Well I've been looking for a beater winter vehicle, Cherokees seem to be pretty plentiful up here so I'll prob end up w one of those. This got me thinking about preserving my truck even tho it'll hopefully live in the garage this winter. I took some time this am and poked around the ol interweb looking for something that would best duplicate that flat black coating Ford used on the frames of our trucks; I didn't reeeealy see what I was looking for. I searched here but got 1 hit on a search for "undercoating".. I don't want to undercoating tho, all I want to do is match whatever that stuff is that's on our frames, touch it up and make it look original.. The truck looked perfect last year when we picked it up in Az and with all the festidious psi washing this winter I blew off some of that stuff and several places have started to flash, no big deal; just being meticulous I guess... Has anyone been **** enough to do this? Lol...

 

I always just thought it was just a thick coat of black paint. I wonder if you could match it with some "chassis black" paint or something.

 

Cosmoline is what was used

 

No kidding Brad!? You suppose it was tinted? I thought that stuff was like the color of fluid film, translucent brown kinda...?

 

Here is a interesting link, I wonder if they still use that stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoline

 

I'm not sure what they used at the factory but have been thinking about using this on my F150 frame, undercarriage and wheel wells, etc...

POR-15 Rust Preventive Coating

Have never used it before so can't personally recommend it, but heard a lot of good things about it from some friends and reading on the forums.

 

^^ POR 15 is the best I can recommend as well.. It's the best there is, but also expensive. It actually makes a strong chemical and mechanical bond with the metal and can only be removed with a grinder once dried. Regular paints separate over time from the metal and allow moisture to go in between.
POR 15 rust prevention paints needs to be applied first and then you can cover with the Por15 chassis paint.

 

One more thing.. I have used por15 on several camper frames and can highly recommend it. I will use this, once I pull my bed on my truck to clean the frame and do repairs.
Just as a word of caution : when you apply it , wear gloves and old cloth. Nothing will take this stuff off.. Not even any thinners or paint removers.. You have to wear it off :-)

 

It starts out translucent tannish color but gets darker offer the years. It is a Good coating OVER paint

They have black cosmoline too.

 

X2 :-) It is good stuff just don't get it on your skin it don't come off.

 

I appreciate that but I'm not looking to por15 the frame; I am familiar with the product; good stuff that has it's place.. Just looking to return the bare spots on the frame to factory look, not a restoration project... At this point cosmoline looks like it's the winner.. I'll give that a try..

 

I will ad some more things.

POR15 is ONLY good on RUSTED metal or Sandblasted metal. It does NOT stick to smooth or NON rusted metal. Also, it needs to be topcaoted. UV eats it up. I typically topcoat while tacky with tractor paint or chassis paint.



coreyallan01 Something else you can look at for the hard to reach places. Fluid film. It comes in spray cans and you can get long flexible tubes. This will allow you to get over the rear wheel wells, in the bed cross members, front cab mounts and so on

 

Thanks for that Brad, I fluid filmed the truck last year and will more than likely do it again.