Purchased a gallon of fluidfilm at Granger, $38. Wow the stuff is thick. First I tried repurposing a kitchen hand sprayer. Ha. Then tried painting it on with a brush. Many hours under the car and little to show for it.
Finally went back and carefully reviewed the fluidfilm web site. Recommended sprayers, tip size, pressure. Trips to hardware store to try and rent on, then review craigslist ads for commercial sprayers, various rental stores. Dang, everything is expensive. $500 to buy, $200 to rent, lots of concern about contaminating the lines in their paint guns. Undercoating guns start at $120, $60 for spray wands, etc, etc. Prices seem so high!
I even call around local restoration shops and find good advice: “$100 isn’t much in this line of business”, no one around here applies undercoating. Quotes to be involved were on the order of $500+, really this is not a service thats offered around here.
In the end, the fluidfilm-developed spray gun looks like the best choice. Designed to do a good job hook to a normal air compressor. I call Fluidfilm and he talks me into the Kit #1, upgraded to the “pro gun”, and with a 360 degree flex wand, included another gallon of fluidfilm. I even ponied up $10 for a second wand since it seemed like it’d be suffering abuse. Total was ~$110 including shipping. Fine. Neighbor has a 25 gallon compressor I can borrow.
The pro gun and wand from fluidfilm kit #1
Big day arrives, I put on my coveralls and mask, fire up the compressor. Holy crap the gun works well. Underside takes about 5 minutes to coat. Then attach a wand and do the inside of the frame, the inside of the rockers, every single hole gets zapped with the wand. In total the underside and frame took about 40 minutes. Gun creates a fog that goes everywhere, good to wear a mask! Spray from about 2 feet away its easy to get a consistent layer.
Doors were next, then inside of rear quarter panels and inside of wheel wells, engine bay, battery boxes, radiator, airbox, up behind the gas tank, inside the bumpers, etc, etc. Also did the body’s internal crossmembers from access holes inside the car. Best part, all the frame pillars (next to windshield, between front and rear doors, and by the tailgate) all have access holes, simply insert wand to the hilt, spray and slowly remove the wand. Also applied inside the rear tailgates even though they’re already rusted. I guess we’ll see how this stuff does in stopping rust.
I probably spent 3 hours spraying the car inside and out and most of that time was spent inserting the wand into all the access points.
The craftsman electric 25 gallon compressor worked well at 120-130psi. Generally I paused 20 seconds every few minutes for the compressor to catch up. This application would have taken weeks with a paintbrush.
In all that time I used almost 2 quarts of fluidfilm (kit comes with 2 quart bottles). Real surprise to me, besides how easy the application was compared to a paint brush, was the violence of the spray. Need to use short bursts, tap-tap-tap. I thought it worked well.
At this point the only part left, I’d like to zap the inside of the roof seam which means putting holes in the roof liner. The wand that fits to the pro gun is 1/4 inch in diameter, too big I think. The kit came with an aerosol can with a smaller diameter wand, that might be ok. Also I don’t know what to do about the inside of the door’s window frames, pretty thin, no room for the wand.
Here’s a snap of the problem wheel well, all hosed down:
Problem wheel well, drivers side rear, all hosed down with fluidfilm. Wonder if its all gunna wash off?
I haven’t used any of the rubber plugs yet, there have been access holes or plugs everywhere I needed them. I guess I drive the truck a few days and see how it ages. The frame and internals are good now, I believe this will last for a few years at least. I’ll be surprised if the stuff can stick to the wheel wells in the rain. I’ll see I guess.
Finally, I was worried the stuff would reek but so far no complaints. No one seems to notice or mind the slight “sheepy” smell.
CanadianBJ 