Cleaning Down Under

I have been working to finish brushing the underbody in preparation for POR-15. I had hoped to get it cleaned and prepped this weekend, but it is turning out to be a much bigger job than I had envisioned. Much of the underbody is at a height where I cannot reach it laying on the creeper, and yet there is not enough room to sit up either. I am therefore stuck in a perpetual crunch in order to reach it. This is proving to be a pain in my back, literally.

This is proof there is room for me to sit up in certain areas of the underbody.

I have been using the new wire wheel we bought on some of the flat areas of the underbody, however most of it requires using a manual wire brush and a lot of elbow grease.

After brushing the underbody for a while I had to get the dirt blown out of the way in order to see what I had left, so I used the air compressor.

A mushroom cloud of dirt enveloped the garage. After I was done blowing with the air compressor, Sara spent the next half an hour cleaning the garage.

Who you gonna call?

With the loose dust out of the way, I decided it might help to hit the underbody once with MarineClean to help rinse away some of the grime. I laid out a tarp underneath the area to be cleaned.

I sprayed MarineClean on and used a scrub brush to brush the underbody.

I discovered the tarp was not quite wide enough and I needed to put another tarp down to cover underneath the wheel wells.

After scrubbing the MarineClean I rinsed the underbody with hot water.

After the underbody was dry, I removed the tarps and went back to working on the undercoating and grime that was left. In this picture I am using the wire wheel brush on the drill. 

I am also using various manual wire brushes.

While I have been scrubbing on the underbody, Sara has been scrubbing parts. In this picture she is working on the driver side brake shield. It is filthy work.

Here are the parts Sara has brushed clean so far. The driver side brake shield is not in this picture, but it is also finished.

Here is what I have done to the underbody so far.

View from where the gas tank mounts looking out the fuel door opening.

View of the underbody looking forward from the driver side rear wheel.

View of the underbody looking forward from the passenger side rear wheel.

Bottom of the rear storage/trunk area.

Sara and I will continue brushing tomorrow night. Our plan is to be done brushing by Friday night so we can prep on Saturday and paint on Sunday.