Hi, I purchased my first XJ about a week ago and one of the first things I decided to do was gut the interior and clean the floor boards as they were layered in about an inch of mud and sticks. After most of the caked on dirt was removed I found that one of the previous owners had lined the inside with speed liner. The drivers side pan was fine and smooth with no issues or rust. But the passenger side is where it gets interesting. On the passenger side the liner had a lot of bubbles and two very small rust holes. The floor felt fairly solid almost everywhere except for one especially bubbly part near the center of the floor. After removing some of the liner around the hole it appears that the rust had spread. Because most of the liner is still on I'm not sure how extensive the rust is. The underside of the Pans are fine with no rust at all so far as I can tell. Anyone dealt with this before or have any suggestions on how to fix or treat the damage? I am not sure if it is worth redoing the whole tub or just pulling up the bubbly spots, treating the rust, and using roll on liner to cover. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum as I am a newbie

 

That looks great! Those are minor problems! First wire cup on a grinder to remove all the scale. Then make sure it's dry, treat with phosphoric acid, let dry over night. Fill holes With JB Weld (or Bondo) make smooth and recoat. Looks like fun. I had to cut some out and weld in new bits.

 

You don't know that. 95% of the area in the pics is still covered by bedliner.

 

I think you won't really know the extent until you get that bedliner off. I agree that a wire cup brush on a grinder or drill is the starting point.

Welding in new metal patches is an option but if the holes are minor, I think I would go the route of fiberglass patching. I saw a couple of good posts on this forum about using the resin and fiberglass matting to seal and reinforce minor perforations. It doesn't take owning a welding or special skills.

On the same topic, when I pulled my interior I was looking for a water leak which turned out to be front deal seals. If the bottom side of the pans are fine and the interior side has the rusty stuff, you likely have water intrusion that needs addressed.

Gladly mine was solved with new front door seals and it hadn't been leaking too long. I had some wet carpet padding that fortunately did stink yet as well some surface rust. I cleaned and dried the carpet, replaced the door seals and I buzzed the surface rust up with a wire brush cup on my air grinder. Instead of bedliner, I would suggest a rust product like POR15. Bedliner doesn't convert and seal the rust, it just traps it under the bedliner product so it continues to grow and work on the metal. The POR15 worked great and I give it 3 thumbs up. (Had to borrow a buddy's thumb since I only have two myself).

http://www.por15.com/

POR15 can be had at most body shop supply stores as well as Eastwood.com

 

I know that there are several water leaks. The previous owner chopped the rear end and did not do a very good seal around the rear window. There is also a direct gap leading from the wheel well to the cabin from a lack of a shield. This jeep had clearly been submerged in water many times. But the leak that led to water under the liner was a crack where he had tried to speed line over a wire that was unsuccessful. Looks like I will be grinding up the passenger side liner and assessing the rest of the damage. Since the liner peels up easily would a paint scrapper work or does it have to be a wire brush?

 

Whatever removal means works for you. Scrape, grind, wire brush, sand, solvent, etc. Just need to get back to the metal to asses the extent of the problem.

Before applying any product to seal things back up, you need to de-scale the area of loose crusty stuff.

 

I still say those are minor problems. Here is what major problems look like.



The fiberglass option will work but then all metal needs to be clean and shiny. It is better to spend the $20 on a wire cup for your grinder because as sgjii states" you have to remove the scale. Sanding will only make what you have thinner and scraping will not go far enough. Scraping is a good start if that's all you have to use. Post some more when you get it scraped.

Bird

 

Hey how did you get a photo of my Jeep!

 

It must have fallen through the floor of Your Jeep. I found it on the floor.

 

Fiberglass or bondo will pop off over time when the unibody flexes.Hit it all with a wire brush and see how many holes you have,If its just some pin holes here and there por15 makes a por patch use that to fill them and por15 the rest of the floor pans.

 

Cover the rust back up and sell the XJ to another sucker. Now you know to check for rust and the next guy will soon learn the same lesson.

 

I mean I picked up the chopped XJ with an off-road suspension, 6 inch lift, roof rack, and 35's for $650 so I'm not gonna complain about a little bit of rust. But I will post more pics once I get the floor clear of the liner.

 

This is why I read and contribute to vehicle forums. I constantly learn new information. Next stop POR15 website

 

That's a great buy WoopWoop!!! Even if it was a Flintstone mobile. You'll do well and get great use out of it even if you use flashing, tek screws and tar! You're in for great fun!

Bird

 

any progress???