Underside restoration

[C16xe]

I'm about to start stripping the underside of my nova to start protecting it for future use. There are a few rust areas where I will cut out and replace with fresh steel. As for the rest there are a quite a few areas of surface rust in the usual places. What are peoples recommendations on products that will last?
I'm thinking

Fully strip underside with wire wheel on a grinder
Cut all rusted areas out and replace with new steel
A good rust converter on all surface rust areas
A good degreasing
Epoxy prime the whole underside
Seam seal all panel joins
Gravitex tinted white
Cavity wax probably dinitrol into wherever possible

I'm hoping to do all this with a brush finish, although I do have access to a small 24L compressor but unsure if its man enough!

Anyone got any views on this as I would like to do this once and for it to last many years to come.
Thanks

[rickygolf83]

Sounds like a comprehensive approach to me! I am no expert though [emoji106]

My mechanic mate swears by gravitex, has just done the underside of his series 1 rs turbo with it and also used it on parts of my cars after work has been done.

Upol raptor gets a great name also, along with bilt hamber products especially their rust coverting range.

If you can get the gravitex on with a compressor the job wont take long at all

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[C16xe]

Sounds like a comprehensive approach to me! I am no expert though [emoji106]

My mechanic mate swears by gravitex, has just done the underside of his series 1 rs turbo with it and also used it on parts of my cars after work has been done.

Upol raptor gets a great name also, along with bilt hamber products especially their rust coverting range.

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The Internet is a mine field for info on this! A friend gave me a por 15 kit with paint,metal clean and something else. But after reading up on it, it will only adhere to rust and bare metal. And really don't fancy totally bare metalling the whole underside of my nova lol

[rickygolf83]

Yeah man, would take moons doing that [emoji846]

I'm sure someone will be along who has done the underside of their nova to give you first hand experience of the task [emoji106]

Good luck [emoji256]

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[Iain]

On mine I did the following:

Wire wheel on grinder back to metal OR the original cream coating
Keyed
POR15 paint everywhere
Seam sealer where necessary
3M stonechip
2K paint with a brush

It was done almost 10 years ago and is still in really great shape. That has been 30k+ of road miles and several gravel traps on trackdays.

The white tinted stonechip is OK but not very white compared to a glossy glacier white topcoat so bear that in mind. Also after several years it'll be filthy and difficult to clean. If I were to do it again I'd go dark grey or black.

[Iain]

I did actually prime, stonechip (aerosol) and Hammerite the underside, but it was brittle so I took it all off agian, hence the patchyness. I left the seam sealer on from the original bad attempt too so looking at my old posts I guess the seam sealer is under my POR15. Oh well.

https://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?114446-Iain-s-20XE-Trackday-Nova/page128

http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2/967.JPG

http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2/970.JPG

3M stonechip:

http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2/971.JPG

Bit of primer for adhesion:

http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2/987.JPG

2K paint:

http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2/993.JPG

http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2/991.JPG

[C16xe]

The por 15 looks like its held up pretty well then. Did you use the marine clean and the other spray before you applied it Iain? And did you totally bare metal the underside as I've read it can peel off in sheets if applied over a painted surface

[Iain]

Based on the pics and link above it looks like I went over partially painted + sealed surface with the POR15. Rusty metal it's great on, but a good key I've found is enough for it.

Yeah I did use both of those, can't comment if they helped or not.

If you're there, go as much bare metal as possible, but I found the original cream coat pretty good so where it's not bubbled I wouldn't bother taking that off back to bare metal personally.

[C16xe]

And I was planning on going white but might reconsider lol

[Iain]

White looks badass the first MOT you put it on the ramp. Just impractical if you plan on using and abusing it and expect it to look nice.

Going black would mean no top coat of paint, which could be a bonus or a negative depending how many layer you want on it.

[C16xe]

I'll only be using the car in summer with a few track days if I can. Just want to do it once and hopefully won't have to worry about it for the next few years. Think I'll go with the white top coat and see how it holds up. Thanks again Iain

[slimtater]

A few bits about this on my project thread:

https://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?212448-Sport-Project-1990-to-2016-(hopefully)&p=2292635&viewfull=1#post2292635

[C16xe]

A few bits about this on my project thread:

https://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?212448-Sport-Project-1990-to-2016-(hopefully)&p=2292635&viewfull=1#post2292635

Thanks slimtater just had a quick scan through will have a good read later on when I sit down