'03 Tahoe floor pan rust/rot?

[James417]

Hello all I have a 2003 Chevy Tahoe that's been sitting for over 2 years with leaks. Well long story short I got the Tahoe and stopped the leaks and the passenger floor pan had. Big rot hole and the drivers side pan rusted and has peeling chipping paint. So at the time already waiting 6 months for an title I had no clue whether or not I was actually gonna get it on the road. Thought it was gonna be an around the yard beater or parts truck. So I removed the seats and wire brushed and knocked out all of the rust and rot I could and sprayed rust prevention and undercoat on the drivers side and got a new floor pan and my dad helped me do a very rigged install on the passenger side. I literally just wire brushed and knocked out the rot and rust and sprayed rust prevention and undercoat and left the old pan with rust and rot in and dropped the new one in on top and screwed it in with sheet metal screws sealed it with silicone and left it alone. To say the least it looks atrocious and is still holding and hasn't rusted much more but I have an feeling its gonna rust and rot more eventually. Sense I want to put money into it I feel I should take care of this for once and for all. Any advice? Maybe get everything down to are metal by sanding and grinding or phosphoric acid and then use por 15 or something? I do not have a welder nor do I know anyone with one around me but should I remove new pan on passenger side and cut out old one and have the he one properly installed at shop? Anyways thanks for any advice in advance. BTW if you want images or the condition I can post some. Link to my album with pics:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87811337@N02/albums/72157656986853593


EDIT: Other thread I started for floor pans in in the 2015 forum I am sorry about this confusion. Please delete that thread for me.

 

[Red Rider]

If it is going to be under the carpet, I would not worry about it. Keep an eye on it, but if you got rid of the rust, and painted, you should be golden.

If this was an antique, i would say, sure.. cut it out, weld in new section. These trucks rust all over. The rust proofing is terrible.

 

[James417]

The rust is still there though. I'm gonna put a link to my album where I have pics. I'm just trying to find what to use to stop the rust and under coat it with.

 

[Red Rider]

Pictures would help to see what you are dealing with. Well, i would get rid of the worst. Rust is like cancer. If ignored, it keeps growing and eating away the metal. You need to slow it down. People often ignore it but that is bid mistake. Scrape off as soon as you see it on your truck. If you don't have time to deal with it, a nail polish after you scrapped will hold it back a while, if it is a small area. Whatever you do, don't just paint over it and hope it will stop. Once it begins flaking, it progressively gets worse since now it acts like a sponge and water is held inside the flaking rust.

Use a grinder with a wire wheel. Use the wire wheel with the bigger wire, not the thinner one. Use eye and good clothing as those bristles go flying off. Grind down to bare metal. Then spray with a rustoleum rusty metal primer and paint, both sides. Then screw down your metal patch.

If you have big areas, you can blast with media (black beauty or soda). Don't use sand. And use a really good respirator and cover yourself completely.

Once rust is exposed, don't delay painting. Get primer and paint on ASAP, especially if you are in a really humid area.

 

[James417]

Here's the pictures
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87811337@N02/albums/72157656986853593

Thank you for the information. I'm gonna do my best to get this done asap. I don't know if I can do any painting at all sense the temps around me are in the 60s and low 70s now and dropping for winter. And I dont have anywhere like a garage to work. Should I wait until spring?

 

[Red Rider]

I looked at the pictures... its bad. You need a new truck. I will give you $500 bucks for it...

Just kidding. I see nothing there of real concern. On the inside, as long as it does not keep getting wet, it should not get too much worse. You can scratch it and touch it up with paint brush.

On the bottom, pretty typical of Chevy's crappy paint work. There are two options, you can clean and paint, or you can do what they do up north, spray it with oil and other preservatives. I don't know exactly what they use but treatment usually needs to be done every year or so. The treatment does same thing as paint... prevents rust from getting air and moisture.

The problem with these trucks is that there is a CRAP LOAD of stuff on the bottom making it really difficult to do work down there.

 

[James417]

Lol thankfully it isn't that bad but its enough. Damn NY for its awful winters. Anyway I know what your saying though. The underside of these trucks are near impossible to completely clean and paint properly. Thanks for all the info though. I'm gonna try to clean everything up as much as I can and use por 15 or primer and base coat.

 

[Red Rider]

I think POR is overkill. It is very expensive product. But if you plan to keep for a very long time, go for it. There are cheaper versions of it out there like rust bullet. and all paint vendors have their version of it.

Now, i don't know what they use up in NY to salt roads, but you can get a product to get that crap off after the winter. Made by Flitz.

http://www.amazon.com/Flitz-MG-0121...9505&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=clean+flitz+winter

But it is pain to get on. The new stuff, magnesium chloride starts destroying your car slightly above freezing, whereas the old salt would do so way above freezing. Plus the new stuff sticks to your car and gets into thigh spots. Nasty stuff.