Vicky Update – Sealing The Floor

I want to keep the bottom of my body rust and rot free and protected from the elements as long as I can, so I decided to try truck bed liner to seal up the bottom. A couple of you asked me to post the process, so here it is. There's really not much to it.

I stood the body up on the firewall for easy access. I started by welding the floor's tubing substructure from the bottom so water couldn't get into the tubes. I hadn't done this when I put the floor in because I was working inside the car.




I also went over the entire bottom of the car looking for pinholes and welded them up.




I bought a tube of 3M paintable auto body seam sealer and caulked all of the weld seams.






I masked off the sides of the body and then sprayed four cans of Dupli-Color spray on truck bed liner to get good heavy coverage. I kept the coats light on the subrails to maintain fit of the body and frame.






A close up of the texture:

 

I am planning on undercoating the bottom of my fordor in a similar way. The only thing I am doing differently is using a rust encapsulator on the bare metal. I am wondering if the dupli-color you used will keep the metal from oxidizing?

I was also wondering how I would access the bottom of the body, it's good to know I can stand it on the firewall. Is that safe to do, or do you have extra bracing inside the body?

 

Do you have a feel for the durability of the Duplicolor bed liner? I'm also curious about repairs or making changes and how easy it is to remove (clean) an area of this stuff for welding, etc.? It is urethane-based like many of the bed liner products on the market?

Thanks,

- EM

 

I used the duplicolor bed coating (in the gallon can) on the bottom of my 57 chevy.
Within a year most of it had pealed off. I put front and rear pans in the car and sandblasted and cleaned evrything. It may have just been a bad can or I may have done somthing wrong.

 

Hey dave how many cans did you use?

 

....

 

Sorry must have missed that dude

 

Good work!

If you read the label on the bed liner it says "improves appearence" and "increases value". I'm going to buy some of that for the wife's truck.

 

Dave, looks good,, You could hit the wall in Martinsville and not hurt that subframe...

 

You have to stand a Vicky on her firewall, flat backed sedans can be set on shipping pads without damageing the back side.

 

I am going to Undercoat my '35 next Weekend-I Epoxy Primed the bottom, then used a 3M two Part Seam Sealer, and Epoxied again-this is what I am going to use for a two-part Truck Bed Lining-

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/Spray%20In%20Bedliners.htm


http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/Photos/spi_070202_0292.jpg

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/Product Info/Bedliner 1050-1.htm

With this Gun-
http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/Products/undercoatgun.jpg

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/Product Info/Applicator gun.htm

from this Company-

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/Product lines.htm

 

I was wondering if that could be done. The metal back there seems to be very thick. Some soft foam under the shipping blankets seems like it would help as well, just need to keep it stable.

 

On my 3W ... I went the primer, sealer and shiny paint route.





It is lying on a king size mattress. I figured if paint was good enough to protect the top parts of the coupe, it was good enough for the bottom. It also makes keeping the bottom clean. I did my 32 roadster this way almost 20 years ago and it still looks good.

 

Alright! Lookin' good! What's next?? Come on! Come on! Can't wait to see this thing all together! Lookin' good buddy!

 

looks good. i did the same thing but with under coat. after i was done i was HIGH as a kite!!!

 

I use the same duplicolor(but rolled on) for my Karmann ghia and It it holging up ok I would use it again but I would rough up the surface for a better bite.

 

wow man nice floor