Hi

So I ripped out the seats and carpet on my 99 xj. The floor plans have surface rust and I had to cut out some small sections; for the most part they are fairly rust free though. I want to obviously never have to do this again so I bought some Por15 to coat everything. questions:

a- do I need to strip the pans down to bare metal or can I leave the ok sections painted? Will the metal ready etcher work ok over the paint?

b- how well do I need to grind down/ wire brush the pitted areas? I read that some rust is good to have for the por15 to work.

c- since i don't want to blast my interior with a hose, how well do I have to wash the degreaser (prep n ready) before adding the metal ready?

d- will por15 work over the large gooey stickers that are already on the floor pans?

I'll have more questions but I really just want this to work so I don't have to do it again.

 

Here's what I'd do:

In spots where the factory paint is in good condition, don't grind it down to bare metal, leave it alone. Just scuff lightly so the overcoat sticks. Make sure the paint is in good condition though. No bubbles, etc starting.

Metal ready is just phosphoric acid. It's to etch and convert minor rust. No reason to apply it to sound paint. Just scuff it lightly.

Grind off the heavy rust. The idea is to remove as much rust as you can without thinning the metal any further. POR15 sticks to minor rust better than clean metal, but does need a solid surface, not flakes.

I've never used their prep n ready, I used lacquer thinner as a pre-cleaner and wiped it dry with paper toweling. I don't want to get water anywhere near a rusted surface I'm trying to seal water OUT of, lol. Maybe in a hot dry climate where it would dry thoroughly. Solvent based cleaners OTOH evaporate pretty quickly.

I'd remove the stickers and clean up the residue rather than coat over them.

What are your plans to fill the minor holes you cut out?

 

How bad are your floor pans?If its bad enough it might be easier to replace parts of it here and there.

 

POR15 is a great product. It's well used in the car restoration business, and I have used it for years.

Before I bought my 99 XJ I had a '66 Nova Wagon that I was restoring for years. I sand-blasted and wire wheeled the engine compartment and entire underbelly, painted on the POR15 and it looked like new.

Once it dries/cures, it's near bullet-proof. If anything you treat sees the sun, you HAVE to paint it... otherwise it will break down from the UV in the sunlight.

Also... cover yourself when using it. If you get it on your skin.. might as well cut your skin off. It takes a week to 'fall' off... even a 3M pad won't get it off easy.

Good luck.

 

Remove the stickers and their residue for sure. Then use a small angle grinder electric or air powered (can use a drill motor with a cone style brush a lot slower) and rough up all the floor area. Remove all large flakes of rust and loose material from floor all I have ever used is air to blow everything out then apply no other prep.

This is the only material I have ever used for battery tray's. In fact my last 3 race cars all were wagons and I coated the spare tire wells with Por-15. That was where I mounted fuel cell's, battery and NOS bottle when I used to run a carbureted engine. I left the rear floor steel the rest was all aluminum in some of them for weight.

 

I don't think I'm going to remove the stickers. I cut a strip of the one on the drivers side off where the rust butted up to it and found that the rust stopped where the sticker began. That stuff seems to be doing it's job.

As far as the floor, I had to cut out a couple of parts, mainly the area where the front seats bolt down, but only the two bolts in the back. They have this support beam under the floor pan that has collected water and eaten through the pan itself. Awful design. It started where one of the back bolts screws through the floor. whomever designed that is a complete fool.

for filling those holes I was going to weld. Then I was going to rivet. now, because of how well those stickers have kept out moisture, I got a hold of some more of it and will lay down por15 coated steal and cover it with that. Before though I'm going to coat everything around it with the stuff. On the underside I'm going to seal it with silicon and re-add rubberized undercoating. Should be quite watertight really.

 

I'm going to have to do some of what you are doing so am following this. I'm not sure what you mean by "stickers". Maybe tape used to secure wire or...?

 

no. I can only guess they were put down over the floor to keep rust 'kinda' at bay. See attached pic - though not my xj.

 

Don't rivet a patch panel it will move around with the unibody flexing and pop loose over time.Weld it or the body panel adhesive anything else will just come back to haunt you later on.And never use silicon caulk on a car it won't hold up.The right stuff to use is seam sealer its made to be used on a car and will last 20 years easy.