removing undercoating

ok Y'all

heres what is did. i tried the bernsomatic torch and scraper on one front fenderwell side. it worked ok i did my main floor pan i took from my donor 74 dart before installing it about a year ago the same way so yes its messy, and a pain.

i also tried something else on the other fenderwell that works really well. you will need some butcher paper to put on the floor if you dont want your shop floor all messy, and use clothes you wont mind throwing in the trash once your done doing this job.

get a can of WD-40 and soak the undercoating really well. you may have to recoat it a few times over the 2 or 3 days you need to let it sit to loosen up the undercoating (i would let it sit a week). after that a good sharp paint scraper will take most of it off very easily. then i used some throwaway shop cloths and laquer thinner to remove the rest down to clean painted metal and some small steel wire brushes to clean up in the nooks and crannies. the laquer thinner will take some of the paint off too, but who cares since its getting stripped and repainted anyways. this is a little messier, but in a way easier than the torch and scraper method.

one fenderwell took me 6 hours of hard labour with torch and scraper, and is still not finished. the other fenderwell took me 2.5 hours with WD-40 and mild labour and is ready for a soap n water wash n dry before blasting

in the end i think i am going to strip the rest of the cars undercoating with WD-40, a scraper, wire brush, and laquer thinner with a rag. i will then clean everything up with power clean or simple green straight up and rinse with water, then i will let it all thoroughly dry in the west texas 103 degree heat, and start my sandblasting.

end result both methods really suck, but i think the WD-40 sucks less since your not grinding all that undercoat into breathable dust, so if your not in a hurry to git er done soak it with WD-40 and let it sit for about a week, spraying it down once a day and letting it sit. after you scrape it off the remainder will mostly come off with a rag soaked in laquer thinner.

so there it is 2 methods, each do work, i just think one works better.

hope this helps
matt