Did You Know?

Did you know it is much easier to get paint all over yourself than it is to get it into the interior areas of a car frame? I am talking ALL over yourself! In your hair, running down your arms, splattered on your face, and if your shirt happens to be a little short, all over your stomach.

It was a nasty mess painting the interior areas of the underbody today, but I got it done. And if you notice a spot I missed... well, ask me if I care. I am not going to attempt to cover it any better than it is now -- any paint I got in there has to be better than none at all!

These are the before shots of the interior frame areas under the front of the car I painted with POR-15 today.

There were also a few areas in the rear of the car that I painted today. I forgot to take pictures of these before I started painting so all I have are the after pictures at the end of this post.

Sara's dad came over this afternoon and worked on stripping the paint off the rear springs. If there is anyone that is more of a perfectionist than I am, it is Sara's dad. He worked on these springs meticulously until they were completely stripped of paint. Thanks Dad!

In between coats of Zip-Strip, Sara's dad went to Mac's Hardware and picked up a longer drill bit so I could drill out the rivets holding on the safety bumper. The bit worked perfectly and I soon had the rivets all drilled out.

With the safety bumper off, I started scrubbing on the bumper with a wire brush. 

Sara's dad helped me move the jack stands and rear end outside so I could clean it with MarineClean. I did two full coats of MarineClean and then sprayed it off with hot water.

After I was finished with the rear end I took the bumper outside and gave it the same treatment.

I also cleaned the safety bumper. You can see the rays of sunshine in this picture. It was a beautiful day.

When Sara's dad had finished with the springs, I quick cleaned them off with MarineClean and we moved the rear end back inside. It was completely dry from sitting in the sun and looks 100% better. It does still need some wire brushing to free up some stubborn grime and rust.

Here is the bumper, springs and safety bumper after being cleaned with MarineClean.

After bringing these parts in I checked to see if the areas I painted were ready for a second coat. They were not; the POR-15 was still tacky. Good time for a break!

After dinner tonight, Sara's dad and I wire brushed the rear end. It is now ready for another dose of MarineClean and then prepped for paint.

While we were wire brushing the rear end, Sara's dad asked about the drive shaft and what my plans for it are. I had thought about painting it black with POR-15, but I just had not decided for sure. We got it out and wire brushed on it a little bit and we could immediately see a shine. The drive shaft is aluminum, so it will not rust. We decided it might be better to just brush it clean and shine it up instead of paint it.

Sara's dad headed home for the night, and it was time for me to put on the second coat of POR-15. These are the after shots.

The pictures below are of the rear areas I painted. I do not have before shots of these areas. I am not sure why some of these pictures look more gray than black. Everything is coated in a glossy jet black. I am going to take a video of the entire underbody once I get everything cleaned up.

These next two pictures show the only area I plan to coat with a spray-on product designed to spray inside car frames. I just cannot get the brush inside the frame far enough to do any good. If anyone wants to volunteer their arm let me know. 

These are the areas under the front of the car that go along with the before shots at the beginning of the post.

I decided to only do two coats of POR-15 on these areas. They are interior areas that most people would not coat anyway because they would not have the car apart enough to gain access. They are also very difficult to coat with POR-15 and after two times I am finished. After I coat the two areas with the spray-on product, if I have any left, I may try to hit some of these areas with that also.