Got a storeage unit and cleared out my trunk which held a lot of parts. I have rust around my rear window so when it rains (rare in CA) it goes into the trunk. I guess water sat under some of the bins and parts for a little bit and I am seeing some surface rust. I want to clean it all up and spray a few layers of some rust protectant in there. Here are some photos. Im still young trying to learn through here so I dont have any body guys who can show me first can. What would be the proper steps to getting the trunk cleaned and sealed? Should I scrape away? Wire brush? I don't have a lot of tools or a garage to work in so easiest most efficient is where Im trying to get. What type of protectant spray? How many coats?

68 Cutlass Supreme 4-door

Thanks!

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Wire brush, sand smooth, degrease, prime with a rust converter, and repaint.

 

Can you point me in what kind of supplies to go for? Wire brushes I get from Harbor Freight but what grit sand paper? Simple Green good enough to degrease? What kind of prime/paint/rust protectant?

 

Eastwood has everything you will need 800-345-1178. POR 15 is great stuff, but time consuming.

 

This is a very easy are to work with. Get a wire brush attachment for your drill and go at it. If you do not have a drill then a wire hand brush will work fine. Then get some 60 grit sand paper and rub away. Then some 100 grit sand paper. Get all the rust off - very important. Then call Eastwood and ask them for a primer, top coat and their trunk splatter paint.
Keep everything clean and it will last 50 years.

 

I got my wirebrush and scrapers and went to work for 3 hours today. I got rid of a lot of "tar" coating and discovered some holes that I didnt know where there. The left side is also in worse shape than I thought but its still almost completely solid. I scraped and scraped, vacuumed, then scraped some more. This is where I got. Where should I go from here? There is still a little bit of the "tar" layer some areas that is extremely hard to remove. I got some 80 grit sandpaper. Can someone tell me what would be the next steps to take? I should be standing until everything smooths out or until the rust color is gone? So I have to worry about the bumpiness of it or will it even out after the trunk coating? Sorry just new to body repair

Before:


My handy dandy brush and scraper


After scraping for 2 hours:



Rust holes on left side


Still some hard to get rid of "tar" on some areas

 

The outside

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Sorry had to step away for a while. You did good, but your going have to patch the holes, cause if you don't they will get worse. To do it right you need cut out the bad spots and weld in patches, or a patch panel. Gas tank will need to be dropped.

Or you can back yard it and either fiberglass over it, or cut and pop rivet little patches with sealer. The back yard way is temporary and the holes will just get worse over time.

 

Ah, this is what I was hoping wouldnt have to happen. I dont have any way to do any metal work myself. I want to eventually get all the rust work done at once from a professional.

I guess my only option would be fiberglass? Going to have to do more reading...

Should I start sanding all of it down or patch it first?

 

It just needs to be clean and dry, follow the directions for the patch kit. You can also use some bondo. Just remember this is temporary, eventually you will need to do it right.

 

I haven't done this personally but I understand POR 15 makes a kit for patching holes that they claim will do a good job. I've seen it and it looked pretty good but as I said, haven't done it personally. POR 15 is pretty much the go to outfit for dealing with rust on conversion and rust proofing. I've done a bit of it but never with the patch. If you can't find it by googling, call Eastwood tech help.

 

Is this what you are referring to?

http://www.por15.com/FLOOR-PAN-TRUNK...uctinfo/FPTRK/

 

No, this is it.
http://www.por15.com/FLOOR-PAN-TRUNK...uctinfo/FPTRK/

I personally think you can do your job with just marine clean, prep and ready, fiberglass mesh and a can of POR 15 and save money rather than buy the whole kit. It probably has more than you need anyway. I would use the marine clean and prep and ready as directed. When totally dry, paint top and bottom with POR 15, apply mesh immediately and paint the mesh again until it's pretty saturated. If you get the patch saturated and lay on a couple more coats of POR 15 top and bottom it will get hard as a rock. It's still temporary though. Again the disclaimer - I haven't done this, only seen the resulting patch which seemed pretty good. And caution, never paint anything with threads with POR 15. Once it dries you cannot unscrew it. And if you get it on your skin, you'll wear it for a long time!

 

Thanks John. I've been digging around POR15s site and I think I am just going to get the starter hit which is enough for 2 coats of 6 square foot and the powermesh patch.

Couple questions though. Should I cut smaller patches or just lay on a large rectangle to cover the left side? Should I be brushing and sanding it down or will the marine cleaner take care of it? Its extremely bumpy. Does it need to be sanded smooth before moving forward? Im going to paint the final coat with splatter trunk paint by Eastwood.

http://www.por15.com/SUPER-STARTER-K...ductinfo/SSKB/

 

Marine clean will clean everything really well. Prep and ready will etch the metal a bit and will neutralize the rust. I don't think you need to sand any more than you have because the rust and prep and ready will provide "tooth" for the POR 15. Metal that is flaking off or really thin should probably be removed. You do have to drop the tank to get at the bottom I believe. Again, I haven't done this myself. Also, this is only temporary. I have a friend who did this to a floor pan with a three inch hole. The car was a clunker so he didn't care too much but the patch ended up very hard and is still there after several years.

I've now told you way more than I know which makes me nervous! Good luck.

 

Have you tried Naval Jelly? It's cheap and it will save some time removing rust from some of the pitted areas that take forever with a wire brush.

 

if you still have the window leakage issue, you should totally wait until you address it before cleaning the trunk up unless the car will never see water. or use a drying chamois to soak up the water every time the trunk floor gets wet. I redid the trunk floor on my 76 Pontiac for the exact same reason you need to. leaking rear glass. its hack but since the small holes were right over the gas tank, I used a tube of seam sealer to fill the void between the tank and trunk floor as a base, then plastic filler finished in 320 grit followed by a coat of sealer and two cans of trunk spatter paint. it came out awesome, but is rotting again as I did not want to remove the vinyl top to reseal the rear glass. did last a year though. good luck hope any of this is helpful, dave

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. I decided I am going patch the holes with POR Patch in the tube and then use the Powermesh (fiberglass) patch with POR15 silver then POR15 black. Ill finish it with the splatter paint. I'll take photos and update soon.