New floors in a "58 Packard

[feralcat0_0]

Gentlemen, Newbe here. Have a 58 Packard hardtop. It is sitting on its side on a home built rotissory.I must replace the floors and rockers. Figure that I must remove factory undercoat before R&R (not in area to be cut out). Any suggestions for easiest removal methods? IN what order would it be best to replace the rockers & floor. Have floors & rockers from Classic Enterprises. Have read floor replacement thread on the hawk. VERY infomative!! Would be apprecative of any suggestions.Thank you in advance fo your help.

[sweetolbob]

Robert

I had the same issue with 54K. Purchased a couple of heavy bladed paint scrapers, the putty knife type and sharpened them to a sharp as I could on my belt sander. Just scrape it off. When you run into difficult to scrape places, I heated them with a propane torch until slightly soft and they'll come off.

You can't beat a rotisserie for doing floors. I built one for the 54.

Bob

[feralcat0_0]

Thank you Bob

[Bob Andrews]

Oh, not ANOTHER Bob!<G>

Most undercoating will come off by banging it with a hammer, or chipping it off with a hammer and wide chisel. Usually it's pretty brittle.

Just FYI- pictures are always encouraged, of any stage or condition

[rockne10]

Heat helps; just don't get it hot enough to reach flammability, or inflammability or whatever that should be called. Final cleaning is easy with kerosene or diesel fuel.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Last time I stripped off old undercoating, I used an old Wagner power scraper with a homemade blade attachment,
Was on the loud side, but it worked great.
Today I see all these multi tools with the blade attachments...
I'd be itching to try one of them...
HTIH (Hope The Info Helps)
Jeff

<snip>
Figure that I must remove factory undercoat before R&R (not in area to be cut out).
Any suggestions for easiest removal methods?
<snip>

[41 Frank]

Heat gun works good too to remove old undercoating. Torches scare me around petroleum based products.

[gordr]

I made a tool to fit into an air hammer, for removing undercoating. Welded a scrap putty knife blade to the stem of a broken panel cutter bit. Turned the air down real low, and went to town. It broke after about 2 minutes' use, but it sure got a lot done in those 2 minutes!

Next time I am faced with this chore, I will revisit the idea, and see if I can make a more durable air chisel bit for the purpose.

[feralcat0_0]

Thanks for all your replies & suggestions. I will try my new multi tool. Wife will be pleased because she gave it to me for Xmas last year & wondered if I'd ever use it. Have a new air chisel & had thought of making a wide scraper for it. Will try both ideas & let you know which works best.

[feralcat0_0]

Also, I will try to add pictures. Must learn how. Will study the situation and add some later.

[feralcat0_0]

Gentelmen, Tried out my multi tool on the undercoat removal yesterday. It went very good. Today I tried out my new air chisel. What a difference!! If I had the staying power, I could have done the entire underside in one day. I get to bored to do anything boreing for that long. Isaid that I would report back when I had tried both methods. Air chisel wins hands down. Shre showes up the soft metal also. Know what I need to repair without guessing now.

[hawk58man]

Cat, since we are doing similar floor panels jobs watch my thread,will postsome pictures soon..Good Luck write if you have any questions.. Mike..

[58PackardWagon]

Diesel fuel softens it up too. I used a putty knife to get 90% of it and sandblasted the rest. It takes a while, but well worth the effort. Prior to cutting out your floors....like up your new floors on top of the old. Classic's do not always fit perfectly with the curves and bends. Plus I suggest butt welding the seams verses an overlap. Best of luck on your project.