Hey guys,

I discovered water on the factory floor matting under the rubber matting. I initialy ripped out the pieces I could with the seats in, but just an hour or so ago I got an itch to get it done. So I went out, removed all the seats, kick panels etc. I then ripped out the rest of the matting and discovered a few things. The passenger floor board has some eaten through rust on it. The drivers side is all surface rust. I labeled all the seat bolts ( location, number, and size) incase it will be a while before I throw the interior back in.

I scraped some of the matting material off but some of it was wet and stuck on. I threw garage floor litter and baking soda on it, I figure tomorrow it will help dry it out. I am then going to vaccumn all that out, scrap the matting up and maybe cut part of the floor panel out and weld another one in.

I am planning on wire brushing the metal cab inside, and the walls throwing on some rust to primer converter, throwing rhino line down, putting down some of that home depot heat/insulation stuff that its in the sticky ad then lastly to throw down some rubber matting material. What would you guys suggest?

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That sounds like a great idea. I did something relatively similar. I pulled up my rubber matting to find the typical floorboard that had been eaten through with rust. I cut out a section, welded a new section in, and painted about everything else on the floor with rustoleum. I didn't care to get all of the rust out because this is just my beat-around, hardware store runs and hunting truck. Instead of the rhino liner, which I sometimes wish I had given more thought to, I threw down a layer of carpet padding (same kind used in homes) and put in a tan astro-turf material as carpet. The astro-turf has really held up and it's very easy to clean (just vacuum right up) since it never stains.

 

Damn good idea you have there. I contemplated that but I am sparing no expense with this truck. I plan to keep it for the long haul. Essentially with the money I am planning on spending on it, I will have about $5-7 grand in it. However, that will be all new everything (almost). It will look like a new truck, have new stuff, and lastly about $4000 of that money I can take off and put on a new truck. Winch bumper and flat bed. However, that money won't all be expense but rather a result of me selling stuff from my truck that I don't need to get what I do want.

I contemplated just rhinolining it but then I realized I didn't want noise in my cab as I plan to DD it.

 

Before you spend the time to repair everything, find out where the water is coming from. A trick I've been doing for a long time when working by myself is to sprinkle baby powder all over the bare floor, then soak the vehicle under a water hose for about 5 minutes. When water appears on the floor, you can follow the trail to the source of the leak, fix that, and not have to worry about having damp floors after your repairs. If you have a helper or a sprinkler you can lay on the floors and wait for the water to appear and trace it from there. I've had fully restored cars with all new floors, rubber weatherstripping, glass and full interiors come back with wet floors because of an overlooked leak somewhere, so now I always find & repair them so the hard work involved in the restoration isn't wasted.

When you repair the floors, do your best to prep the metal properly before applying any liner material. If it's not prepped right, you'll have pockets of air between the metal and the liner, and moisture will collect in those pockets. The liner doesn't usually help prevent rust either, so keep that in mind. When laying down a liner on a floor, I like to paint the floors completely after a repair/patch, in the same process as I would the exterior minus the clear coat. Then scuff the floor surface with a Scotch-Brite pad to give it some texture for the liner to adhere to.


The cheap Home Depot insulation works good, but if you're going to use a factory style rubber floor cover, then you should lay down some Dyna-Mat on the prepped floors, then roll or spray on your liner over the floors & dynamat both. I prefer spraying Herculiner, comes out more uniform and even than brushing it on and it only requires an air compressor, some acetone, and a $15 spray gun. Then instead of the Home Depot stuff, use regular thin "jute" carpet padding, like you'd find under the factory carpet or rubber flooring. You can get this at upholstery supply shops. I like to lay in the jute padding and get it fitting the floor contours nicely, and make sure the rubber flooring or carpet fits over it nicely. Then remove the carpet/rubber and spray the top of the Jute padding and the bottom of the carpet/flooring with upholstery glue and reinstall the carpet/rubber. This makes for a much cleaner factory-like installation. I prefer the jute padding over the home depot stuff because it doesn't make noise when you step on it like the home depot stuff does, but it insulates just as good and costs about the same. Another option is "Lizard Skin", which I prefer to use on high-end custom cars.

By trade I'm a hot rod builder and former custom upholsterer, and this is how I've done customers cars, as well as a few of my own with great results.

Good luck!