cleaning underside of truck

[warmpancakes]

well the typhoon is going on the hoist to replace the body mouns and rear seal, figured while im there might as well detail the underside any advice on cleaners to use car has a layer or road film and oil/atf from the leaks over the years , I have a 240 degree power washer (low pressure) to clean with just wanna make it nice and clean

 

[DaveP]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

You mean like this?
I removed the wheels and put it on blocks. I removed the exhaust system for access, and cleaned it on saw horses. I used simple green, pressure washer, DX532 metal cleaner (diluted) on the aluminum, and took about 2 weeks, working in the evening, with the car on the 4-post lift.

This car had 39K of road miles, had been driven in the rain, and was quite dirty. The judges were 'wowed'. Take your time, it will come out well, and you will have a sense of satisfaction, even though few people look under there.

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

yep, I have a rear main so the trans will be out, and im considering dropping the front diff and control arms at the same time , because I need to replace the bushings on them , Dave if the house next door to you comes up for sale let me know im moving next door to you.

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

oh who makes dx532? Ill need some for the trans case because it has the rebuild standard black paint rattle can job

 

[SYO237]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

Take some pics of the process Ken, this would be an awesome writeup for the archives for the clean freaks out there. :tup:

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

ok Ill have to remember to haul the camera in with me, also I found the VIN stamped into the body of the typhoon

 

[DaveP]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

DX 532 is a PPG product. Dilute it! Start with about 20/80 532/water mix ratio.

When I had the trans out of my Ty (pre-hoist), I cleaned the floor pan with rags and laquer thinner laying on my back. It took the color overspray off right to the primer. I was OK with the look, but it's definitely not "stock-appearing". The pressure washer and simple green might be enough.

Yes, please photo-document your cleaning. Might be interesting.

Please forgive me for showing off with the pic above. But it was a lot of work, and I'm kinda proud with the results on the Judging Field.

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

I like seeing pics like that got anymore? oh I have a shirt for you from my days at Milford back in 1991 its a Y car test team t-shirt the test drivers used to wear them

 

[DaveP]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

I like seeing pics like that got anymore?

This is the of the front suspension. Those tires are 19 years old, and are 'correct' for the year. When I work on, and clean this car, my process is to never dis-assemble anything that has never been molested previously. So yes, some bolts remain rusty, some finishes are faded, etc. But preservation of 'originality' is the main focus with this car.

I'll put togeather an album in Photobucket when I get home from work. Enjoy:

 

[turbodig]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

This is the of the front suspension. Those tires are 19 years old, and are 'correct' for the year. When I work on, and clean this car, my 'process' is to never dis-assemble anything that has never been 'molested' previously. So yes, some bolts remain rusty, some finishes are faded, etc. But preservation of 'originality' is the main focus with this car.

I'll put togeather an album in Photobucket when I get home from work. Enjoy:

Nice to see I'm not the only psychotic that cleans shock absorbers... looks great, Dave.

I wiped the underside of the Sy down with thinner, then hit it with simple green and hot water through the pressure washer. That got rid of the road grime on the body.

Shock boots needed more attention; they had some greasy stuff that only a spray of carb/brake cleaner would get. (Sprayed on a clean rag, then wipe. An old toothbrush helps with the getting into the folds.

The frame I did with POR's Metal Ready to kill the rust, then re-sprayed with NOX-Rust X-151B.
(pics are in the "what did you do today" thread)

The rear and springs I haven't gotten to yet. There's quite a bit of surface rust, and I'm not entirely sure what the original finish on these was. I assume as-cast, but I'm not sure of paint colors on the diff cover, spring shackles, things like that. I'm looking at using the POR cast-finish stuff to do the rear diff and springs. The driveshaft I might just glass-bead and do with a clear, since it's hard to get a smooth steel-looking finish on the tube.

I need to do the front diff, A-arms, and torsion bars as well, lotsa work to do on an 18k miler.
The environment up here is a bit harder on things.... I'm sure Ken can relate.

 

[DaveP]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

Nice to see I'm not the only psychotic that cleans shock absorbers... looks great, Dave.

Thanks, Dig.

This thread should be re-named "How much Clean Under the Truck?" We had one for under the hood, recently.

I should put up pics of the under-side of my Syclone as a testimonial of how not to do it.

It was a complete nut-and-bolt restoration, and resurrection from a bad under-hood fire. The frame is painted with gloss-black Linear Polyurethane. The underside of the body was primed with DP-40 gray-green primer.

What I did wrong, was all the fasteners were wire-wheeled to remove rust and residue. I clear-coated some of them, but now, 5 years later, the fasteners are rusted again. Looks like shit. I should finish the truck, and then get on doing the little details like clean all the chassis fasteners, and coat them with clear. It never ends, it seems.

I "feel your pain", Dig.

Regards,
Dave

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

dig the rear diff was assembled off site and painted chassis black as an assy, Ill have to dig but I have some pics of a truck that the guy took like 300 pics when it had 38 miles on it

 

[SY2932]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

WOW Dave, that is CRAZY clean ! Looks like somethign that I would do back in the day when I was big time OCD :lol:. Yeah, post up some pics if you can Ken ! I need to get my ducks in a row for when the underside of my truck gets some TLC too...

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

they are old school 35mm pics, id have to scan and post them and we all know how well that would work

 

[blk00z28]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

Damn Dave, now you've got me wanting to go do my truck lol.

 

[BigBadSmoosh]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

Nice to see I'm not the only psychotic that cleans shock absorbers... looks great, Dave.

I wiped the underside of the Sy down with thinner, then hit it with simple green and hot water through the pressure washer. That got rid of the road grime on the body.

Shock boots needed more attention; they had some greasy stuff that only a spray of carb/brake cleaner would get. (Sprayed on a clean rag, then wipe. An old toothbrush helps with the getting into the folds.

The frame I did with POR's Metal Ready to kill the rust, then re-sprayed with NOX-Rust X-151B.
(pics are in the "what did you do today" thread)

The rear and springs I haven't gotten to yet. There's quite a bit of surface rust, and I'm not entirely sure what the original finish on these was. I assume as-cast, but I'm not sure of paint colors on the diff cover, spring shackles, things like that. I'm looking at using the POR cast-finish stuff to do the rear diff and springs. The driveshaft I might just glass-bead and do with a clear, since it's hard to get a smooth steel-looking finish on the tube.

I need to do the front diff, A-arms, and torsion bars as well, lotsa work to do on an 18k miler.
The environment up here is a bit harder on things.... I'm sure Ken can relate.

Por-15 is a local company to me, my neighbor works for them.. I will support them as much as possible. Also if anyone is interested i might be able to get us some sort of a discount on ordering stuff directly from them.

 

[blk00z28]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

Not to knock POR-15. But a buddy of mine has used Chassis Saver in the past and it worked very well too. I don't remember the prices on POR, but I know for a quart of Chassis Saver its was like $35.. And I know it comes in a few different colors, like gloss black, satin, and silver/gray.

 

[turbodig]

Re: cleaning underside of truck

dig the rear diff was assembled off site and painted chassis black as an assy, Ill have to dig but I have some pics of a truck that the guy took like 300 pics when it had 38 miles on it

That's major archive material, if you can dig it up. There will be lots of restores done eventually, and having a source to go to for original stock will be valuable.

If you wanna send 'em to me, I'll scan them and send them back...