FJ60 body off restoration: Paint Question for underbody / wheel wells (1 Viewer)

[Aircooled1]

Hello,
I've got a great rust free 1986 60, brown 4E8 color. I'm going to repaint the body original color, and blast and paint the suspension and frame while its off. My question is this: what material and color should the underside be done in? and the wheel wells? I see so many with black undercoating, and mine is faded but doesnt have any undercoating and doesnt really look like the color of the sheet metal. I want to retain the original look . Does anyone know what the original trucks were coated with? Seems like an undercoating material of some sort? What color would be correct? Body color? Same question for wheel wells. Although they look like they could have been originally the body color. hard to tell with brown since everything looks brown at this point. Thanks in advance.

 

[Samppahj]

Original is some kind of urethane coating that is sprayed on hot. It has beige color. It is painted over with same grey color. I painted my truck with U-Pol Raptor tinted in body color. You can see some pictures in my project below.

Builds - HJ60 Snow white

No need for jack stands anymore. Free wheel hub body looks quite nice even though it does not look at all like it should. Next will be some brake line bending.

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Aircooled1]

Thanks for the info. Your project is amazing. Great work! I think I will do the same. LIkely remove original coating and recoat the underside with a similar product and paint to match body.

 

[NCFJ]

I have been using Lizard Skin, both heat and sound variants, for a few years now with good results. I spray with gloss black paint. I use gloss over flat or semi gloss with the theory that it will shed dirt better.

 

[dogfishlake]

I have no idea why i didn't take a picture of the bottom of my 60 before blasting it but like @Samppahj said, there is a grey finish underneath. Also the seam sealer and undercoat is yellowish. I did PPG DP90 epoxy primer and black Raptor liner because I like the defined look of the black underneath.

 

[cruiserpilot]

I was told by one restorer when I painted both of my trucks. His opinion is that the visible wheelwell
looks better when painted the same colour as the truck. I tend to agree and repainted mine. Its' easy
to go with variations on black, but for detailed look it really makes a difference.
Lucky you for an essentially rust free truck, very cool. I am working on basic primer and then paint on
the lower rockers on the bottom then spraying with coloured bedliner to match paint colour up top.
Not perfect match but it does look fantastic.

 

[Aircooled1]

Thanks for the input. I have used lizard skin before to replicate the schutz undercoating on my 66 porsche. It looks great when painted as well. The texture is a pretty close match to the factory FJ60 undercoating. After seeing the posts above, I will definitely coat and paint the wheelwells body color, and either cover the lizard skin underneath with body color or black. If i'm going to take the body off and make everything look so nice, I hate for it all to be black under there. Leaning toward body color but it will be harder to clean. Fortunately I've got a 4 post lift and kind of enjoy cleaning the underside of my old cars.

 

[franklin40]

maybe mine is not a great option for entire underbody because it’s be super time consuming but i used a rubberized rock guard for my wheel wells. yes it’s black but it sticks like crazy and helps prevent rock chips. when i had the body done i had them done with a bed liner as well as the bottom 6 inches of the body. i’ve had some rock chips or small cracks form over just two years and the rust that’s propagating under it is terrible. i’m going to have the bottom six inches done again next year i think and i’ll just use normal paint and get a friend to do a clear paint chip guard all around. for a fresh body off paint job the raptor liner likely is great (clean rust free metal) but it if starts rusting good luck catching it. at least with a spray can you can touch stuff up as needed. my 2 cents based on my experience

 

[MANUCHAO]

I used Lizard skin under my rig as well.. going on 8 years now with no issues....i also used this Wurth High Build UnderBody UnderSeal
for a propane tank...
will see how it holds up

 

[Aircooled1]

Thanks!

 

[megolfer]

Im prepping the underbody of mine for lizzard skin today. Just need some warm days to spray