Day 1.

Restoration isn't quite the term to use. But in a way I am. I spent the day yesterday prepping the underbody for my POR-15 application today. For those that don't know, POR-15 is what Andrew (harofreak) used on his floor to stop the rust he had.

After a lot of brake clean and some scrubbing, I actually saw a lot of bare metal. Nice, clean, shiny steel uncovered with just degreaser. Not bad I thought! My front subframe was actually in great shape (it'* much better now). The back end was worse. I scraped away any loose rust from everywhere I was going to paint, sanded, cleaned, then went to town.

I covered basically everything from the lower radiator support all the way back (subframe, all control arms, tie rod ends, rear springs, all the wheel wells...). I used a large brush so it wouldn't take me all month, so some spots weren't perfect, but I wasn't too concerned. There were only a few key places I needed to get. The rest I did to make it look nicer for when mechanic Dan works on my car again.

This is a 12 beer job. Unfortunately I didn't have any.

Can anyone guess what else I upgraded from the pics?

oooo OOO I know I know!

Man am I ever glad that car is in your hands. Excellent work Pete. Whats working with that POR-15 stuff like?

Sorry Pete, Jim just called me. after seeing the pics of how well your takeing car of that car. He wants the car back.

Lookin' good, Pete. And brake cleaner isn't a degreaser. I USE it as a paint remover regularly.

Bill you're right...it is a paint remover. Brake clean alone removed rubber undercoating that had been on the car for who knows how long.

POR-15 is good stuff, but I ran out of brake clean to clean my hands (I WAS wearing gloves until I ran out). You HAVE to wear gloves with this stuff. So unfortunately my hands are stained semi-permanently. Maybe I'll get a shot of them. It would have been nicer to do this job while the car was on a lift though. Lying down underneath it made it a bit tricky to keep the paint from dripping on my hands.

Oh, and Saturday I upgraded to Bendix rotors w/ ceramics. My pads had worn out after 7-8 months. I was getting some squealing already. So I felt I should do it right this time and get good rotors/pads, and replace the one original caliper, so both calipers are new.

haha.. i would love to see a pic of your hands...that stuff will be permanent for a couple days minimum

nice work on the undercoating

did you go thru a whole quart?

Andrew, I still have a small amount left of the quart. When I started the back, I just used it straight from the can though since I figured I'd use the rest of it. I'm not sure if I can use what'* left since you're not supposed to use it from the can. I'll find out though. There'* still more to do and I hope I don't have to spend another $40 on a quart.

I'll take a pic of my hands. I'm going to look horrible for work for a couple weeks.

At least everyone knows I'm a 'mechanic' on the weekends, so it won't be a surprise. lol

Warning: My hands look MUCH worse in person....believe me. :( The light washed out a lot of the staining.

should paint the exhaust also with some high temp paint. i did that to mine right after i had the cat put on and the Rez deleted. and after a winter, still nice and Black

But looks great pete, I think i might do mine also.

IIRC, POR-15 withstands very high temps, so if I'm right I could have done the exhaust with the POR-15 to seal out moisture/prevent further rust as well.

*off to research*