How much prep work before Painting?

[James417]

Hello all again. Got some update pictures on my floor pan project in my 2003 Tahoe. Showing how I removed seats and took out new floor pan set on to of old rotting one one and cut the rotting one out. Been doing tons of prep work by grinding and wire brushing and using Naval jelly Phosphoric acid and will be using a more concentrated phosphoric acid I have for restoring gas tanks Ect then painting with self etching primer once to bare metal then after a few coats of the primer painting the red code paint on top then roll on some thick truck bed coating. How does the preparation look like its coming along? Just wondering how far I should go before I start painting. There are a few areas where the original paint wont come off as well as the pitting and the bad areas of rust are turning a dark color after phosphoric acid treatments but not going down to shiny metal. I guess that's from bad pitting and rusting on surface but you will see in pictures what I'm talking about. Also please ignore the rocker panel rot pics that's after chisling loose stuff out. Got to cut that out and weld in a new one but that's a summer project just got the loose stuff out so I can get in there and rinse the salt and sand out during the winter. BTW that plastic barrier that goes behind the accel and brake pedal up the firewall is in the way a little so I had to lift it I wish I could take it off but don't have the money (for busting clips and parts) to take the dash apart at least I can still work around it though. LOL Anyways thanks for any advice ahead of time.

Pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87811337@N02/

 

[4WDTRK]

Wow you are a man on a mission! Looks like you are doing a good job - keep it up!

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

 

[James417]

Thank you! I am trying my best to get the floor pans ready to last a long while. I'm actually doing some more treatment with the phosphoric acid now but I notice there are areas with some scale and pitting still I can't get down to bare metal. Maybe need an attachment fr grinder or drill to strip it off?

 

[ezdaar]

Painting a vehicle is 90% all prep.

 

[James417]

Yeah I know what your saying. Without proper prep the paint will fail and rust will come back but while I was working on this truck it finally struck me how much work I'm putting into it instead of driving it. Been almost 2 years waiting for the title and now I'm doing more work and prolonging being able to drive it. So I decided to do the best I could with the phosphoric acid and wire brush and now I am applying the self etching primer. So wish me luck with the primer staying. Then the red base coat then some thick truck bed liner.

 

[PinkAle]

Awesome job my only concern is how much metal did you remove to achieve the goal of getting to bare metal as you don't want to create weak points in the structure. I would consider consulting someone who does welding

 

[James417]

Thank you I am red trying to get it well painted and hopefully prevent rust from coming back. But I see what your saying. I did cut out the whole pan but I also cut above where the pan was spot welded onto the body and then chisled the rest of it off the body. So I don't think it's causing any structural integrity issues but I will definitely look into that. Thanks for the heads up. Used naval jelly then cleaned that up and used a more pure phosphoric acid on the driver's side pan and got my first 4 or 5 coats of primer on. It's a little ruff but I got all of the loose stuff off and got the rust and scaling off. So next is to work on other areas and passenger side then then hopefully it will last a while. Lol

 

[James417]

Gonna be posting some update pics on the painitng but I have got all the priming and base coat done and about 2 hours ago clear coated everything. How long should I let the cost coat "dry" before I put the truck bed liner on and installing the floor pan? I know that clear coat can take weeks even months to fully cure but how long until its safe to out down the rubberized liner? Only putting this on the pans themselves to help with wear.
Thanks

 

[James417]

hey I have the pictures up now so let me know how it looks so far.
thanks

 

[PinkAle]

Nice job are you putting down more than one coat?

 

[James417]

I let the coat you see in the pictures before the last with clear coat (hope I got them up lol) dry and then did a second coat. I did 5 coats of the primer too. Just didn't take pics I was in the "moment" going nuts on this and just slacked on photos lol.

 

[James417]

I finally finished up and installed the passenger side floorpan with screws and some 3m body seam adhesive. Unfortunately the pan is not as nice looking as I wanted it to be sense I ran out of money for painting it red and only have a few coats of the greenish gray primer on top of the black rust proof coat it comes with from the manufacture. I ended up smearing the seam sealer with my fingers around the pan because the pan was in a very tight spot and I don't have a proper gun for it. It is messy if you lift the carpet and look but it could be worse I guess. I mean it will be completely covered by the padding and carpet so its not an eyesore. I just really needed to get this done asap before the temps drop and its going well below freezing already this weekend. So I need my truck. But I know the rust has been slowed to almost a stop and my paint job adhered quiet well. May just put down some bed liner on that pan before I button the truck up again. Who knows maybe I'll have it welded properly in the future but for now it won't rust it holds well and is well sealed. I will get some pics up tommorow.

 

[James417]

Hey again anyone interested I have a few pics up of carpet down and floor pan in. Like I said though I had to rush the floor Pan as much as I didn't want to because I literally ran out of money due to my other cars payment hitting early and I really want this truck on the road for the winter plus I'm gonna be moving soon. The Pan just had the original factory black coat and some bed liner and I only put a few thick coats of primer on top. I put 5 screws on each side so hold it down and used 3m body seam sealer and used my fingers to fill the gap. It's really well sealed but I am a little concerned with how it looks although no one will see it. So anyways about to finish this project up throwing the seats in now and hopefully get the trim back on new windshield and finally drive this thing!

 

[James417]

Finally got it all back together replaced the windshield and drove it some. Other than the loud exhaust its running great. Just need to get the cat back Gibson sport dual side exit on. If anyone's interested in a exhaust video I will happily make one once its installed. Also just a word of advice to anyone planning on using silicone. I know alot of people here wouldnt use it but my truck had silicone around the windhshield behind the seal and it was on the pillars. Where the silicone stuck it trapped moisture on the paint and rusted and flaked the paint away. So the installer for the windshield was very nice and used a wire brush rust and paint stripping attachment on a tool to get to bare metal and put several coats of black thick primer on. It looks good and is behind the seals to no one will see the primer. So just some advice silicone is NOT for on paint automotive applications. Glad I got off what I had on before it got worse. My dumb self would have been driving around while it rotted away the pillars. Lol.