Underseal removed

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get as much time in the workshop as I had previously planned over the holiday period, apart from a few hours on New Years Eve.

Now that I am getting closer to start replacing the damaged sections of chassis, I wanted to find out the true condition of the floor from the underside of the car. This meant I needed to remove all the underseal, which was fairly thick in places, as you can see from this photo. I had asked a few people about best methods which ranged from hair dryers and heat gun paint strippers to go old fashioned elbow grease.

So I tried the hair dry first, but there just wasn't enough heat to help shift it and to be honest where it did have an effect the underseal just turned to thick toffee which was making a mess.

I then had a idea. When I bought the car there was an old wooden handled chisel in the footwell. You can see it here in the photo next to the door. At the time I asked Kim Dear if he wanted to keep it. He said it wasn't his and I was welcome to it. As the underseal was quite hard I wondered if the chisel would be a better tool.

I couldn't believe my luck as within two hours I had cleared all the underseal from the underside of the floor and engine bay sections.

                             Click on images to enlarge

This now gave me the ability to make a decision on what repairs I needed to make. Although the vast majority of the metal was in very good condition, the areas where rust is commonly found is quite bad. Particularly in the key areas where the strength of the chassis is crucial.

Looking at these photos makes me think that the best approach is to completely replace the floor section as a whole. Even though there are repair sections that will replace the rusted areas, the amount of cutting and welding could easily exceed the amount required for the entire floor, especially with that bloody big hole a previous owner decided to make in the middle of the drive shaft housing. It will also expose areas that are currently inaccessible to check for further problems. 

I think it is time to start ordering new parts!!