Technical Removing Undercoating

I have a 59 El Camino and my opportunity here is trying to remove dealer installed undercoating from the underside of the hood. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Propane torch

 

Dry ice and chip it off....

 

I have a heat gun I use for such things. it's like a hair dryer that will melt your hair.

watch the heat on a hood!!

 

Take it outside and use easy off oven cleaner from the dollar store. Set up a box fan to blow away fumes.

 

Heat gun and a scraper. Wear gloves when working with that sticky hot black shit!

 

Propane torch and a putty knife. Wipe with lacquer thinner when it cools to remove the remaining residue.

 

Heat and Scrape, Heat and Scrape, repeat, repeat, repeat. It is a nasty, messy job.

 

Hello,

You never said how much of the removal and where/why you are removing it. The factory spray on undercoating is a lot less in application than commercial spray on (not cans) stuff. So, where and why if possible?

Jnaki

We had the whole bottom of the new 58 Impala sprayed and it looked like brand new when we sold it 7 years later. All it took was a spray hose and everything came right off. So, inquiring minds want to know where you are taking the stuff off.

 

Dry Ice or a diesel bath.

 

Avoid heat if you want to avoid burning or discoloring the paint.

 

Just accept, it's gonna suck, then get to work.

Lot of different types of undercoating, heat and scrape has worked best for me. Wire wheel the remains.

 

Photo of underside of hood

 

Dealer installed???? Drug dealer? That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen under a hood other than an LS engine. Id take it off and run it down the chem stripper. Thats nasty!

 

That is thick !

That hood has to shut like guillotine

 

Jeeezus Man! That's a hot friggin' mess!!!
I can understand why you want it gone

 

last winter I removed the hood form my Olds and took it to the stripper to soak it in the tank. I got back a clean metal hood, top and bottom, for around $200. It was totally worth the dough to not have to strip it myself. Google "auto strippers" in your area. Note, don't just google "strippers" if you share your computer with the fam.

If you are trying to save the paint on top, that won't work. It is cheesy but you could sand the outer perimeter, paint it with chassis black and add an insulator blanket to cover up the yuck. We'll know it is under there, but I won't tell.

 

Use to be a stripper in Jackson Mississippi. After all the work was done you could pay extra and have it electroplated- primed by the Nissan titan plant. Those days are gone. Any suggestions on a stripping shop near Mississippi gulf coast? I have looked, one in Penn. and the other in Ill. I could not locate any others unless they don't advertise so the feds won't catch them! Bandit Billy, I bought that car from Washington state, should had have the hood stripped before I had it shipped to me. LOL Good news it's primed on the outside, and mostly rust free el camino.

 

Hello,

Wow, that is a lot of stuff. I can see why you want to get it off. That does not look like a factory spray. When I ordered my 65 El Camino, I did not want any undercoating anywhere except under the chassis and body floor panels. I knew I was going to be in water or salt water specifically since I was always going to the coastal areas. Even during high tide, the Coast Highway flooded and we all drove through salt water for a while.

The car did get salt spray on it, but the spray booth that got installed near our house was my saving grace. After every time I went through salt water or sat in a parking lot when the tide came up, it needed cleaning. If the fog chased us away, then that too, had salt infused moisture and it went straight to the spray booth for a thorough cleaning. Our home area got fog, but not salt air fog like at the ocean shoreline.

The factory under coating was minimal and the bottom of my El Camino after the thick commercial application spray was pristine after 125k miles and 12 years of driving all over California, especially up/down the coastal areas. There was no rust anywhere.

Jnaki

Well, you have a long road ahead and one would think a commercial bead spray would take that off rather than sit and plunk a scraper with a solution on it. It is too thick. But, you may want to contact those removal spray bead places and ask. YRMV

At least the 348 looks to be a 59 335 hp model if your El Camino is stock or perhaps a similar 280 hp 348 like our 58 Impala.

 

YIKES! Just get another hood.

 

Well that figures it came from Washington state, lots of crackheads out here. Maybe sell that hood and find a nicer one? You might come out ahead.

 

I don't think the needle scalier would be good for the underside of the hood. I used one to clean up the surface rust on the frame on my truck, I think it would kill the smooth top surface of the hood.

I suspect its not a factory undercoating job, but likely a spray can application. I would start with removing the hood and setting it on a body working stand and use a plastic scrapper to see how much will come off of the flat places. Then a spray down with diesel may help a bunch. Some of the spray can stuff breaks down pretty fast, some is really good stuff. Hopefully, what you have is the stuff that breaks down easily.

 

I know 2 people that have used this product called "De-Solv-It. A friend and car club member is building a 60' Ford Ranch Wagon, has it on a rotisserie right now and was trying to remove the factory undercoat the old way, heat and scrapper. I told him to use this product and he found some at the local Ace Hardware store. They only had spray bottles, so he grabbed one to try it. He was pretty impressed with the way it worked so he ordered a gallon on line. Put it in a pump up garden sprayer. The key is to keep it wet with the solvent, so you have to have a drop cloth or tarp under it to catch the drippings. He used a plastic putty knife and it came off with ease! When the undercoat is off, take a pump up garden sprayer with soap and water, or a pressure washer to clean off the remaining residue. Another guy told me about it and he also said it worked great for him! The smell isn't that bad either!

 

I wonder if the OP could buy a kiddy pool large enough to submerse the hood in, fill the pool with diesel fuel and let it soak if it would soften that mess?

 

I would try it dry first, might get lucky and it'll peel off in sheets

 

View attachment 6358325 View attachment 6358327 View attachment 6358325 View attachment 6358327

No need to get crazy......A heat gun and a putty knife/scraper does the job very easily........IDK what the fuss is all about.......... View attachment 6358325 View attachment 6358327

 

I just hate laborious, messy, time-consuming tasks . I have the hands of a surgeon, they can't get all mucked up.

 

Uh.....Billy...... Don't you mean hands of a STURGEON??!!!!!