Bed leaking

[SoFloG]

Upon inspection of my newly acquired 84 El Camino, I noticed after a heavy rain that the floors were wet. We tracked it down to tiny leaks in the bed below the rear window along the seam on either side where the vertical seams meet the bed. The driver side had a bit of flex seal on it and the passenger nothing.

I want to seal it correctly so I figured sand down, apply a bead over the factory bead and probably shoot some bedliner on the whole bed.

Any suggestions on this repair? Seam sealer, polyurethane? Thanks

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

First you must remove any old sealant, old paint, and any rust. After the seam is cleaned it should be painted with epoxy primer. Next you will want to use either urethane or epoxy seam sealer from an auto body supply retailer. The seam sealer the auto chain stores sell is junk as is the rest of the auto body supplies they sell. The sealer should be topcoated with epoxy or urethane paint, then bedliner if you wish. The good stuff isn't cheap.

 

[SoFloG]

It is very minute now and the interior and floors are in excellent shape, so I want to remedy the situation before it gets bad. I really need to get the rusted out 87 out of my carport and get this one under it, but I can't do that just yet.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Remove the flex seal and any other old sealant and reseal with good sealant and paint. The seams appear to be pretty clean

 

[SoFloG]

Any recommendations on sealer?

 

[57 Handyman]

Go to your local auto body repair supply store and ask which they recommend. As for your bed leaking, the areas you capture in your pictures are the most common areas but one place to look is the lower edge along the rear window. Water always finds the lowest entry point which are the seams. Before you do the work described by prior responders, remove the rear window trim and check for old seals/sealer at the base of the window.

Lastly, the best way to locate water leaks is to start at the low points and SLOWLY apply water to those areas. Be sure to have someone inside the cab using a flashlight to look for the first signs of water entry. Good luck! This takes a lot of patience!!

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

3M makes a 1K urethane seam sealer in regular caulk gun tubes which is better than typical sealers in most stores. Evercoat sells 2 part epoxy seam sealers in tubes inmtheir Maxim line that fits in regular caulk guns but requires a power caulk gun due to the mixing tip. I like Evercoat's Maxim OEM bead epoxy seam sealer but its not cheap.

 

[SoFloG]

Thanks guys. I'm familiar with the 3m 1k. The previous owner removed the rear window trim, and while I haven't leak tested it, it looks in good shape. The bed I think was only leaking because it was parked on an angle nose down and a pool had formed. I reversed the parking and no more residual water inside. It's raining in the forecast for the next week so I'm going to have to wait for everything to dry up and get this car under my carport before I can even do some accurate leak testing.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

I like Evercoat's Maxim OEM bead epoxy seam sealer but its not cheap.

I like almost everything they make, and I swear I have vague memories of Rage Gold being under $50...... 20 years ago. Quality isn't cheap, especially these days. But if you've got the money to spend on it the products available today are unbelievable- having a fat wallet can trim a lot of the bodywork time. Hell, you can skip entire steps.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

I like almost everything they make, and I swear I have vague memories of Rage Gold being under $50...... 20 years ago. Quality isn't cheap, especially these days. But if you've got the money to spend on it the products available today are unbelievable- having a fat wallet can trim a lot of the bodywork time. Hell, you can skip entire steps.

I remember Evercoat products being cheaper too. Prices for everything are going up sad to say.