Jesse Jone

hey guys
i have a rust underneeth my cherokee and its around the engine area, what i should do to help my cherokee? i really want to keep it in a good condition, i dont do muddin' or anythin' i just drive it on the street..
thanks

notop46

Do not fix any oil leaks. The oil. Will slow the corrosion.

If you do not have leaks, then I would recomend POR 15 to slow the progress.

Post some pictures. If Possible.

XJJeff

X2 Por-15 careful that stuff will make you cough blood.

Agent_Oragnge

surface rust or full blown holes rusted through sheet metal.

surface rust... grind it down to bare metal and seal with primer n paint

holes... cut out old till you have nice sheet metal and replace cut out piece with a properly sized patch. (little more involved than surface rust)

jeepnjeff

My floor pans completely rusted through! I was able to cut out the rotton stuff and replace the pans all together. I got the pans pretty cheap from Sherman Parts in Mich. I simply rivited the pans in- worked ok for a while untill I melted my sisters shoes onto the back floor. I'm now covering it all with fiberglass and it works GREAT! If you have holes all the way through- that is the way to go. BTW- you need to this BEFORE the wireing harness drops through the floor and gets exposed underneith. I didn't and it caused some more issues. But it is all better now.

The Blacksmith

Chassis saver by magnet paints is cheaper than por 15, and better than por 15, infact it makes por 15 look bad Lol

I'll put all my support behind it, as its the only thing I use in my builds.

Agent_Oragnge

off topic, but Blacksmith... don't you have a build thread where almost every part is painted in Chasis saver? if so that looks like great stuff.

Spoonman

Google rust converter.

waltermitty

X2!

waltermitty

Melted your sister's shoes???? Was she in them when it happened? Now that's funny! :-)

jeepnjeff

Yes she was! I had been driving around town after "fixing" the floor (not building up any heat) for months. We went to BWI to pick her up for a visit. By the time we got back to town- 1 1/2 hrs of interstate driving and 95 degree weather in Aug.- she claimed she couldnt move her foot. Then, with a sucking noise, she lifted her foot and left the bottom part of her tennis shoe melted to my Husky floor liner. (It's still there as a nice reminder) A couple days later and another "fix", while on the way to VA Beach, she asked if the floor should be smoking! We pulled over and I pulled out the smoldering carpet and insulation. The next day the GOOD insulation showed up and all was better- for a while. Last week I finally got the holes sealed up (with fiberglass) and insulation in. No real test yet, but I think it's finally good to go. (I'm hopin')

Spoonman

Is your exhaust right up against the floor or something??That dont sound right.

wildbill1

I'm thinking the heat is right above the cat. They get very hot. I've heard of catalytic convertors causing brush fires. The guy who owns the parts store I use had a customer come in whose truck burned up due to a cat fire.

The guy had been out 4 wheeling and had a bunch of dry grass and vegetation get caught on top of his catalytic convertor and when he stopped for a while, it fired up and lit the carpet and interior on fire.

wjnfirearms

One very common mistake and shortcut with rust repair is that the surrounding metal MUST be treated with a rust converter prior to repair or you risk return of the corrosion even if new metal is placed. The rust gets into small, even microscopic, pores, in the surrounding good metal and spreads like cancer. POR 15 and the others similar are rust encapsulators. They work for areas with rust but still having structural integrity like frames that have not rusted through. By the way, Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator is cheaper than POR and rated better in independent tests. Make sure to use gloves. This stuff doesn't like to come off of skin, or anything else for that matter.

SEM makes excellent rust converters and are available everywhere body shop supplies are sold. One is Rust Mort. It is a watery consistency and flows well if need be to spray into rocker panels, etc. The other is Rust Seal. It is thicker and clings. This stuff works the best. I've used both and recommend them highly. They're not cheap (about $40/quart), but well worth the price.

jeepnjeff

There were holes right above the muffler, with about a 2 inch clearance and with the addition of the header, the heat was just too much on a 95 degree day running 75mph down the highway. If you notice the Cherokee always produces access heat in the middle of the floor at the tunnel. With no real insulation or other coating, it gets REAL hot!
With the holes sealed up, insulation in and padding used as carpet- no heat and very little noise.