The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop coating the tub under the tank (46 chevy PU)

Hi,
New to the forum. I recently came into possession of a nice 46 Chevy that my wife grandfather owned since the 70's. It is in overall good shape so I am just taking it slow and working on things to try to make it a "sunday driver".

I removed the tank which was rusted up pretty badly and ordered a new one to replace. My question is, should I coat the "tub" under the tank? I have wire brushed it to remove the heavy rust scale. All the metal seems to be in good shape. I was thinking it might be nice to coat it with something a bit "thick" to provide some sound damping and to prevent further rust. Something like a truck bed liner, or rubberized coating or under coating, or something? Is that a good idea? Anyone have a suggestion on a particular product? I was planning to just roll it on probably after applying some kind of primer.

thanks,
-marc

Hi Marc,

Welcome to the Stovebolt and the Paint and Body Shop forum! You'll be able to tap into a lot of solid expertise here on the Stovebolt. Be patient and someone will likely share their experiences and answer your questions.

We like pictures here on the SB, so don't be shy about sharing your truck with us...............

Good luck on your '46!!

I would use a rust paint first to stop and seal the rust then put your rubberized coating. Up here in the north if you used a thick rock guard or undercoat the thick coating would hold in the moisture and the metal will rust underneath your nice thick coating and could go unnoticed until it blisters and by that time you could probably poke a hole. I have started using a paint called chassis saver and so far seems to work fairly well at sealing metal that has surface rust .

You can get spray on Bed Liner in aerosol cans at your FLAPS for less than $15.🛠

OK, attaching a pic (if it works).

and pic of the floorpan under the seat with the tank removed.

I had a similar issue on my 54' . After considerable research I used "Rust Bullet" , applied multiple coats per the instructions. Once the Rust Bullet has cured then apply an undercoating as suggested. That should provide rust prevention and the sound deadening. I attached a link below to an interesting article on Rust Bullet.

Beautiful Truck by the way !


http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public2/rust-bullet.cfm

Nice Truck !!!

Marc, I 'll throw my 10 cent in for POR15. Its now available at most paint stores and other places. I like it because I know its tough. Let it cure and try grinding some back off to metal...not easy. The POR means "pour over rust". Since you have it nice and clean it's serve you well ....but I also would think the others that are mentioned are good as well. Lots of stuff out there these days.


Welcome to the Stovebolt and that's a nice looking ride you have.

There is only one product that is suitable for priming bare and rusty steel. Epoxy primer. Doesn't matter brand whatsoever. However, you can buy epoxy primer in only one brand that is in an aerosol. SprayMax.All other paint companies make it in quarts and gallons.
Any other primer that claims to stop rust is BS unless it is a 2 part product where you mix part A with part B then apply and it's called epoxy primer. SprayMax Epoxy aerosol has such the technology in their rattle cans. If you can't find it locally, it is available online. Epoxy primer when purchased in quarts can be applied by brush or roller which negates having to spray it if you don't have the proper equipment. Make sure you wear proper PPE when using any chemicals!

Once the epoxy is cured/dry, the product you choose to put on only serves for appearance or sound deadening or other features you may desire because the epoxy is doing the job of stopping the rust.

Make sure you read the technical data sheets on proper cleanliness, prep, and application of any and all products you choose.

"self etching", "rust stop primer", "built in primer" are all terms used to market products to consumers but what they are really saying is "this is not epoxy primer".

Good luck with your project.

I've had real good luck using POR-15.

So I ended up using the POR15. I treated it for a few hours with the prep stuff and then rolled on three coats. Seems like pretty solid stuff and it made a nice hard coat.
Thanks for the recommendations.

What color did you use? I mainly use the black, and it is pretty glossy.

It is labeled semi-gloss black (POR15 45404). Since it will be covered up I wasn't too worried about the surface finish.