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Triumph TR6 - What goes on Hot and Sticky... ?

... and is impossible to remove when it's cold and dry???

You got it, the infamous undercoating of Triumph!

I was just reading an ad from Eastwood - they are selling a product called "Under Gone" that is supposed to remove asphalt and rubberized undercoating.

Have any of you tried it?

What is the best method for getting rid of undercoating that you have found?

Thanks.
Bob

When I bought my 1958 TR3A brand new in May 1958, I paid an extra $35.00 for undercoating. It was like a tar asphalt. When I did my restoration from 1987 to 1990, I had to get it all off.

With the car in 15,000 parts (so says Louise, the lady I live with - she says she counted them - under the bed, behind the sofa, on the dining room table, etc.) I used a Black and Decker industrial paint stripper (like a hair dryer) to get some of it off, but it was slow. When it got warm, I'd scrape it off with a narrow as well as a wide putty knife.

As I said, it was slow, so I used a propane torch to warm it up faster. Not too much heat in one spot for too long - you don't want to put a warp in the metalwork. I kept a bucket of water handy as it would go up in flames more often than not. It was summer and I had the garage door open. For the fenders, I had them held in my big bench vice. Be careful of the hot flaming dripping gooy tar falling onto the floor (or onto your feet).

But eventually, I got it all off. Then I wiped it with Mineral Spirits (or Varsol or Deltasol as we call it here in Canada) to really get down to bare metal (or rust as was the case more often than not).

It was at this point that I found out that the frame of my black TR3A had been painted primrose yellow at the factory, a colour that was not even listed yet as a TR3A exterior colour.

Good luck but careful with this method.

Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A
Don Elliott

Bob
Soda blast it back to bare metal..OK ...only when doing a body off restore. If not doing a body off then you are going to have difficulty. Have not tried under gone but sounds interesting. Probably an expensive packaged can of Varsol. Ya gotta be carefull if you go with a paint stripper...I think I would avoid that kinda stuff.
Have fun and make sure you got lots of ventilation.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

I cleaned the undercoating off small parts like front suspension pieces by soaking them in furnace oil - or diesel.

After a 24 hr soaking, the undercoating just turned all mushy and was easy to clean up. This was followed by a soak in Varsol and then a spray with Simply Green.

This worked well for me.

Aivars Berzins
Aivars Berzins

Many thanks to the Canadian contingency! I appreciate the info.
Bob

I think the "Canadian " contingency are snow bound in their snowcaves.
DON KELLY

I believe the correct term would be igloo :)
Aivars Berzins

I didn't want to insult any native Alaskans.
Don
DON KELLY

Bob ,
My under coating was so britle that a sharp blow
with a putty knife took off alot. After thousnds of
these blows I had most of it off, but I love the idea
of using diesel. It makes perfect sense, put some diesel in a spray bottle and have at it.
Christopher Trace

Actually, the diesel idea would be very easy for me - seeing as I have a Dodge 4x4 pickup with the Cummins Turbodiesel and a Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel.

As far as being snowbound in the North - Good Old Sunny Southern Virginia had 32 inches of white stuff last week, and we're currently expected to get 10+ inches today through Friday. We've had snow on the ground since the first snowfall on December 5, 2002. If this crap keeps up, I'll have to learn to end my sentences with "eh?" (just kidding - y'all).
R.C. Blair

R.C.
Sorry,, must have been us up here with our snow blowers working so well that it threw it all the way down to y'all.
Well gotta get back to shoveling out the entrance to the iglo er.. um.. I meant the snow cave.
Have a great day eh?

Bob, you have not mentioned if this is body off or not...it sounds like it is. I sure would not want to be lying under the car with any of the above dripping on me.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Rick -

It will be a body off job - I'm still occupied completing the interior of my new garage, so the disassembly is on hold for about 2 months. Via this BBS I've gotten some great ideas about how to take the body off - I'll be using a hydraulic engine lift and straps (with door braces properly in place.) I've set aside approx. 400 square feet (about 1/4 of the new garage, or 12.5 feet x 32 feet) for the TR-6 work. I also need to wait for some warmer weather so I can blast the snot out of the undercarriage with my pressure washer prior to disassembly. I've got a fairly healty coating of oil/grease underneath the car, which seems to have kept the car rust free. This car has never been apart, as even the original lever arm shocks have undercoat on the bolts.

I just want to get all of the rustproofing off so I can spot any hidden rust, and when I repaint, I'm going to treat the metal for corrosion resistance.

Just as an aside, I've got a gentleman interested in my '52 BMY cycle - if he purchases it, the HVAC system for the garage can be moved about two years ahead of schedule. Then I don't have to sweat this summer.
R.C. Blair

This thread was discussed between 24/02/2003 and 27/02/2003

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