epoxy in trunk

N

NYTrainer

Hey all,
Have some surface rust and pits in the truck that formed under the mat (trapped moisture). I've been thinking about POR 15, Picklex, etc but their incompatibility with epoxy nixes that idea. I plan to wire wheel as much rust as possible but would imagine there would be some rust still.
Short of sandblasting what would be the best plan under the speckle trunk paint and flat clear coat? I'd like to use SPI epoxy..
Thanks,
Dave
 
Sand blasting is the only way to get the rust gone completely, ESP the pits, edges of seams corners etc
 
I have been working on an older horse trailer of late and had to replace the wood floor.
The frame under was covered in surface rust and a few spots had to be cut out and new metal welded in.
I ran a DA over as much of the fame as I could just to remove the first layer of loose rust.
Next I treated it with Phosphoric acid based rust converter. I let that dry overnight and the next day took a bucket of water with some Dawn dish soap in and scrubbed the entire frame with a red scotchbrite pad. Rinsed and blew dry with an air hose.
Next day I brushed on some epoxy primer and coated everything. Today, about two weeks later, I took a flat blade screw driver and tried to chip the epoxy off the frame in a couple of places. I could barely scratch the surface. Tried working from an edge where the epoxy stopped and still couldn't get it off.

I am not trying to contradict the tech sheet or saying this is an acceptable practice just that it worked out for this application.
 
I would not use a rust converter but I tell people on the phone all day long how to use something like Ospho, it is a great product for small areas, if it is neutralized in a proper way, if not it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Scrub the pan with ospho and a brass or wire brush, when you have it cleaned up, wipe up with a towels to check your work to make sure it is clean.
Then retreat the area with ospho and BEFORE it dries clean off with hose or rag and bucket of water, dry and clean with 700, wait one hour and shoot the epoxy.
 
Thanks Barry. Didn't know about the retreating before washing step so I'll do that next time.
I knew it wasn't the recommended way and if it wasn't an old horse trailer I would have sandblasted the frame. The more I use this epoxy the more I like it.
 
If you use a steel brush for a while, the acid will eat it up, so I use the stiffest hand held stainless steel brush I can find. And after rinsing the acid off if you scrub the area before it dries with at least 10% solution of dawn to your scrub water, it will help reduce flash rust when you rinse it off and dry it. Just have to get rid of the acid first.
That sounds like a lot of dawn, but you don't normally need that much scrub water, most of it usually gets dumped out. The results are worth it.
 
I sometimes do the water wash with a scotchbrite then while the panel is still wet shoot some waterborne wax and grease remover on it and towel it dry-this speeds up the evaporation process and limits the flash rusting. A person could also use straight isopropyl alcohol.
 
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