Looking for advice on a bj70 interior

[Cody O Riellerson]

Last night while prepping the floorpan rust I discovered that a small pit was actually a fairly big hole, so now there are 3 holes that need to be patched. There is other metalwork that will be needed eventually, especially the are above the driverside running board, below the door. For now I am going to patch the 3 holes that come into the cab.
1. hole near plug in driverside floor (the new one)
2. Hole on back of passenger side wheelwell
3. Hole on front of driverside wheel well

These are being patched tomorrow. Today I am going to make a decision on rust converter/ primer and a rattle-can top-coat to tide me over until I have some durabak or equivalent bedliner.

 

[Cayman Dennis]

Your call, Cody. These probably came out of the factory without undercoating. Of course, they had some rust issues (as did every other mid-1980s vehicle in Canada). In general, if you don't want it to disintegrate around you, park it or protect it before winter.

Cheers,
Dennis

 

[crushers]

well, i agree, you don't want rust then don't drive in the winter months. i take my trucks off the road the first snow and they stay off the road till end of March.
buy a winter "sacrific to the rust Gods" vehicle and drive it. you can pick up a good beater for a coupel grand. it doesn't have to be pretty and it doesn't have to be Toyota.

before you put ANY bed liner back in make sure you have a good quality primer and paint down. the guy to talk to is Brad Taylor over in the 60s section. he deals with paint for a living and can make suggestions.

 

[Cody O Riellerson]

I will take your advice and prime and paint the whole floor before putting in a liner. Does anyone know if durabak will ship to Canada? Or if there is a national chain that sells it?
I live on Vancouver Island and the snow is almost a non-factor...I think about 2 cm last year for 3 hours and then it was gone... so no salt damage to speak of but it sure does rain a ton in the winter. I have been thinking about taking it off the road this winter anyways, but I'm not dead set on it. Poking around the wheelwells again last night, it look like they were tack welded on, leaving about a 3-4 mm gap, and then shot through with some kind of seam sealer. That is where all of the rust damage is. Is that factory or a fix job?
She's off to the welder this morning. I'll post how it goes.
Thanks everyone for your advice. Please keep following as I will have oodles of other questions along the way.

Cheers

 

[Cody O Riellerson]

further down the rabbit hole

So the welder was a little overwhelmed and said the job was too hard for him. Not good, but I am glad he had the guts to say so, and I guess that's what you get for a craigslist advertised welder. Frustrated, I went to a few body shops for quotes and only one was open...they said 3 patches for $450. At this point I'm wondering if it would be worth it to cast about for new fenders, but first I'm going to go all the way down the rabbit hole and see how bad they are, so I bought some stripper and tonight when it cools down I will completely strip the underside of the wheel wells to see how much damage there is. BTW, the driverside rocker guard is rusting to h3ll too. Any ideas what I can (could in the future) do about this? Do I need to find a clean 70 rocker or are there others that will suffice?

Cheers

 

[crushers]

maybe check with John at Radd Cruisers about getting a complete rust free tub from Japan? might be cheaper and quicker than patching and chasing rust.
he might be willing to bring in a complete parts truck and sell you the tub and doors...

just an idea. i have a decent one here but the shipping would kill you.

 

[Cody O Riellerson]

The thought had crossed my mind Crushers, but honestly the body is in pretty decent shape, all things considered. It's only a few spots the rust is coming through. My goal really is to do this patch and paint job right, put in some rear speakers so I can hear my tunes, and get a good 4-6 years tearing around until I have more money and can afford a new tub. It has to be cheaper to weld-patch a few holes and replace a rocker than import a whole truck and install a whole tub, right? RIGHT?! PLEASE SAY I'M RIGHT!!
I'll put up a pic after I strip the wheel wells.
On a happy note, I felt like I needed a win with this old dog so i decided to fix the temperature controls... the temp slider would not stay on cool, so driving down the highway in 28 degree heat with the heat on was my only option! It cost me 16 cents and 5 minutes and it was fixed!

 

[crushers]

it is satisfying to repair than replace to some.
there comes a time when you have to step back and analize the situation, if you feel it is easier and cheaper to fix than replace then that is the way to go for you.

how long you want to REALISTICLY keep the truck comes into play. if you are just keeping it for a couple / few years then a quick "keep the dirt and fumes out" repair job is just fine. actually it is these situation where hippo liner (or similar) is great. do a quick weld, good quality epoxy primer, scuff, liner and drive it. Hippo is also tintable so you can do what ever color you want. it cuts down on the noise, smell, fumes, retains heat and cold.
so
in a nutshell, if the truck is a 5 year keeper then knock yourself out. go hogwild and get the experience you want and need. then in 5 years you have a bush beater and winter sacrifice truck and you can shop for a really clean summer rig.

 

[randallriggs]

Cody:
I placed 6 X 9's in the rear but I replaced the stock MDF panels with custom shaped diamond plate and placed the speakers on them. The mounting is very sturdy. I also steamed cleaned the body panels, them degreased them (someone had sprayed some kind of anti rust compound there). Then, I used meatl ready and POR 15'ed the entire area. Once done, I sprayed second skin sound dampener. Worked great!
On the holes, if they are small, we used sheets of fiberglass and worked it over the area and layered POR 15 on it. Hard as a rock!

 

[randallriggs]

Cody:

sorry for typo. It was "metal ready". comes with POR 15 kit. Your holes look too big for fiber. You'll need to weld repair those.
Have you considered Dynamat Extreme for the floor? We did my rig' entire floor with it (inside). I'm getting ready to spray second skin on the underside for added sound dampening.

 

[Cody O Riellerson]

Hey Randall, I was thinking of putting two coats of durabak on the floor. I want the cargo area to still be useable as a rugged space and if I put in Dynamat I will be too worried. I'm going to put some kind of deadener on the inside of the quarter panels and doors, and probably on the back of the alloy panels that will replace the stock vinyl. When the patches are welded I plan to buff the new welds and remaining surface rust with 120 grit (already went over these areas with a wire brush, 80- grit and a boxcutter blade for digging out pits and grooves where the sandpaper missed), degrease the areas, wipe 'em down with metal ready (highly recommended at the local paint shop as a prep for metal, regardless of whether you use POR15 or not), and then spray on Zero Rust rust converter. I'm going to do this on the inside and underside of the problem areas. Then hit both sides with some primer, paint on the inside, and some kind of spray on rocker guard or undercoating on the underside. Does this sound like a good plan? I have some decent 6.5" Pioneers that match the two up front. I had all four in the girlfriend's car for a while and together they were plenty of sound for me. I'm replacing two 6x9's in boxes the previous owner had hanging on hooks off the back seat, facing the window, supplied by 20 gauge wire. They were some crap department store brand and the whole thing sounded like garbage can lids being smacked together.

 

[crushers]

Zero Rust paint, love the stuff...

 

[SimonInAustralia]

Have you considered Dynamat Extreme for the floor? We did my rig' entire floor with it (inside). I'm getting ready to spray second skin on the underside for added sound dampening.

How does Dynamat handle water?

Would like to use it, but worried if I get flooded on a water crossing, does the Dynamat soak up and hold water in it, or under it, leading to rust problems?

 

[randallriggs]

Cody:
I've been where you are. When I pulled up my carpet and got to bare metal, I found all kinds of holes. If they are small, you don't need to add metal. You can use fiberglass overlay and POR 15 to fill em in. I did many holes up to .25" dia this way. Water proof too. Once POR 15'ed, I layed down Dynamat extreme on the entire floor board. Rig is very quiet.
Cheers,

randy693riggs@verizon.net

 

[randallriggs]

cody:

Durabak is good stuff too. I've used it in some areas.

 

[audaciousduo]

POR15 is the work of the Devil himself...
s*** to work with, highly toxic and do a search about the guy that got it on his dinky.
can't be touched up if need be and a bugger to weld around if rust does come back...

now if you are only keeping it for a couple years and flipping it then who cares...

I agree! POR15 is garbage, I've had huge adhesion problems with it no matter how well you do the surface prep. Use Picklex 20 then a good epoxy primer and a good urethane paint or just straight Zero Rust paint if your not restoring it. If you have holes in the floor lap weld patches in. Both seams top and bottom, epoxy prime, use a urethane seam sealer and paint. A small sand blaster also works wonders but is messy. COdy, where ore you on the wet coast? I'm in Abbotsford and can show you how to weld the patches in if you want. I'm doing an 85 70 as well. The rust you have may not be terminal but you need to fix it right the first time.