ARC894Y

Basically the same process as for the topside without the pressure of achieving a nice finish, plus a stone chip and black wax


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I ended up stripping back to bare metal. If you're taking the trouble to do the underside I'd consider it to address any hidden rust issues. Plus you have peace of mind that its solid afterwards.

I temporarily sealed it with Eastwood 2k epoxy primer while I get the welding done.

I've also spoken to a number of panel beaters who have said the same thing. Expoy primer, 2k primer and then your  underseal. I'll be using dintrol for my underseal once I'm ready to paint the underside.

Hope that help, keep up the good work.

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Thanks very much. That's great. I'll get cracking on that today. 

It's a bit of a minefield this! To bare metal or not to bare metal that is the question! I see merits in both. Where it's all stuck on properly it's really stuck but there are so many places on mine where rust has got in and started to flake the surface off. After looking at the centre section again last night that's all just pitted and mostly gone, I thought it was ok but it's just not. the rear wheel well is pretty solid and the back 1/3 of the car looks solid too but the rest Is really easy to get off. May end up doing a bit of both. We shall see. 

Thanks for all the advice though guys it's so helpful! 

I used raptor on the underside of mine thinking it would be really good.

I didn't take it all back to bare metal as alot of the VW paint and anti corrosion stuff was still in place. It was sanded lightly and degreased.

The raptor is now falling off in sheets. It didn't stick to a alot of the areas and has caused cavities under itself.

So if you intend to use it be careful! Some of the raptor videos suggest an adhesion  promoter to assist in it sticking.

TBH if I was going to do it again and I probably will have to shortly, I'd use a stone chip product instead.

I believe POR do some good stuff.

Ian

We are doing a mini at the moment, and have just used raptor on the underside of that - it’s very very hard. The stuff Vw used is a special rubberised coating. Very thick but must’ve good for stone chips as it’s easy to understand how stones etc would bounce off. The only stone ship stuff we can buy is nowhere near as good in terms of build / film thickness . I think vw used a 2k and high baked it, whatever it is it’s good! I think I would go with stone chip rather than raptor next time, I would apply several coats with plenty of flash off time , and try a similar build that vw achieved.


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Awesome, thank you. What stone chip would you recommend then? 

I tried just stripping down to the primer underneath but things quickly progressed. I've gone back to bare metal against better judgement! I'm going to do the whole lot back to bare metal hopefully have it done in the next couple of days and then I'll put some primer to cover it up before I start to weld everything up underneath! Wish me luck. It's actually a lot better than I thought it was and at the front there are the two patches on the sills to sort, a bit of straightening out to do along the way and then just the back to crack on with, so not too terrible. 

Cool beans man! Glad it actually seems better after stripping and not worse like normal  

Brother in Law used Gravitex Upol Gravitex Stone Chip 1.0L - Express Paints for the underside I think.

Ian

Thanks Ian. Looks like I may be using dinitrol, still un-decided and probably about a months worth of work away anyway at least!. I'm considering painting the under side now as well, the car will only ever go out once in a blue moon and I just really want it perfect everywhere, things may change though! Think I've been looking at Instagram mk1s too much! 

Good luck, keep up the good work, it will all be worth it in the end!


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Right decision to go back to bare metal. Took me a few weeks before deciding to do it aswell but you have peace of mind it's been done correctly.

I spent some time researching dintirol and was happy with results and durability.

Great work so far.

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hanks guys. My motivation yesterday was poor. I only spent about 20 mins stripping the car.

But One of my tenants moved out of a lock up i own so I'm going to move the car there, which means it will be covered and a perfect place to spray it as it will be relatively dust free which is great.  I can't say that he left it in a particularly good condition though!

I ended up buying a miltek exhaust, I went for the non resonated version because I'm a 17 year old boy at heart! I have the bike carbs and manifold coming today and a bumper pile of bits coming from classic vw and vw heritage. Very exciting!

T

 

Nice of him to tidy it all up for you!

I find it interesting the way folk buy parts. Exhaust will be about the last thing for mine as I don't need it until I start the thing up - and that's a way off! Still, it's nice to have something new and shiny to keep the motivation up.

Would you mind posting up a couple of pics (at different angles) of the heat shield around the gear shift lever boot. Mine is missing and I'll need to try and make one up.

Keep up the good work - be done in no time!

J

Yeah, that's so true. I got carried away! For some reason I've been wanting the exhaust since before I bought the car and have always just put it off! Probably because the car was/is an absolute mess.

Here are some pics of the heat shield, I'll be taking it off later today and will get some more pics then. I'll have to send it off to the powder coaters after he's done with the rest of the bits I've given him to spruce up.

Winner - thanks a lot!! Not sure what I make will be quite so well formed, but as long as it does the job it will do!

HaHa! i remember my first restoration, i bought some shiny bits for that - which i fitted two years later….

So, I thought i would share this with you all….

 I've just been chatting to an ex colleague of mine, an ex paint & body guy who is product development manager for U-pol, the company who invented and supply 'Raptor'.

I told him i had used raptor recently and wasn't that impressed, because it seemed so hard on my last job (lack of deflection) , and should i be using a stonechip type product instead, and that i had heard from you guys that the raptor was coming off in sheets in places on another job.

His advice was that Raptor is most definitely the better product for chemical resistance and basic protection/durability. The recommendation is to tint the raptor with no more than 200ml of activated 2K body colour, this will give some slight flexibility and deflection to the Raptor, due to the pigment in the mix not crosslinking.

Also, Raptor needs a good 'bite' to promote adhesion to the substrate, the recommended substrate is epoxy primer, prepped using no finer than P180 - no finer.

lastly, Raptor needs a decent substrate film thickness for extra protection underneath it, either etch and 2K primer filler, or Epoxy primer with no real need for etch.

So there you go hope this helps…

BTW - looks like a great work space… but, please bear in mind health & safety if you intend spraying in there..

Consider build up of explosive solvents,

and consider that the 2K contains Isocyanates.

An air fed respirator is a must, plus good drying and filtering of your air - both for moisture content and oil mist -

Lastly, you will need minimum humidity and the temperature is recommended 20 degrees C, to avoid moisture and micro blistering.

Take care!

Awesome advice thanks. I'm in two minds really. I may well end up getting a Proffessional job done on the paint, it seems silly to go to all of this effort and then let myself and the build down by not having an awesome finish. I think I'll definitely get the underneath all done, as I can wheel the car outside and finish isn't really a problem as it's the underside of the car. Obviously I don't want it too look bad but it's not as important as long as everything is weather proof. I've done a bit of spraying before so have the basics down but obviously I'm not going to be any good at all compared to a professional. Can anyone recommend a good place to get it done in the Kent area? 

Great info with regards to the raptor as well. 

Ps I'll be getting a respirator as well!