Armored Underbelly

It has been hovering in the single digits here, far too cold to do any work out in the garage presently. Having recently had everyone in the house sick with one thing and another, and having dealt with the added drama of  my daily driver throwing belts and melting down the radiator, I'm sort of welcoming the chance to rock back on my heels for a moment and catch my breath. But not too long....

Hoses from GEEBEE racing arrived Tuesday: the Decel valve hose and the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) hose. They are beautiful, but last Monday I noted that the fit is not quite right on the S-Boot I ordered from them. (Then again, it was the prototype, so that might explain part of the problem. I'm still going to inquire.)

In lieu of a blow by blow of what I've been working on (turn a bolt, then run back in side to warm up again), I'm going to document a procedure that will need to be run to reseal the bottom of the vehicle. I've gleaned (liberated? harvested? R-pp-d O-f? this procedure from Bay-window Bus guru Colin "Itinerant-Aircooled" Kellogg who has forgotten more about the Bay Bus than I'll probably ever know. I'm including my cost estimates and comments at the end.


Morning: Scrape and brush any loose flakes off. [If it is loose enough to come off with an aggressive scrape and brushing, don't cry because you're losing the factory undercoat. Cheer, because the metal is going to spend just a few moments uncovered, then cleaned up and re-sealed, then you won't have to worry about it again for a bit.]

Mid-morning: Wash the underside with plenty of high-pressure water. [If you have the option, use an actual  pressure washer, and if you want to get very agressive, hook it up to your hot-water tap. Between the heat and the  pressure, you'll remove more gooey, cooked on nasty-crud, and the heat will help the water evaporate faster.] Then wrap colored tape around components that you DON'T want to get paint and sealer on, such as brake hoses, fuel hoses and other rubber components. This is care of the chassis, not moving mechanisms  like brakes, shocks, moving parts of suspension, with rubber boots, etc.

Midmorning nap: let dry. [ For the truly paranoid, use a box fan to move air across the bottom and speed evaporation.]

 After Lunch: Mask off the edges of your Bus so that the sealer, primer and paint that you're going to be spraying won't get away and wind up on tires, external body paint, and other places that will be unsightly or interfere with the mechanism's use. Spray all rusty-ish surfaces with rust-catalyzing primer, get up in all drain holes, compressed air is very helpful for driving it up inside and out of reach of a brush. [Rust-Catalyzing Primer meaning 'Any primer containing phosphoric acid specifically designed to convert hydrating, red-oxide rust to stabilized black oxide. It won't cure perforated cancer or make weakened metal magically regrow, but it will at least temporarily halt the progress of hydrating rust.]

After Lunch nap: let dry. [Again with the fan. The down-wind neighbors are going to love this. ]

Afternoon: Spray three light coats of paint-able rubberized undercoating. This should take approximately 8 cans. [Because these rubberized undercoatings are available in multiple colors, take advantage of it: Use different colors per coat: white for the first coat, silver (aluminum) for the second coat, and black for the final coat. You will be able to see some clearly which portions you have painted and which you have not. Also, when there is damage, (inevitable) cracking or sluffing of the undercoat, you'll be able to see it. Having your attention called to it is the first line of defense.]

Afternoon nap: let dry

Late afternoon: four cans of universal black any color on the undercoating. [In my case, I'll be using flat black in the front wheel wells, and gloss black everywhere else. The wheel wells are visible. The undercarriage is not, and I want as slick and impenetrable a bottom surface from the topcoat as possible.]

Beer.

Nota Bene: In the case of those of us with a BA6 heater, make double damn sure you don't paint the heater body with the rubberized undercoating. Remove the heater for this operation and tape up all of the wiring,  hoses, etc. Then as a final step, perform all of these steps to the belly cover, both sides, before bolting it back into place.

Costs: $8

Scotch / 3M Blue Painters Tape $4
Drop cloth: $4 (3mil painters)


Primer: $28
Rust-Oleum Rust Metal Primer 249330 - $7 x 4

Sealer: $80

Rust-Oleum LeakSeal White 267970 - $10 x 2

Rust-Oleum LeakSeal Aluminum (Silver) 267972 - $10 x 3
Rust-Oleum LeakSeal Brown 267976 - #10 x 3