On Thu, 26 Jan 1995, Greg Meboe wrote:
> Never saw the war of the Roses.
>
> I did want to ask you though, do you do this used-motor-oil-sprayed
> onto-the-underside-of-the-car rust preventative thing on Kermit? That would
> seem to be a shame as I assume you did a lot of detail work under the car.
> I suppose it's a good idea for daily driver cars, but it would be
> awful to work on a car so treated, and plus you couldn't look at the
> finely-polished copper or steel brake lines and brass line fittings.
> That is why we do all that polishing, isn't it? Maybe not. I'm not sure.
> Maybe I polish suspension pieces because I'm an anal retentive restorer.
> In any case, I just couldn't imagine spraying over all that work with
> used motor oil.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure how to fit "anal retentive" on a
vanity license plate--that would be worth $40 extra or whatever it is per
year--but we're only allowed 7 letters. Even NLRE10IV wouldn't fit.
No, I don't spray oil under anything. I have to say, however, that while
Kermit's underside was done in gleaming catalyzed acrylic enamel ca. 1992,
I have not cleaned it since then. I hose off what I can reach, and sponge
under the wheel wells once in a while, but getting under the car and
actually cleaning and polishing isn't my thing. I suspect most of the
list agrees. We shine everything when we rebuild it because we are
temporarily in a compulsive twit phase, then we let it all go dull because
we are in our "life is short and then you die" mode.
I am beginning to question even the compulsive twit phase. I spent a lot
more time painting Kermit's suspension parts than I did actually improving
their function, and this seems a bit silly, especially if I *don't* plan
to get under him and keep it all shiny. I am sort of waiting for a very
solid (albeit cheap) MGBGT or Alpine to plead with me to take it home and
love it. If I succumb, I have sworn to myself that I will fix what is
broken and renew what is too worn, and not paint or polish anything except
the body. I am tired of wondering how to keep the floor jack from
scratching the axle. I am tired of going into a cold sweat when I see a
detour sign. On the next car, I want to be able to say, "Screw the axle,
let it rust."
I did trickle oil down that damned narrow space where Kermit's outer and
inner rear fenders come together, I covered that with waxoyl, and I am
very pleased to see that oil slowly seeps out of the seam where the inner
and outer rear fenders are spot welded together. I waxoyled every box
section until heck wouldn't have it.
But Kermit does not go out in anything more damaging than a hard rain
(which I don't consider damaging at all), so the bottom has no oil, no
undercoating, nothing but epoxy primer and paint. I thought about
undercoating, but I have had it form pockets and cause problems. It does
deaden sound, but I did that by putting jute under the carpets.
Oil undercoating is fine for everyday cars, but you are right about it
being a mess. I don't even do it to my everyday car, but I do go around
it every once in a while with a pump oil can and squirt a teaspoon of oil
through the drain holes of the doors, fenders, rocker panels, hood, trunk,
etc. It's cheap, I think it helps a lot, I know it can't hurt, and it
isn't very messy.
It is the box sections and lapped seams and dirt catching pockets that
rust anyway, not the broad expanses of the bottom of the car.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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