Rust Free

[rutbeer]

There is no such thing as rust free, just less rusty or waiting to rust.
I thought I would just gut the interior of my 40, blast it down and shoot some bedliner in there in a day or two. Wrong.
Turns out the rust monster was lurking under the previous owner's cover up paint. Best I can tell, he "treated" it with some sort of rust prevent, but it never cured right. Most of it could be scraped off easily. Must've had a paint incompatibility or something. Anyway, the rust was spreading under that paint. The really scary part was the rust in the seams UNDER the factory floor insulation. I considered not taking it up, but I'm glad I did. I actually had pinholes in the driver's side at the seams. I was also amazed at the volcano of rust chips that emerged from the sill when I shot compressed air in there. Not good. Major floor pan replacement will have to happen on this truck at some point, so all I'm going to do at the moment is slow it down until I can do a frame off on it.

 

[rutbeer]

More disassembly

More. The more I got into it, the more I started to disassemble.

 

[rutbeer]

blasting

I bead blasted and chipped away the floor insulation.

 

[rutbeer]

At this point, it's all a crap shoot. I treated all the major rusty spots with POR-15, but as I said previously, that will only slow it down. I don't believe there is any real cure for stopping rust once it has started. Best you can do is starve it for air and moisture. So, move to California and don't get it rained on!

So, I primed the truck with a 2 part epoxy primer but had sprayer issues. (gun cleanliness is critical!) I'm not entirely sure that the bed liner will bond well, even though I sanded and wiped all surfaces.
We'll see.

I spent ALL DAY yesterday spraying SEM color tinted bed liner into the bed. This stuff is super nasty, so I think it will take several days to actually dry. Pictures tonight.

 

[fj40z]

Wow Barry that looks like alot of work..... If it gets to be too much let me know and I'll be glad to take that old rusty thing off youre hands

 

[rutbeer]

SEM

Hopefully, your sprayer will look different. This one has been "macified" in order to work with the bottle I had. Too funny.

 

[diggity]

sweet, that looks good.

 

[rutbeer]

more

Here's a note to the previous owner:
Long ago, they invented this neat thing....it's paper with sand glued to it.

Apparently, he never knew that, because the outside paint peeled right off, even with low-tack blue tape. Nice.

 

[mtweller]

Nice! I really like the tint match vs. the black. Good work!

R

 

[southerncruiser62]

Professionalism....hell of a paint booth to boot....Looking good Barry.

Still no glass in the 45 though, that on hold for a little bit?

 

[rutbeer]

No glass in the 45 because I can't get it to the glass shop with no tail lights. The light housings are being re-plated and the dude is surely taking his time. I had wanted to be driving the truck while I did the 40, but I couldn't wait. I have a LONG journey to Moab and the 40 will need to be as quiet as possible. I'm going to slip some sound proofing in under the rubber mats and I didn't want any moisture to rot out what's left of the floor pan. The bed is fine though, I replaced that late last year.

Ramon, I have not forgotten you...I'll be looking at the gas tank cover next week and deciding what to do with it. Will let you know....

A few words on the SEM tintable bed liner. The finished color in Dune Beige is badass. I really recommed the color because you can touch it up much easier than with the black spray in stuff. The down side is that it takes forever to dry, whereas the LineX stuff is dry pretty much instantly. It's waterproof, flexible, and durable enough, especially for an interior with mats on top.
Prep is everything. A pin hole or missing body seam before you spray will still be there when you are done unless you puddle it. Puddle it and you will see it forever......you can texture over the puddle, but you will still see the high spot. The 15 min. working time is a joke. I had WAY longer than 15min to complete each batch.
This represents about 3/4 gallon, as I save a bit for touch up in case something went wrong down the road. 3/4 gallon will get you about 8 batches with that spray gun I show.