Out of curiosity, what region has this truck spent its life in? I'm curious to know if my SoCal truck will have that much rust under the shield/seal
Pics here: http://imgur.com/a/MncPo

 

Weld thru primer is dried, about to start on the top patch

thanks! Glad to hear that your windshield is good after all.

the father in law spends a lot of time at body shops, he says it's as good as what they do, better than some since they rush
How much POR did it take to do yours?

From what I understand, 27 years in cali somewhere, then 3 in Ohio
Could have been the 3 years in ohio that did it, one of the previous owners ripped off the chrome trim which caused the leaks to start

The visible rust bubbles on yours are a bad sign though

 

First tacks of the day... This one is gonna take a while...

 

Got the patch in without messing up the roof line!


Unfortunately the patch ended up offset a bit back further than I would have liked, but the connection and seam is solid, so I plan to smooth it out with the AllMetal

 

I got a first coat of allmetal applied and sanded, and a second applied. It looks like it works well, spreads similarly to a more tacky type bondo, I sanded the first coat while still not totally cured (as soon as it hit the 20 minute minimum) and it wasn't too bad. We'll see how the second coat goes, it looked like it was curing quite hard.

Also wirebrushed the old cracked sealant out of the rain channel above the doors. The drivers side looks perfect, the passenger also looks good except for some pinholes in a somewhat random spot.
I got some allmetal over the pinholes, and plan to clean the grove really well and POR (and additional sealant if needed)

What is the appropriate tool to get in the tiny grove where the rain channel runs forward along the windshield? None of my wire brushes are small enough to get in there.

Will try to remember to post pics of all of this when I get home

 

Uh harbor has a "composite" nylon grinding wheel that may or may not fit. You can force it into a smaller slot than it would normally for in but it will wear down very fast and start to fray.

While you're there grab a new set of brushes just for backup, and cut off a row or two so it will fit.

 

im aware thinner brush :p
I was having trouble getting anything under the little overhang back into that corner, without rubbing the body on the other side

Didn't know if there was something better for that, guess I'll break out some itty bitty Dremel ones and give it a shot

 

LOL Re: Thinner brush
Yes, for removing old paint and seam sealer, I plan to use the small dremel type wire wheel. I have the cheapo Harbor Freight version.
BTW, pls note that POR-15 is best applied on bare, textured metal. Not sure how it would work on "all-metal". I think better to leave bare metal without body filler. the less number of layers to possibly fail the better. The thick urethane bead should take care of dips and bumps on the pinchweld.

 

This is probably just going to make some people's brains ache but.

Link

Clear as mud now? Right..

I read the specs as , The USC all metal has a longer work time than the por15 black, both harden to a hardness you can drill and tap and are resistance to chipping..


PS por makes the por15 silver, same stuff as the USC. AL filled polyESTER-urethane

 

yea, I noticed today on the POR site that it says to apply body filler *after* applying POR... Oh well
The filler is mostly for the back of the top patch, and rust pitting below the bottom patch, so the urethane should have only POR to steel in most places

Also, the allmetal is VERY textured, even after sanding, so hopefully the POR sticks



Edit
POR website says it is compatible with both
Aluminum
Fiberglass

Since allmetal is basically fiberglass resin and aluminum powder, I feel pretty good
Thanks for the link, interesting info

Unfortunately I saw the POR silver too late :p

 

I also wonder... All-metal looks solid so wouldn't it also serve as seam sealer for the gutter?

 

It might, i had that thought too
im not sure I could squish it into the corners and get a good seal though, especially down in the hard to get narrow part of the channel

Do you think just a few coats of POR might work to seal the seam?

 

Am thinking that, too. POR-15 is thinner so it would penetrate the thin gap between sheets. However, it's brittle. OK for my use where I do not put load on my gutter but not if a roof rack is mounted on the gutter.

So I'm leaning toward:
1) Steel brush seam and surrounding to bare metal,
2) Use Degreaser and metal prep on POR-15 starter kit. Let dry
3) Drive wheels on same side of gutter up a curb and apply POR-15 so some of it it runs into the gap.
4) Sand the opening of the seam with thin Dremel sanding wheel.
5) Apply Dynatron over the opening seam gutter and the A-pillar gutter seam. This will protect even if POR-15 layer cracks.
6) Prime when dry, and Paint.

 

Sounds like a good plan to me, but I've never messed with either POR or dynatron personally so I don't really have much to weigh in with

In other news, got the last little patch in, done with welding!

 

Ordered POR-15 starter kit, plus a pint, dynatron 552, and POR self etch primer (to put on the dried POR before painting)

Also ordered OEM exterior weather strip for both door windows and the tailgate window, (ebay, $50 for the rear window trim was pricey but there's really no other option and I don't fancy ruining my rear window mechanism)

(side project, will take out heater core, measure, and order appropriately sized replacement, unless anyone knows which of the 3 sizes rock auto has is correct...)

 

quote: "In other news, got the last little patch in, done with welding!"

Geez I'm confused. In that last pic above, is that grey 'brushed on looking stuff the POR, the allmetal or just seam sealer?
Your work looks quite nice I will add. You've turned garbage into good.

So when you go to put your glass back on, the windshield doesn't use a gasket like the rest of the glass, right? It uses some sort of adhesive? (I had my nolonger-owned Tundra windshield replaced last spring, and the dude used some sort of calk tube. IIRC he said it will never harden.)

I probably need to go ahead and pull off my windshield and check the underneath. I cracked the dang thing last year, so its gotta come off sometime. Always screw up when work late at night. The gutter you all are talking about is that thin channel on either side of the glass that serves as a water drain off roof, right? Yours was just rusting out?

Didn't mean to hijack.

 

i can answer some of those..

He is using all-metal, I am not sure if he plans to use the rubber as is, a modified rubber gasket, or just the adhesive. Yes the "drip rail" "gutter" "flashing" are the common terms form the protrusion above the door that channels water away from the passengers and door gap.

The first failure mode up there, in the gutter, is just due to collecting debris causing water to pool which then abrades the paint covering the seam sealer put on at the factory. The next failure mode is from the seam sealer hardening and cracking due to UV exposure, and high heat.

Once the uv coat and the sealer are compromised there is nothing to stop water from penetration into the gaps between the sheet metal. Then it will rust.

There is another failure mode due to overloading a roof rack which clamps to the rail, causing the flashing, the paint and sealer to pull away from the roof panel.

 

Yes, the grey stuff is the allmetal, that was before I sanded it down, it's mostly to smooth out the weld seam at the bottom

I would use a gasket, but there are no longer any sources for them, so the windshield will be glued in.

The gutter is the water channel for rain over the doors. Wasn't rusting out per-se, but had some strange pinholes. Main issue was that the factory sealant was totally dried out, cracked, and no longer sealing anything. Sorta started working two issues in the same thread here, they're closely related though.

 

There is always the universal stuff that comes on rolls, my PO had one installed and it's not horrible. Rad had one also for awhile.

slacker sourced some one piece ones I recall him buying all they would send him. I think he sold them all, but my memory is pretty crappy most days so maybe there are some left overs.

PS, I really dig that welding blanket you have been using. Tools are right up there on my list of simple pleasures..

 

Yea, it's nice to just throw down nice and easy.

Not sure I would do a gasket unless it was one piece. Shame you can't get them anywhere, I would rope it in myself. Oh well, urethane is supposed to be better in theory.

In other news, the POR and dynatron came in yesterday. They are going on this weekend after I hopefully do the metal prep steps tomorrow. Pondering how to do it without getting stuff all over the interior of the truck. How did you do it Ray?

I also see quite a few other places in the fender area the dynatron could be handy, where the factory stuff is dried up.

Side note, measured and ordered a heater core, and got clear lights! - https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...thread-296954/