Alright, I, like alot of people with these trucks have the rust under their fuel doors from what ive seen and heard is the fuel neck filler plastic vibrating and rubbing, wearing throught the paint allowing water and fuel drips in and getting under the paint.

Well i keep touching up my spots but i have to do it twice a year and it just keeps getting worse, so i decided to go a bit further and clean it, touch it up, and protect it. This is a low $ job. Its not perfect but it is definately better than rust and from a couple feet back you can barely notice it, and hopefully this will be the last time i have to touch it up.

You can do this for under $50, and about 2 hours of time.

I bought a roll of clear stick on protectant strip from Summit.

Prostripe T9020 - Sharpline Trimbrite Body Guard Strip Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com



Then i bought a tiny bottle of touch up paint that closely matches my paint and a bottle of primer.



I used a angle die grinder with a scotch pad on it to clean the metal and remove the paint, but any sander will do, or just sandpaper.



I then removed the plastic filler around the fuel neck. Remove the three screws inside and the plastic filler just snaps into the body. If you look in the top of the filler you will see two tabs that you can pry out with a screw driver and pull past the body. The tabs on the bottom edge are not visible but can be felt from behind the fender and use a small screw driver to push up while pulling the filler out. It will pop past the body and then you have to sort of twist and pull it to where it will slip past the body. The first time it did this it was not easy.

My rust doesnt look that bad but there is more under the paint.



Once plastic filler out i used the "whizzer wheel" (the scotch pad on the die grinder) and took off paint just past the edge of the rust.



I then used the brush on primer to cover all the exposed metal and cover the edge of where i stopped cleaning. I also had some rub through up around the left edge.



I let that dry pretty good (and it dries fast) and hit it real quick and light with some 600 grit sandpaper. I then used the touch up red paint to carefully brush over the fixed area. This touch up paint dries fast and gets gummy if you try to go back over a spot next to where you are brushing, so its best to do long strokes and fast. It is also thin while applying so watch for runs.



My paint doesnt match perfectly but it is close. Which red it hard to match to begin with. And you have to remember this is a 6 year old truck fading and slight discoloring may have occured. This slight mismatch is fine with me. Other colors will probably match better. I then let that dry well.

I then cut a square peice of the clear stick on protector plastic so that it was big enough to cover the entire area plus up into the hole for the fuel neck in the body. What i did is first round the bottom edge of the plastic so when washing the truck you dont catch the sharp points and peel the plastic off. First stick on the protectant plastic on the flat of the body panel. Then i took a heat gun and warmed up the plastic so it was very pliable and worked it in the indent in the body when the filler plastic pops in. Do this slowly so you dont get bubbles or wrinkles and it sticks well. Now you have extra sticking up. I trimmed in a curve to match the opening in the body for the fill neck, about 1/2" extra. I then used the heat gun to warm up the overhang again and then wrapped it over the lip of the body and down on the inside of the fender. This will, I hope, protect everything i cleaned and fixed from water and the filler neck from vibrating and rubbing on the paint. I didnt take a picture of this process but tried to draw a picture.



Here is the protectant cover completely put on, its sort of hard to see but you can see the outling of it.



You can see that i warmed up the plastic and formed it around the curvature and recess of the body panel then down the inside the fender.

Now with the clear plastic providing a spacer on the bottom side of the opening from the filler neck rubbing i took a small strip of the plastic protector and wrapped it around the top flange of the filler neck that touches the body, this gives a top and bottom even protection. It also make the filler neck snap in tighter to eliminate vibration.



I then reinstalled the filler plastic in the hole trying to be careful not to rip or rub the protector you put on and make sure it snaps in completely. Resinstall the three screws that attach the filler neck to the filler plastic.



It might not match perfect, the paint might not be perfectly smooth. But it does look alot better, protected, alot cheaper than getting the fender painted. Im happy with mine, and while standing back from the truck its barely noticeable.



I hope this helps alot of people and gives an better alternative from just touching up or repainting the bed.

 

looks good.

 

Thought i might bring this back right before winter in case anyone needs to touch up their gas doors before winter hit

 

hey...great post. i have same prob and sanding and paint doesnt last...noticed u did this a while ago...did it last? thanks

 

It lasted for at least another year before I got rid of the truck.

 

You can get the exact factory match touch up paint at a dealership using your paint code. Of course XJ already mentioned the fact that on an older truck there will be fading, so even though it matches the color the vehicle was it may not exactly match the color it is.