Dont know if this would be economical but when Im going to rework my truck I thought about doing the axles and frame and other parts in dark blue Rhino lining. Thought maybe since I was doing so much they would give me a cut rate. What do any of you think?

 

I used Gator Guard on the underbody of my F100 cab. The frame and suspension are painted as well as the underside of my fenders, so I only used the bedliner material under the cab floor. It goes on 8-10 mm thick and acts as a good sound deadener.

 

Why wouldn't you want to use POR15 or a similiar product? They are supposed to be about bulletproof. They are also easy to use.

Charles

 

Interesting idea. I guess it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. When you are driving down a gravel road and you hear those rocks smashing and pinging of your undercarriage it doesn't take much imagination to conjure up an image of the damage being done. Question: What does more damage to an undercarriage, rocks or moisture? I think we need to take a poll on this one. I'm going to start this off by saying moisture. I will reserve my reasons in an effort to limit bias. So, let's start, what do you say guys?

 

Ok I agree with moisture but only to the extent that it is required to form rust. The other part is a rustable surface so it is a team effort a perfectly sealed surface will never rust uunless it is damaged by a rock or other parameter.

Charles

 

I agree. So, moisture causes rust to form. The moisture comes in 2 forms, air and precipitation with precipitation manifesting into ice, snow, etc... In order to protect the undercarriage do you use a Rhino Guard type coating or an oil based product? Can one product protect against stone chips (and is this really a concern?) and rust at the same time? An even better question is where does rust start first on metal?

 

According to the POR-15 people it will bond so strongly to the surface that in the event of a scratch the only rust that would form is limited to the exposed bare metal. The rust forms only in the presence of air (Oxygen). Rust =FeO2 or Iron Oxide at least that is what I think I remember. POR-15 is supposed to prevent Oxygen from traveling under it's coating.

Charles

 

What is this POR-15 and where can I get some and how much does it cost. Is it stylish? whats it look like? I've never heard of POR-15 I would spray the undercarriage of your Bed as well if you're going to do the cab. I mean..rocks will hit there too...

 

You can find POR-15 either online or at most classic car shows. The colors are White, Grey, Black and I believe there is a flat black. They have alot of other products as well. We've used the Shiny Black on our chassis and plan on using it under the cab, bed, as the base coat for inside the bed and for inner fenders. It fades from direct sunlight so we also got their primer to use inside the bed before we put our main color on. Their's is the only primer that will stick to this stuff without having to rough sand the gloss off. We've also found out that it works best if you apply their "Metal Ready" product to bare metal prior to painting. Metal Ready is like OSFO and I like it better because you only have to wait 20 min's after applying before you paint.

If you look at my gallery, you'll notice that everything is done in black and a metal look. The metal look is another of their products (I think it's called Metal Mask). We're real pleased with the way it turned out.

A big seller to us on this POR stuff is that a guy we met at a Daytona show has been using it for many years and swears by it. Also, when I first sprayed the frame, I used a paper funnel to fill my gun. Now that the paint in this funnel is dried, we can krinkle it in a ball and it pops back to the same shape with no chipping, peeling or cracking. Never seen anything like it.

Also, after I POR the inner fenders, I plan on spraying a rubberized sealer over it just for the noise factor.

 

You can spray epoxy primer over a tacky coat of POR-15 and it will adhere allowing you to top coat with anything that will work with the epoxy primer.

Charles

 

Hey Darkman, I saw your name was Charles, so i am betting that you are the same guy i have seen on all of the Y-block pages. I am new to this site as i have recently acquired a low mileage 79' f100. You would know me as the crazy Hilborn buyer from e-bay. or the guy trying to supercharge a 6 deuce. About that rhino liner, I have used it on many a street rod under fenders and so forth to reduce star cracks. It works great, but it does add quite a bit of weight to the panel, if that is a concern. I would not recommend it on suspension parts. Although it is durable, it can cuase considerable problems when assembling the components. i also painted over some rhino lining at a customers request. After it was thoroughly cured, i scuffed it with a red 3-m scotch bright and painted over it with base clear. It has been on the car(a 37 ford) for nearly 2 years with no sign of peeling. i personally did not care for the appearance, but the owner of the car liked it. see ya ***** aka fomoco1 on this page

 

Guilty as charged,
Darkman aka Darkman270 aka Charles aka Charles in Pensacola

Looks like my double life is coming to an end. Soon everyone will know the secret. If anyone can guess what "270" signifies and how it relates to Darkman I'll admit it. Yeah I bet someone thought I was going to offer a $5 reward. Nope I'll just admit it that's all!!!

***** you have found a tremendous source of information for your truck. The Y-block columns are great But there is limited knowledge about trucks there. I'm actually in about 7 forums under one or more alias names. There is a neat user gallery here that I encourage you to participate in. Work in progress photos are welcome and I enjoy seeing them.

I am set on using the POR-15. I think that it will take care of everything I need to do. I can buy it locally so I don't have any shipping and handling charges to deal with. The place I buy from actually uses the product so I have expert advice with just a phone call.

Thanks Charles

 

For my truck I was considering use of a spray on bed liner for sound dampening purposes until a buddy of mine had his bedliner catch on fire. Now, I wouldn't put anything that likes to burn all over the underside of my truck. My vote would be for the POR-15.

 

I don't want to sound like an ad for Por-15 but it's worthy of anyones consideration as undercoating and possibly even a bedliner.
A friend of mine restores auto's for a living and has a auto upholstery shop. He has pictures of the rust buckets that have come in out of the salvage yards that he's turned into gems. He uses por15 alot and especially recommends their gas tank sealant. He's done anything from his neighbors old '82 Chevy truck to rare (only 3 known to exist) type stuff and has been in the buz for about 20 years. I'm getting ready to use some on my headers and floorboards in the '87.
TonyG

 

About the sorce and prevention of rust, No matter what you do, all things will break down to their premanufactured state. I.E. Iron breaks down into rust, so cars will always rust, you just have to prevent oxygen from getting to the part to prevent the rust. Water is just a activator for rust to quicken its process. Example... If you travel to a place where there is alot of moisture (south east) all cars are rusting that are in a parts/junk yard. However if you travel to some of the western dry states, most of the cars almost have no rust on them. So back to the original question, what does more damage to an undercarage.... I think water does, Rock is not usually harder than steel, so I dont think that rocks are a problem, just a precived problem.
Randy - Just another Ford Lover