floor pan rust questions

[island66]

Hi, guys. I've done some searching on here over the past couple of nights and haven't found an answer to my exact question. So here's the background...

I have a 79 K5. I'm in the process of "rebuilding" it for the purposes of turning into a hunting truck. It'll only be driven about once a week around the farm. We are going to spray the inside with Rattleguard's spray-in bedliner. However, before we do that, I want to address the issue of a few little rust holes in the floor. The floor seems to be structurally sound, but there are a several small holes (the biggest being about the size of a #2 pencil). I do not see the need to go to the trouble and expense of replacing the whole floor pans just to correct these holes...especially given how the truck will be used.

Here's the main question. Aside from cutting out rust and welding in patch panels, what methods can you recommend to bridge those holes prior to spraying the bedliner material?

Thanks, as always, for the assistance. Y'all are awesome!

Jason

 

[ryoken]

my 2 pennies..

the key is getting rid of whats there, to stop it from propagating.. whether by grinder, wirewheel, flapwheel, mediablasting, the cleaner the steel the better.. if you can't get everything, there are converters and encapsulators you can use.. I prefer converters...

then mig em up... trim small holes back to a weldable area, by carbide burr, cutoff wheel, snips, whatever... then just cut small patches to fit in..

grind. prime.. bedline....

be aware that fiberglass is generally not a good idea.. it may hold up for awhile, but will eventually fail due to different movement tendencies in the substrates..

 

[ryoken]

one other note if you dont have a welder.... you could clean em up and use larger patch panels with a panel adhesive... done right, can get ya by for quite awhile...

 

[jt512]

i agree with ryoken on the rust repair, one other thing to consider; i would avoid the real cheap spray can bedliner stuff. i have tried some on a few of our work trucks(bumpers, step bars etc) and none of them have held up well at all. i would look at a better do it yourself kit such as herculiner or durabak i have have great results with both of those. hope this helps

 

[ryoken]

I've never heard of Rattlegaurd.. I'm doing a mega thick Herculiner personally...

 

[K10 KRAWLER]

I've never heard of Rattlegaurd.. I'm doing a mega thick Herculiner personally...

thats the route I went, I used 3m spary and it worked real well on the floor of my older truck, I had no problems, but herculiner is way thicker, thats why i used it on my new project

 

[ryoken]

hmmm, funny you bring that up... For years I've been a devout fan of the 3M undercoating that gets hard, used to be a white can/green letters.. I've used it for years on hotrods with great success.. I'd never consider any other "undercoating"... it gets pricey tho, think that can runs about $10 these days...

but yeah truck, herc or similar...

 

[island66]

Thanks for the info, guys. If you get a chance, go check out rattleguard's website. http://www.rattleguard.com/ It looks like pretty good stuff. We've already sprayed my buddy's 1970 C10 truck bed. It turned out great.

Anyway...when you guys talk about rust converters or encapsulators, are you talking about POR-15 and Rust Bullet?

 

[bdegs]

I know this is probably a dumb question but I am tackling this same job right now (except I am replacing the entire floor) and was wonder what the black "caulking" is on the panel seems from the factory. Anyone know what is best to use for that? Thanks and good luck island66 on your task.

 

[ryoken]

POR and RB are encapsilators...

converters change the rust to a black iron tannate.. they use phosphoric mostly.. Eastwood makes a good one...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/East...Corrosion_W0QQitemZ250305865818QQcmdZViewItem

 

[ryoken]

I know this is probably a dumb question but I am tackling this same job right now (except I am replacing the entire floor) and was wonder what the black "caulking" is on the panel seems from the factory. Anyone know what is best to use for that? Thanks and good luck island66 on your task.

probably seam sealer...

I've been using Fusor for awhile now...

http://yhst-13811118617756.stores.yahoo.net/lofu80famaur.html

there are fancier versions for production use.. I just like the ez cartridges..

 

[bdegs]

probably seam sealer...

I've been using Fusor for awhile now...

http://yhst-13811118617756.stores.yahoo.net/lofu80famaur.html

there are fancier versions for production use.. I just like the ez cartridges..

Great thanks!