The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop What did you paint your cab bottom?

My '59 went down to bare metal and body work is almost done. The plan is a 3-part sealer, filler coat, primer, G seal, ....through to color and clear.

The frame got Eastwood's rubberized rust encapsulator. I'm thinking the same thing on the cab bottom, maybe two coats. Don't see any reason to do what the upper parts of the body will get.

Thoughts?

I'm pretty sure Eastwoods encapsulating paint will be fine,does it dry to a gloss?

Personally I used POR-15 .
A little goes a long way,covers well,brushes on and drys to a nice gloss. (i'm figuring dirt won't stick)

I used "Magnet" brand "Chassis Saver",on the chassis,inner fenders,axles,driveshafts,cross members,and the bottom of the cab. it brushes on easily,and flows out nicely-no brush marks.Best part is: this coating is a single-stage. Eastwood recommends using their rust inhibitor,followed by their encapsulator,then finishing with a top-coat. This coating,too,is rubberized. Check out Stacy David's video in the "Bolt's" links section,under the heading:"Parts"-scroll down to "Corrosion and Rust Preventative Coatings and Paints". If you do use "Chassis Saver-Here's a TIP: The BEST way to remove this stuff,is with VEGETABLE OIL!! I found out the hard way! After rubbing myself raw,using naptha,lacquer thinner,turpentine and gasoline! The second day,I rubbed veggie oil on any exposed skin,(Face),and after I was done,the stuff wiped right off with a paper towel!! Hope this helps!

I primed bare metal cab bottom with epoxy primer and covered with 3M Body Shutz. Backside of fenders get same treatment.

Primered mine with ACE hardware rust stop primer, and then 2 coats of Valspar Tractor and Implement black enamel. Followed with 2 coats of Permatex asphalt undercoating, which I rolled on with a medium nap roller, after spraying on the undercoating. Looks good to me and very cost effective. Mike

David, is that just applied with a aerosol can or is it shot out of HVLP? What is the texture like? I am really thinking hard about this very issue right now.

Deve:

I have a dedicated siphon feed spray gun that screws directly on the bottle. Here is an Ebay example. The texture is course like any undercoating you are used to seeing or bed liner. 3M claims that Body Shutz is an effective sound deadener as well. In addition to cab bottom and inside fenders, I sprayed the material on the bottom side of the running boards.

I spent a lot of time with the local paint supplier. They are PPG for the most part, but in the case of undercoating, they are 3M Shutz all the way.

They tell me that the gun 3M sells isn't necessary because spray cans work every bit as well. That's not normal. Aerosol is always inferior. But in the case of a one stage product that isn't mixed together in any way, I guess I can agree to try the aerosol 3M Shutz.

Enter the opinions of the guys behind the counter! They deal with vintage projects every day and what I like about them is, they will talk your ear off. However much time you wish to bend their ears, they are happy to do it.

THEY all agreed that if you are going for a show truck, but yet driving to the events, not trailering the vehicle, that some undercoating is necessary. But none of them could agree that I needed to undercoat the bottom of the cab.

I saw a younger version of David in some of the pics. He seemed really happy to be sitting behind the wheel! If I were DAD in this case, I would for sure undercoat the cab floor. Its just a good idea. But being a carefree old man with no kids that care about my hobby, Ima go with paint under the cab, undercoating in the fender wells, inner fender wells, etc when its all put together to eliminate stars in the outside fender area. Maybe the running board bottoms. They all agreed I should just use spray cans and they will work as well as the gun. I dunno.. but now I can put that decision off for later. Thanks so much for all the help on this. It is not a decision you take lightly!

Deve:

Your logic is sound. The dedicated gun that screws onto the bottle is simply a better approach to avoid finger fatigue. Sure, I agree the aerosol stuff will be the same quality...but probably more expensive. Do your finger exercises now to get ready.

Remember, Body Schutz is first and foremost a sound deadener. To me, there is no better place on the cab than the bottom to benefit from some sound deadening. I chose this route instead of the typical "dynamat" approach because I did not want the buildup and look of the "dynamat" under the rubber floor mat. When you lift my mat, all you see is nicely painted sheet metal.

Like you, the main reason to apply on back side of fenders is for some protection against inside to out stone dings. I think the rubberized quality of the Schutz will come into play in this situation.

Most vehicles of our vintage simply had primed under bodies. I suspect the trucks were no different.

Trucks had a portion of the cab bottom treated, at least my 50 had evidence of a coating.

...pic...

Even found some remnants of undercoating on the inner fronts
...pic...

Not much left after 58 years

I did treat my cab bottom with Bed liner due to the heat out here.

The manual shows a jute pad under the rubber mat
I added that also for added protection from heat.

I used KBS coatings Rust Seal on the inner sides of my front fenders so far and probably will use that for any undersides of my truck. That stuff is easy to work with not too very toxic and looks excellent. It's part of a 3 part process with a stuff called rust blast that you use before and it works awesome. Highly recommend this stuff. KBS-coatings.com

Gonna use the same stuff on the interior of the cab Matt. Then put some sort of noise reduction / heat shield over the top before topping it off with either carpet or rubber mat. Glad to hear it's worked so well for you.