VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood rust on front floor - '41 Chevy Sedan

My sedan has some rust on the inside, front floor. What is the best way to treat this?

Thanks in advance.

Would depend on the sze of the rust holes. If just some small areas I would lay sheet metal over it and either rivet or sheet metal screw in in place. I am assuming you have a "fun car" and not a show piece. Other than that the bad metal would need to be cut out and new welded in.

Gary,
Twenty six years ago I had the same problem in the trunk of my '36 Master business coupe. I wanted to keep it as orginal as possible and I did not want to cut out the rusty area that contained some small holes and attempt to repace the formed floor section.

I cleaned the area with a sidewinder / wire brush as well as I could (both top and underneath) and then coated it with a rust converter to hopefully stop any future rusting. I then fiberglassed the top of the trunk floor in the area of the problem. With some sanding and a second coating of resin, it is hard to tell which was repaired and the orginal trunk floor. Both top and underneath were then painted. The trunk floor is still waterproof and sound today as when I did the repair.

NOTE: The fiberglass cloth I used was left over from a boat job and was quite streachy (compared to some fiberglass matting) so I was able to work it into the floor shape without to much difficulty.

Fuzzyswede,

The floor is actually in pretty good shape. I've used the wire brush, as best I could. You mentioned "rust converter". I guess this can be purchased at an auto parts store? After applying the rust converter, I assume that I can paint it with medal paint?

Thanks

Gary, If it is just some rust pitting and can't be removed by a wire brush you can do 1 of 2 things here. get a spot blaster or use some naval jelly and steel wool. with using the naval jelly you then need to rinse well and sand with 80 grit. Apply two wet coats of a good quality epoxy primer and then if you want to touch it up with filler to make it look smooth you can. Then seal it with one coat of epoxy and then its ready for paint. you can also just use a black epoxy and leave it. This process will last you a life time. Forget about the rust converters. If they where the cure-all for rust you would be seeing the high end resto shops using them. You don't. Good luck on your project.

Thanks for the info.