Shiny new bottom

[GATOR454]

I finally got Gator's underside painted. I used Ace industrial chrome aluminum paint. It came in a 1 quart can and is rated at 650 degrees. I pressure washed the bottom back in September and also scrubbed and degeased then wiped down with laquer thinner then lightly sanded then wiped down with laquer thinner again. The frame was painted with por-15 then top coated with rustoleum satin spray paint.
I then masked off the area to be painted with the aluminum paint and applied 3 coats of paint with pieces of sponge that I tore off a large sponge. I dipped a piece of sponge in the paint and dabbed it on, then I used another piece of sponge and patted the paint until I got the finish that I wanted.
I still need to do some touch-up where the paint went under the mask, but other than that I think it turned out better than I expected.
I'm hoping that it will help reflect some of the radiant heat from the exhaust.
It should also be easy to refresh in the future since it's just dabbed on.
Here is a picture of Gator in the beginning so you can see the starting point.

Here it is after painting

Do you think I'll get any NCRS points deducted for it?

Later,
David

 

[Stallion]

Whether it takes points off or not, that looks really good!!

Stallion

 

[IH2LOSE]

excellent concept to reflex the heat

 

[Macgyver]

Wow! I didnt know that the bottom of a Vette could look that nice. Mine looks like a pan of frying bacon cause of the small oil leak and the leaking transmission pan gasket.

What did you do to clean the bottom of Gator first. It looks dry as a bone in the first pick.

I sense a new fad coming on in the rap community. Every rappers going to be talking about the shine on their oil pan.

 

[Erik S. Klein]

Do you think I'll get any NCRS points deducted for it?

I'm sure you would lose points. The question, if you're really going for an NCRS Flight Award, is do you have enough points elsewhere to overcome the deduction.

If the car is otherwise perfect and original you should be able to place.

Either way, it looks great!

 

[GATOR454]

Macgyver, I feel your pain

The only dry part of my car was the back. Power seering leaked, oil pan leaked, transmission pan leaked and the differential leaked. From the front wheels back to the differential was a wasteland of old dinosaurs and dirt.

The initial cleaning took ten hours of soaking wet on my back scrubbing. I started by pressure washing the entire bottom. I was hoping it would just blast off all of the grease and dirt, but the grease had other plans for me. I started scrubbing with simple green and a scotch brite pad, but the grease just laughed at the simple green. So I switched to Castrol degeaser. That stuff really liquified the caked on goo. I scrubbed until I couldn't feel anymore grease. Make sure you have your gogles on at all times, don't ask me how I know. Also be careful the bottom of the car is a whole lot sharper than the top, it took a couple weeks before my knuckles healed.

To prep the frame for painting I scrubbed it again with degeaser. Then I sprayed the whole frame with rust converter then wire brushed the frame with wire wheels attached to my drill. I then sprayed the frame with por-15's metal ready.

To prep the fiberglass bottom for painting I scrubbed it with laquer thinner then lightly sanded it then scrubbed it with laquer thinner again.

The key to a good paint job is in the preparation, and you could eat off of the bottom of my car before I started to paint it.

Erik, sorry I was being sarcastic. I'm building a driver not a garage queen. The only way I could win a NCRS award is if it stood for "Not Correctly Restored Stingray".

David

 

[82ColEd]

David, that looks great !
Stefan

 

[cwerve74]

Wonderful pictures.

I have just started on my 74 454 conv. My before pics look identical to yours. Love what you have done and can understand what you have accomplished. I focused on everything aft of the seats. I scraped, scrubed, brushed, and got an education on iron oxide. Looks good now but have a lot of car to do.

Since I have only driven my car for about 40 miles before I started I wanded to run it a little before I attacked the front . Should be on the road this week end assuming I get the rear spring issues resolved.

Is Your rear spring the 7 leaf version? Also am interested in how effective the heat reduction is from the silver paint.

 

[GATOR454]

cwerve, My leaf spring WAS a 7 leaf. As soon as I get the rear end back in it will be a composite fiberglass spring from VBP.

I won't know how effective the silver paint is until sometime in the spring. Right now the only thing left under the car is the engine.

 

[resto75]

Thats a nice clean job. If it were me I would of found a way to clean it without all the hand work. I think I would of used lotsa engine degreaser and then let it soak a few hours. Then pressure wash it. Drink beer and do it again. Castrol super clean works really good but you got to get the thick stuff off first.

If you can find a hot water pressure washer to use it will take off the crustest goo you can find. Save the knuckles.

 

[Erik S. Klein]

Erik, sorry I was being sarcastic. I'm building a driver not a garage queen. The only way I could win a NCRS award is if it stood for "Not Correctly Restored Stingray".

I had a feeling that was the case but the question was still valid and deserved an answer. . . I think!