Did Series 2 E-types sent to the U.S. have factory applied undercoating? Decades ago the car had a strip to bare metal paint
job. Shop owner said “I also undercoated the car”. Yikes; I don’t remember having this before. How can I get it off? Does anyone have black painted steel undersides?
Michael
Every high end restoration I’ve ever seen has undercoating over painted with body color. It’s a nightmare to remove as it’s asphalt or rubber based. It protects from rust, rocks thrown by the tires, and reduces panel reverberation. The only places it isn’t used is under the boot floor and under the center part of the bonnet. It usually is used in the wheel wells.
The only problem I recently discovered with it is that it’s only rated for 200 degrees. Over time and exposure to heat in the transmission tunnel around the exhaust and muffler, the undercoat can melt and the body color paint delaminate. There is a newer product called Gator Guard which promises to be stable up to much higher temps. If I had it to do over I’d use that instead.
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A previous owner, I assume anyway, undercoated the underside of the bonnet on my 2+2. I was able to remove it with judicious use of a hair dryer, I didn’t want to risk a hotter blowing heat gun, and a plastic scraper followed by copious amounts of mineral spirits.
I wonder how spray in bed liner, like used on pickup truck beds, would work?
That Gator Guard stuff I mentioned it used for truck beds also. It’s supposedly safe up to 500 degrees, is hard as hell and between the two different compounds, helps with sound and also with heat. It has glass micro spheres in it. If I was doing a bare shell I’d use it inside and out on the floors.
AFAIK, Gator Guard and truck bed liner are the same product.
Oh, I wasn’t familiar with that brand name. I suspect any bed liner would out perform the usual undercoating.
A caution - it is like paint in that you must follow the recoat if you use epoxy primer under it. Like paint, it won’t stick well to cured epoxy.
My very late sII was delivered to St. Louis in the Fall of '70. It had no undercoating. It is Primrose (light yellow) and looks terrible under the wheel wells when the light yellow is replaced with many dozens of black dots of road tar and chips from rocks. I put undercoating in all four wheel wells myself, and it is a lot better as well as protected now. I would go so far as to suggest you spray some there.
LLoyd
Wherever space and time interact, there is information, and wherever information can be ordered into knowledge, and knowledge can be applied, there is intelligence.
Pavel Mirsky, mid 21st Century Russian General
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A bit of a zombie thread.
As my IRS goes back together and clears room in the garage, I will soon be turning to the body of my Jag.
I still have a few things to get out of it before I turn it on it’s side to take the underside to bare metal, make repairs and prep it for painting.
Many good insights here.
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I purchased my 1970 E Type in 1992 from the original owner. He had it Ziebarted. When I started restoring the car in ‘94 I removed all the Ziebart coating using a putty knife and heat gun. A painfully slow process. During the painting stage, I coated the car with epoxy primer and then coated the undercarriage and fender wells with 3M Body Schutz before painting. It has held up perfectly over 20 years.
I used Lizard Skin from Eastwood, I believe. Two products, one for thermal insulation, the other for acoustic insulation. Use both for underfloor, wheel wells and interior surfaces.
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REALLY nice. Thanks for the picture.
Mike
+3 variant … grit blasting, epoxy primer, urethane seam sealer, 3M paintable body schutz, two wet coats of single stage urethane. Result is a very well adhered, tough, waterproof, chip resistant coating.
having the monocoque on a rotisserie a must.
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Secret to a successful and long-lasting undercoat is, as Nick shows, preparation, preparation, then MORE preparation.
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Applies to the topside, too.
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I prepared my E-Type exactly as you described. That was 20 years ago. It still looks new!
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Well, I’m well into removing the factory undercoating and addressing a few rust spots. Thankfully, the sills, inside and out, are in great shape.
I’m kind of torn between the Lizard Skin and the Body Schutz. Price wise the Body Schutz wins. Lizardskin though only comes in gallon containers which puts it in the $400.00 range. Sometimes I have to get a bit price conscious.
How many quarts/gallons of these products have you used?
Then, I have to ask. Is a painted underside better than a traditional black? I’m going to have a lot of SS paint
That is a choice I am considering as well. I would like to use whatever is more durable and less likely to peel. It is my understanding that lizard skin is water based vs. petroleum based shutz but I have not seen any comparisons on durability. Nice thing about lizard skin is that you could use the same product for inside the boot and the cockpit.
I went through six US quarts. 3M body schutz.