Removal of Dealership undercoating - chisel?

[Tyson]

so i was underneath my car today doing other stuff and i finally started to just take off the undercoating on my car that was presumably sprayed by the dealer when the car was bought. this car is from the east coast. i just used a medium sized screwdriver and started hacking and chiseling. damn, 1 sq ft took my almost an hour. its ridiculous how thick some of it is, like over 1/8" thick. anyone ever dealt with this stuff? it does kind of come off in strips as you chisel it off, but damn, its not like it doesnt take a lot of effort. this isnt the regular sound deadening inside the cabin. its actually kinda soft and rubbery. i figure chiseling is the most effective way to remove the bulk of it, but is there an electric chisel tool i could use?

i thought of using a wire wheel, but i dont think it will be all that effective until the bulk of it is already scraped off. using chemicals doesnt seem worth it until finishing it since its so damn thick. ppl use dry ice for the interior sound deadening, but theres no way to really get it to stick upside down.

any more thoughts?

[ddewhurst]

***ppl use dry ice for the interior sound deadening, but theres no way to really get it to stick upside down.

any more thoughts?***

Yep, turn the car upside down.

I started the cabin of my RX-7 with dry ice, took all the stuff off under the drivers seat & said screw this I'll leave the weight AS IS. If someone finishes a position ahead of me because of the black Shit more power to her/him. If the black $hit was on the ceiling that's a different story. Now the CG is raised. he he heee

Have Fun
David

[Mark LaBarre]

Just curious....
Where does it say in the GCR or ITCS that undercoating can be removed?
Is it not corosion protection, not sound deadening?

[Greg Amy]

<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">Where does it say in the GCR or ITCS that undercoating can be removed?</font>

"...undercoating on my car that was presumably sprayed by the dealer..."

[jhooten]

Dealer applied under coating is not original equipment, so why can't it be removed?

One of the car shows, Dream Car Garage I think it was, was talking about this on yesterday's show. Use lacquer thinner to soften it up.

[This message has been edited by jhooten (edited May 30, 2004).]

[lateapex911]

Umm laquer thinnner, upside down in a confined space???... I'd think twice on that!

But if you were to put dry ice inside the car, on the opposite side of the spot you are working on...would you get the area cold and stiff? Might be worth a shot.

Davids' point about the weight being in the right spot is a good one. This is not worth the bother if you are going to have to ballast anyway....

Did you weigh the amount you removed? I bet all up you will get as little as 10 pounds, and as much as 30. If you can make minimum, it means that, at best you are giving yorself the slight advantage of moving half the weight you remove horizontaly, which, in a 2000 plus pound car is slight. So give it some thought before you waste a holiday weekend!

------------------
Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

[joeg]

If you can't use dry ice, try the following:

1. Aircraft stripper
2. Oven cleaner
3. A torch/ heat gun

All will require a good scrapper and lots of elbow grease.

Unless you can "dip" the shell, there is no simple solution.

Cheers.

[cherokee]

By what you say it sounds like my car had the same junk on it I think it was Zebart...Boy it was a royal pain. What I ended up using was an air chisel. Be sure that you wear a mask and some eye protection and ear protection. This was the fastest way that I found.

[Marcus Miller]

Try ATF- any of you whom have ever blow up an Automatic tranny know! That will soften the stuff right up, with none of the downside of lacquer thinner...

M.