floor pan paint

[thejunkman]

So I finally ordered my floor pans, after spending too much time trying to find them local. Couldn't avoid those over-sized shipping cost after all. After I weld them in I'm obviously gonna need some rust protection. I thought about different options for spraying, but considering I know next to nothing about auto paint, and even with the best rattle can I could find I'd still have to worry about over-spray on the other guys cars in the shop. My question is, has anyone messed around with something good I can roll on? Such as commercial implement paint, or bed-liner? How it looks isn't too much of a concern, as it's not going to be a show truck and it will all be covered by a rubber floor liner. I'm going for rat-rod here. obviously I'm going to have to do the underside as well. Suggestions?

[sargentrs]

Brush on a coat of POR-15 http://www.eastwood.com/por-15-semi-gloss-black.html (a pint's enough for floor pans) for rust proofing and then a good coat of any quality enamel or maybe Herculiner http://www.herculiner.com/index.php

[thejunkman]

I've heard a lot about POR-15, and some unhappy results. However, those were guys that just put it on and left it on as the final coat. Maybe the topcoat is the answer. Thanks Sarge.

[sargentrs]

Yeah, it'll gray out and look chalky on you. Still great protection and coverage, just doesn't look as good. Always top coat POR-15.

[motzingg]

yeah, coming from wisconsin (same as PA) I've come to love POR-15, it has saved the 'life' of many cars that would have been in the scrap yard by now, the stuff is literally rust kryptonite... use it a couple times and you begin to feel like you actually have a chance of winning against the red menace. you develop the confidence of a cancer survivor to go run marathons and stuff... you will fall in love with it, like i have, and viciously attack anyone who says anything bad against it!

but the number 1 thing to remember is ITS NOT PAINT!!! Read all the directions, watch some youtube videos, whatever.

For floor pans you can probably leave it not topcoated, same with underbody, but bare exposed metal floorpans are really loud, thats what i'm daily driving right now (just a factory lay-down floor mat) i'm guessing you mean you're going to run the jute-backed rubber floor liner ... if you do that, you'll be fine without any topcoat.


my technique is to wire-wheel out all the rust, clean it real good, then daub it on with one of those cheap throwaway paint brushes into all the rusty nooks and crannies (thats coat 1) then go over with another brush and brush-paint everything (coat 2) getting into nooks and crannies again, then for the 3rd coat use one of those foam mini trim rollers to do the flat surfaces, that will give it a consistent appearance, those cheap brushes come out super streaky.


whew... too much info.. sorry i just get REALLY excited about POR15... i think i'm gonna get a tattoo.

[BrockGrimes]

Por 15 and chassis black, scuff then herculine or similar, raptor liner can be tinted match your paint.

[hillcountryflt]

To the OP. Have you had experience welding in the floor plans before? I am going to be at that stage in the near future (looking for a mig welder now) and just curious as to the challenges. My last time to weld was in high school (and I am in my 50s now). Back then we did it all mig/tig/arc/acetyline.
So I will be a newbie at it.

[thejunkman]

Nope, this is my first time. I actually just got done welding the first pan in the other day. I have not ground down my welds and done the finish work yet. (I can't wait to hide them before someone actually sees them!) But from one newbie to another, I tried lots of different techniques on a lot of scrap metal first, talked to a lot of people, and found out what worked best for me. I ended up butt welding it in the end. I was going to do lap welds, but I actually had better results with my butt welds. Fitting the panel was a bit of a challenge, but I just took my time and nibbled off a little at a time, until I was sure the fit was ok. As a welding newbie, I didn't want a bad fit. I had a lot of trouble with wire speed and heat. I'd get a decent looking weld that wasn't getting much penetration, or a big old booger sure to wear out my grinder. I still have a long way to go, before I can claim I know how to weld. One thing that definately helped was that I watched a bunch of you-tube videos of people doing it. After I did it myself I realized some are terribly wrong, but it did help anyway just to get the idea.