Questions about color and undercoating

[Steve]

OK...I'm not doing a concourse resto, but I would like to make the car look original. Let's talk undercoating. I need some input. I plan to use a modern sound-deadener and/or truck bed lining for undercoating the underside of the car, the wheel wells, and inside the doors and quarters. Here are my questions:

First, when doing the underside, how much should be covered? From the tail panel to the front lip on the firewall? As for side to side, would you go from lip to lip, or just inside the frame rails? Would you include the frame rails? As for color, I suppose I can leave the undercoating black or topcoat with Zero Rust dip gray primer or even apply body color. Opinions?

Second, when doing the wheel wells, was the undercoating in the wheel wells left black or was it covered in body color? Also, for the front wheel wells, would you include the area where the suspension attaches or would you mask that off and cover just the sheetmetal portion of the inner fender well (we're talking on the fender side, not on the engine bay side). Opinions?

Third, the quarters were covered in sound insulation of some type (undercoating I guess). I believe this was painted body color, but can someone confirm or deny that? If so, I plan to cover the inside quarters in Zero Rust, then cover with the trunk bed liner, then spray body color when doing the trunk. Opinions?

I'd like it to look original (at least from a distance) but I'm not opposed to some deviation if it would increase functionality or appearance.

Thanks!

[Mopar73340]

Steve I'm not a expert on the undercoating so I'll leave that question for someone else, I chose to do my entire undercarriage with black from Eastwood. Also I don't think it's a good idea to paint over undercoating in the trunk. I attached an example of how my trunk looked before restoration where someone decided to paint over the undercoating. Hope this helps.

[crcarch]

I'm not an expert either, but I can tell you what mine came from the factory with.

Undercoating was installed in varying thickness from the firewall back and from rocker to rocker.  Front and rear wheel wells were also undercoated black.  The only thing not liberally sprayed was the suspension and tubing.  The trunk interior had sound deadener sprayed low in the quarters and the rest of trunk was body color.  Trunks were very utilitarian back then.  With the jack and tire just sitting out.  My jacking instruction sticker was even slapped on the lid diagonally! Quick and sloppy work. It wasn't pretty.

Unless you're building a show car, I wouldn't recommend painting the wheel wells body color.  Your tires will look smaller, especially with a bright body color and won't look right-sized without the black.  I'm fixed this on my wife's new Crossfire.  It's got 19" wheels that look like little donuts because they left the wheel wells body color and it's yellow.  I blacked out the wheel wells and it made all the difference.

One other thought.  If you are stripping it all off you may want to consider using Rhino liner on the underside.  Troy Trepanier used it on "Sick Fish" and it looks great.  He chose it because it's indestructable and easy to keep clean since it's hard and not gummy. 

[Steve]

Thanks for the input! I think you're right about leaving the wheel wells black! I plan to use Rhino or something similar. Also, I didn't know how much coverage was put on the underside. Sounds like they covered a lot! OK...Black truck bed liner on the entire underside and wheel wells (front and rear). Something tells me that the sound deadener in the quarters was covered in color...I plan to do that, too, using the truck bed liner on the inside of the quarters, the dust with color.

[cudaaah]

You may want to compare Rhino w/ Line-X.   I don't claim to be an expert either, but I had line-X on a truck I had, and heard from various people that it was better than Rhino...I wouldn't know.  I was amazed w/ the strength and the way it held up under use. Good luck, and I may do the same w/ my resto I'm starting.

Cudaaah

[crcarch]

I've heard more issues about installers than the products themselves.  The only issue I've ever heard against Rhino liner is that it had a fading problem, but they've since reformulated it to hold up better against UV.  I've had it for 2 years in my Ram worktruck with no problems and it still looks good.

I think you'll be fine either way.

[Steve]

That good feedback guys! Thanks! Once I get in the connectors, I plan to lay on the undercoating, then I can weld on the quarters and get the car off of the rotisserie! That thing just takes up soooo much space in the garage!

[cudaaah]

one last thing, I heard that w/ rhino, the color is sprayed on, ( may not be the case w/ black ) where as line-X the color is w/in the material itself.  again it's been 6-7 years since I had this done..All may be different now.

Good luck w/ you project
Cudaaah

[crcarch]

I have a black bedliner so I don't have definite answer, but as far as I know the color is integral with Rhino.

[common 27]

Very interesting idea about the undercoating.I'm wondering if the underside needs to be blasted to bare metal to get it to stick or does it only need to be clean and free from grease and oil?

[crcarch]

Since they did nothing but clean my bed before applying, I'd say that's all that has to be done.

[common 27]

 :ylsuper:By the wat crcarch  That car is awesome Is it finished yet? More pics please!

[shatar4]

I used Lizard Skin for the underside of mine. http://www.coollizard.com/pages/products.htm I did not do my frame rails with it. I used POR-15 on the rails

[crcarch]

:ylsuper:By the wat crcarch  That car is awesome Is it finished yet? More pics please!

Thanks for the compliment. Nope, it's not finished yet.  Not even back from paint. (Sore subject)  I finished paying the A-Team at the end of the year with the promise that it would be finished by Jan.1.....   I'm still trying to rub "SUCKER" off of my forehead.  You can see the current status on my web page http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2133982.

[cudaaah]

As far as what has to be done B4 applying undercoat, if your talking about the rhino/Line-x, I believe they'll have to scuff up any suface.  when they applied to my truck, they sanded/scuffed the entire bed B4 applying.