What is This and How Do I Get it Off?

[Walter4]

My project to "just patch the pans" is turning into more.

Came across this hard, gray stuff today. It's not soft like the putty I've been scraping and it's not like the bondo stuff I've found. It's like a really hard shell almost as if the car could rust away under it and it would be fine.

So far, putty knife, paint scraper, heat gun. All are slow going and I'm really sore.

Any ideas on how I can get through this stuff faster or if I should just leave it alone?

[Maddel]

May be it's kind of this "truck bed liner" paint stuff
A knotted wire cup brush will do the job I guess.

But IMHO it looks like you have to cut out most of the wheel arch tin anyway...

[Air-Cooled Head]

[Walter4]

Yes. I agree that I'm going to wind up putting in lots of new metal. The picture doesn't show the extent but this gray stuff covers both rear wheel wells and the luggage tray. I've only ever seen JB Weld in little tubes. This stuff looks like it was poured all over so I guess it comes in quarts.

In some places the metal underneath is pretty and has a nice ring when I hit it with a chisel. In other places its rotted away, so I'm going to have to try to find the edges of the rot if I can. I will pick up a wire brush this evening. It looks like it goes on an angle grinder from the picture.

Thanks for the help.

[Mike Fisher]

www.MasterSeriesCT.com silver & black dries rock hard and is good stuff. You don't have to get it all off just to paint more back on it. I prefer the simple flat wire wheels for edges/corners rather than the knotted wire cup type, so get both styles.
_________________
https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[Air-Cooled Head]

Naw, that's JB Weld. I've made "JB" repairs to a luggage tray when there were random pinholes. Even holes as big as a nickel.

Sometimes cutting out the old, welding in new is just not worth the effort & $$.

However, this appears to be a "hide it" job by some hack. Baaaaad. :2gunfire:

I get a feeling the whom ever did this KNEW what was needed, and decided to hide it, like this. I've also only seen JB in the little tubes. So somebody bought a lot of it, with this particular "fix" in mind.

IF you insist, also get the flat version of the wheel above. The typical "wire wheel" won't help much on this.
_________________
Everything known to man has been written.
Readers are Leaders!

[beetlenut]

Looked in your gallery. I've replaced all those areas and more on my car. They make replacement panels for most of those areas. Trick is to buy the best quality ones you can find. Even then, some/lots of massaging of the metal is necessary. AND there's always more rust than you can see hiding under the paint/undercoat/mats/etc... The bigger pain is when the rust extends to multiple panels. Depending on your plans for the car, decide if your going to try and patch, or repair, then start stripping to see what you have to work with.
_________________
scrapyards are for quitters
---------------------------------------

[danny gabbard]

Guessing some kind of epoxy ? Take propane torch and heat back side of metal and delaminate from metal . do not breath fume's
_________________
Shipping is NOT included in any of my products or parts. Just want to say thanks from GAB-FAB for any purchase!!

[buguy]

Agreed. Looks like an epoxy. I would also use a propane torch and a scraper.

[Walter4]

Thanks beetlenut. I figure to take my time and since I was driving it like this (with carpets over theholes), I can't imagine anything I do will make it worse.

The car just failed the safety inspection because of the pans. I go back and forth between cursing myself for not knowing what I was doing when I bought the car and cursing the man who I paid to fix it up and paint it.

At this point I have to weld, patch and paint. Anything less and my wife will give me "that smirk" for months, maybe years.

[Air-Cooled Head]

[fred69vert]

Looks like the same place my 69 'vert had rusted out. Both sides, and the PO had patched it with Bondo-encased cardboard.
_________________
I'm not losing my hair, it's just retired and relocating further south.

1969 VW convertible, "Heidi"