Hey guys,now that the snow is over(fingers are crossed) I can start making some headway on the 66 M100 and I'm gathering stuff up.I cant seem to find any product for treating the drip rail.I'm thinking it's some sort of seam sealer.Any tips on where to find a critter? I'm hoiping to find a product that's sandable and paintable.Thanks.

 

I did repairs to mine 6 months back...fortunately, it was surface rust
and nothing major. Is yours rusty? Have you wire-wheeled it out? I'd do that first,
then primer, sand, paint, sand and clear-coat. I wouldn't try to stay stock by
redoing it like the original sealer...it was crap.
Once I was finished, I used agood quality clear silicone and coated the area where
the previous sealer was. I made it very smooth, as water needs to flow smoothly
through it to do it's job. It's still holding up fine under the California desert sun. I'm
sure there is another method from someone else too...first issue should be to address
any rust and get it outta there.
Jason

 

I got the seam sealer for my F100 at the NAPA store, it was a big NAPA store that sold Auto paints and supplies.

 

Mine were not that far gone and was able to salvage them by grinding out minor rust areas and repairing using body filler, this was several yrs ago and holding up well, used 'Evercoat' and imagine there have been a few improvement in body fillers since then. Unfortunately I can't recall the source; possibly a member posting the link in a thread, what ever the case, it was for replacement drip rails for Ford passenger cars and it seemed to me a person with some auto body experience should be able to make to fit, or get a quote; had sheet metal repair done and finding local welding shop much more reasonably priced that auto body shop. Anyhow, food for thought.

 

Eastwood supply has a link listed here under sponsers, and they make and sell pretty much any body filler , sealer that you might need, but make sure that you wirewheel or grind it to bare metal, and patch any holes first. as metioned in previous post's oh found the link

Auto Body Repair Tools Shop, Auto Body Supplies, Automotive & Classic Car Restoration - Eastwood!

 

Any tips on shaving it off for a cleaner look?

 

purchase a good arc welder, gloves and face shield and then get someone else to do it! LOL a case of beer goes a long way!

 

Topic comes up on occasion suggest run a search on topic and see if able to find a source. Thought I saw an article in Classic Truck Magazine but could not find it. Posting a thread where member Mechmagcn posted link to his gallery of his project, not sure if he's still a member; is so, don't believe he would have any objections if emailed regarding any questions.

Link:1956 Ford F100 4x2 - Shaving the Drip Rail

Thread:https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...-question.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...l-removal.html

 

SEM makes a great self leveling sealer for the drip rails. That is what I used on my truck. You will have to fix any rust before you put this in. Make sure that you put some tape at the ends or it will run out and make a mess. I taped the cab to the depth that I wanted and then put the sealer in. We let it settle for a couple of seconds and then pulled the tape so that it didn't run up on the tape. This was done so that we didn't get to thick and then have to sand it down to where I wanted it and it didn't make a mess on the cab roof. It worked out well. It does sand easy to accept paint.

Kevin

 

Is that the SEM heavy bodied seam sealer?

SEM Products - Catalog - HEAVY BODIED BLACK SEAM SEALER

is this the product that you are talking about Kevin?

 

Thanks all for your input.Later today I re-searched at Eastwood and found some under seam sealer instead of auto-body.DUH!!But I didn't like some of the feedback on some of the items.I did find some by 3M at the local paint store.Says it's sandable and that's what I was after.The Mercury has almost no rust at all save for a couple spots.Two of which are on the driprail.All are minor.Years ago my pop used Eastwood stuff on a 32 Chrysler build for the steering wheel repair and woodgraining.I'll use that for sure on the wheel.Little by little I'ma gonna get it done.Thanks again for all your help.

 

No that isn't the one.
Here is a link to the one that I used.
SEM Products - Catalog - SELF LEVELING SEAM SEALER
It looked good when it was dry.

Kevin

 

Thanks Kevin!

 

Also in leiu of seam sealer use Evercoat Euro-soft Polyester glazing putty. No shrink or crack, sands easily and if you press on it it does not give some times like sealer and pop the paint.

All you need is about a 1/16" coat on the rails to seal it up.

The factory used Asbestos fiber reinforced polyester resin So take a bit of care when removing the old bondo.

Garbz
Garbz

 

find the seam sealer in the tube, run a small bead with a caulk gun, and tool into place with a finger like any paint shop would do. no need to sand anything or tape it off. you can use the single part or the two part stuff for better durability.

But- if you are the kind of handyman that puts an inch thick bead of silicone caulk around your tub, and smears it all over the wall, then learn to caulk a house before you tool in automotive sealer the same way. haha.