Removing undercoating with Harbor Freight small needle scaler

Restoring my 1971 VW Bus I needed to remove all of the old undercoating and some light rust so I can start repairs and painting. The wire wheel doesn't really work with all of the nooks and corners and stuff.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Restoring
• Volkswagen
• VW
• Bus
• 1971
• Harbor Freight
• needle scaler
• rust
• undercoating
• paint
• TheSamba

[ProfitOfDoom420]

Is that your wife's vibrator?

[GooberMcNutly]

@ProfitOfDoom420 No, her's is gas powered. It's the only way she can replace me when I'm traveling.

[GooberMcNutly]

Yes, some of that is paint and some of it is undercoating. The video doesn't show it very well, but the corrugated floor above is undercoated more thickly. But it's all rattle can spray on undercoating which I agree is easier to remove than the professional or factory applied stuff. But even the thickest layers of the stuff succumbed to the needle gun. Sometimes it left a good bit of asphalt between the needle strikes, but a 2nd or third pass usually got 99% of it off.

[ozolagniac]

The needle-gun worked, but...that's not undercoating - it's paint, and applied over old paint, so it's not well bonded. Undercoating is asphalt-based and 'goos' up, forever soluble in petroleum solvents, and...afaik still has no magic-bullet tool to remove it.

[wolfywho]

@GooberMcNutly - Yes, I learned the hard way about the painters head sock. Laying on your back under the car, that stuff gets all in your hair and back of your head (among other things).  I had goggles on, dust/face mask (covers my mouth and nose), and ear protection on. I'll be wearing a painters head sock to complete it. ;-) Just ordered my Master Series primer and ag111 yesterday. Too bad it won't be here for this 3 day weekend. Oh well.

[GooberMcNutly]

@wolfywho Looks to work about the same for the large one. It also amazed me how little air it would use. My 120 volt belt drive compressor had no problem keeping up and when I stopped, it usually did too. The worst part was that I had to wear a painters head sock, lab goggles and a full face shield to keep all of the chips out of my ears, eyes, hair and mouth. PS: I'm using Masterseries as a primer too.

[wolfywho]

@GooberMcNutly - Thanks Goober.  I ended up buying the bigger one. It worked great too. I posted a video on my Youtube channel of me using it.

[GooberMcNutly]

@wolfywho Oh yeah, I used it all over the bottom, even on the brake line, if you are gentle.

[GooberMcNutly]

@wolfywho It's the "compact" one which isn't really compact. I paid $19.95 for mine.