consuming though...

cheers,

Jeroen

Posted by: Britain Smith Sep 12 2003, 10:38 AM

I spent about 30 to 45 mins getting this far in my fender well with the hand grinder and a coarse wire bit. I have gotten a bit further since then, but it is long, manual work. I posted a thread recently talking about this process, but I am tackling the fenders, under the body, and the engine bay.

Attached image(s)

Posted by: Korijo Sep 12 2003, 01:05 PM

Heat it w/ a torch, then scrape w/ a putty knife. Then wire wheel/cup brush OR 60 grit sand disk the left over residue.

This is before the 60 grit fiber grinding disk.

IPB Image

Posted by: mr914 Sep 12 2003, 02:27 PM

I found that citrus degreaser worked like a champ for removing the black (zebart) undercoating. Let it soak and then hit it with a pressure washer.

I'm using a 4" angle grinder with coarse radial bristles.

It took almost 2 hours for the front fenderwell. Including detailing out the inaccesable areas with a 1" wire wheel on a 1/5hp flex shaft dremel.

Guess the project for the weekend is Grind grind untill done.

Pictures of the rust horror later.

Posted by: Lawrence Sep 12 2003, 02:55 PM

For undercoating - soak with brake cleaner and a stiff bristle brush to get the bulk of the stuff off.

For seam sealer - elbow grease, by the bucket.