Cleaning Under Floor (NOT Blasted) For Epoxy Prime

C

camarosrus

My 73 Camaro project is 96% rust free from Western WA State.
Car built in Norwood,OH and body shell was submerged in TANK
of Red Oxide colored ???? primer.
Only OEM Undercoat was in Rear Wheel House. I'm assuming this
car was dealer undercoated with light sporadic areas sprayed but not
entire everything.
Anyway I used diesel to soften and elec heat gun with wire brush and
putty knife to loosen majority of UC. With Body mounted on Rotator
I was able to preesure wash (4000psi) 95% of undercoat from bottom
of body shell
My sand blasting vendor would not blast this body's underfloor as he
want to contaminate his sand and soil other metal parts when he recycles
his sand.
Now Im spending ALOT of hours using mineral spirits, blue paper towels
power wire cups, power scotchbrite, and anything eveything to clean bottom
of this shell.
I'm worried that I'll have adhesion issues with the SPI black epoxy primer I have
for this project. Have YOU ever performed similar cleaning work ???
I'm also thinking to use UPOL Raptor in rear wheel house (now red oxide OEM )
and bottom (side down) of rocker panels....

Thanks Chuck Sharin, Auburn,WA
 
camarosrus said:
My 73 Camaro project is 96% rust free from Western WA State.
Car built in Norwood,OH and body shell was submerged in TANK
of Red Oxide colored ???? primer.
Only OEM Undercoat was in Rear Wheel House. I'm assuming this
car was dealer undercoated with light sporadic areas sprayed but not
entire everything.
Anyway I used diesel to soften and elec heat gun with wire brush and
putty knife to loosen majority of UC. With Body mounted on Rotator
I was able to preesure wash (4000psi) 95% of undercoat from bottom
of body shell
My sand blasting vendor would not blast this body's underfloor as he
want to contaminate his sand and soil other metal parts when he recycles
his sand.
Now Im spending ALOT of hours using mineral spirits, blue paper towels
power wire cups, power scotchbrite, and anything eveything to clean bottom
of this shell.
I'm worried that I'll have adhesion issues with the SPI black epoxy primer I have
for this project. Have YOU ever performed similar cleaning work ???
I'm also thinking to use UPOL Raptor in rear wheel house (now red oxide OEM )
and bottom (side down) of rocker panels....

Thanks Chuck Sharin, Auburn,WA
Click to expand...

I did exactly what you did with the wheel wells in my BelAir. When I was finished washing the undercoating off with solvent, I washed it down several times with SPI wax and grease remover. After I was satisfied it was clean I DA'd (where possible) with 80 grit. Sanded the rest with rolocs and applied SPI epoxy and also SPI base with one cap full of hardner. 2 coate of UV clear the following day.

I have seen no evidence of any issues at all. Not so much as a fisheye.... The flow indicators I take responsability for. :))

32502294bf43b0c0c5db17f09e17c605_zpszaq3i6j4.jpg
 
John, Honestly I am NOT the painter on my project. I am doing all the grunt prep on this under floor project.
If I'm leaving much of the 45 year old "red" OEM primer on the under floor, will the adhesion be "OK" ......I'm using
ROLOC Scotchbrite but NOT doing 100% of the surface..
I'm told the SPI Black Epoxy Primer will be a semi gloss. If I like the shade of black I'm planning to NOT top coat.
What advice do you have for getting the Epoxy to flow out FLAT without Orange Peel.....

Curious if the Epoxy Primer can be cleared directly or is a single stage base required before any SPI primer ???
 
reducing the epoxy helps to get it on smooth, you can clear over the epoxy but do a test panel to confirm that is the look you are after
 
camarosrus said:
John, Honestly I am NOT the painter on my project. I am doing all the grunt prep on this under floor project.
If I'm leaving much of the 45 year old "red" OEM primer on the under floor, will the adhesion be "OK" ......I'm using
ROLOC Scotchbrite but NOT doing 100% of the surface..
I'm told the SPI Black Epoxy Primer will be a semi gloss. If I like the shade of black I'm planning to NOT top coat.
What advice do you have for getting the Epoxy to flow out FLAT without Orange Peel.....

Curious if the Epoxy Primer can be cleared directly or is a single stage base required before any SPI primer ???
Click to expand...

When you say you are using Roloc but not doing 100% of the surface, I hope you mean you are not stripping it all to bare metal. You will probably get away with leaving some sound paint but don't think you can get away without it all being imaculately clean and oil/undercoating free. Also it must all be sanded well with something like an 80 grit scratch.

My frame is SPI black epoxy. I like the sheen for the frame. This is a driver, not a show car but I still want it to be presentable.

John

fb9e5b561aa3363c3b02bc6722864833_zpstf8dtnum.jpg
 
While I have removed ALL the undercoating the above cleaning,scotchbriting, wiping, etc has proven way too
labor intensive. I would feel very guilty if I was charging a "customer" for this procedure.
Media blasting is the ONLY productive way to accomplish this.
 
camarosrus said:
While I have removed ALL the undercoating the above cleaning,scotchbriting, wiping, etc has proven way too
labor intensive. I would feel very guilty if I was charging a "customer" for this procedure.
Media blasting is the ONLY productive way to accomplish this.
Click to expand...

.

I understand what you mean but still not sure what you are saying. If you are saying it is too labor intensive to follow through with proper preperation on the metal, you have wasted your time. It is vitaly important to have a good foundation properly prepared for paint.

I would think leaving some of the factory paint would be ok but would suggest the roloc scotchbrites may not provide the best tooth for the epoxy. 80-120 grit final for the epoxy would be my choice. Also, I would suggest again to use wax and grease remover until any possible undercoating or solvent residue is gone.

I am not trying to be criticle. Just concerned that you are not giving up on getting your floors where they need to be. It is really hard to draw the line when building a project. Too many times a repaint morphs into a full blown restoration. But, the other side of that coin is too many times money is wasted because the prep work does not meet the requirements for a quality end result.

John
 
John and others, I did waste a lot of time trying to prep under floors, firewall AFTER I removed the undercoat (kerosene, heat gun, pressure wash)
as my sand/media blaster would not blast undercoat and contaminate his media.....
ANYWAY...............I now have Camaro body back at blaster with quote of $400 to blast entire underfloor, wheel house, and most of firewall...........and also
area around rusted A pillars (where windshield seats)

As Photobucket no longer allows FREE 3rd party hosting, not sure who, where , how to display pics here ??????

I am also needing to learn HOW MUCH to reduce SPI Epoxy primer so as it lays down flat WITH OUT Orange Peel ???? OR do you suggest that I have the Epoxy Clear Coated (which product #) in which case how much sheen, gloss will that add........?????
 
Only time I reduce epoxy is for sealing. Otherwise 1 to 1 for chassis black. The trick is application. 2 med coats = semigloss and 2-3 wet coats will be glossier. For me the flatest version will be 2 coats one day followed up by a just wet coat the next day.

Like any flattened type product, the more wet coats you have the more glossier the finish. I haven't touched a chassis black style product over 8 years since I've been using SPI epoxy.
 
There's no reason to use anything other than SPI epoxy, unless you need something flatter, in which case simply follow the epoxy with SPI #2201 Flat Black the next day. If you want gloss, the epoxy can be clear coated, but it's not common to do this on an underbody. Most people like the semi-gloss look of the epoxy.
 
camarosrus said:
John and others, I did waste a lot of time trying to prep under floors, firewall AFTER I removed the undercoat (kerosene, heat gun, pressure wash)
as my sand/media blaster would not blast undercoat and contaminate his media.....
ANYWAY...............I now have Camaro body back at blaster with quote of $400 to blast entire underfloor, wheel house, and most of firewall...........and also
area around rusted A pillars (where windshield seats)

.................
Click to expand...

I believe you are going to be very glad you did this. I hope they do a great job for you.

John
 
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