What Should I seal this floorpan with?

Nov 4, 2012
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I'm going to prime this pan tomorrow, just want to verify a couple things: are mineral spirits and/or acetone good enough cleaners to prep the surface? And do I need to allow the primer to fully cure before laying down the seam sealer? How long should I wait to slam the carpet back in?
These are all general guidelines so take them with a grain of salt. The TDS is where you'll find exact answers from the manufacturer to these questions.

Lacquer thinner or reducer works in a pinch for wax and grease remover. Avoid acetone.

If you let the primer fully cure before applying the seam sealer, you'll need to scuff it for the seam sealer to adhere properly. That's probably the safest way to go about seam sealing over primer.

I would look at full cure time according to the paint sheet and wait at least that long before putting the carpet back. If you can't find that information, I'd probably wait 24 hours.
 
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Supercharged111

Comic Book Super Hero
Oct 25, 2019
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Well lookie there.


So 30-60 minutes before topcoat, and if you wait 24 hours need to scuff prior to putting anything on top. So does that mean it's OK to put seam sealer in after 30-60 minutes? Or is it a best practice to wait 24 hours, scuff, and apply the sealer like you mentioned above? Also, I totally forgot I had wax and grease remover, so problem solved there.
 
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Supercharged111

Comic Book Super Hero
Oct 25, 2019
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Colorado Springs, CO
Sitting here thinking about this as it continues to rain outside. If I were to put the seam sealer on after 60 minutes, it would be no different to the seam sealer than if I waited 24 hours and just put it down as the surface that it adheres to is already dry. But at 60 minutes I can't yet scuff it, so wait 24 hours, scuff, apply must be the way to go.
 
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Supercharged111

Comic Book Super Hero
Oct 25, 2019
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Colorado Springs, CO
So why haven't I sealed this yet? Been dragging my feet begrudgingly addressing the other areas that needed replaced. I used floorpan scraps for them. First this bit that holds the weather seal, both sides had some rust where the 2 ends come together. Driver's side was a bit worse. Once I cut back the seam sealer, how it went together became more clear.

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Pretty tough not to blow through in a couple spots here. Next I finally admitted I was never going to be happy priming and sealing this seam on the passenger's side.

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No amount of rust mort was going to get this satisfactory. Outside there was a downward facing sandwich of panels, all brown all the way through.

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So I committed and threw myself into the fire. I did not butt weld the repair here as I was not about to replicate the seam I chopped out, but I did weld both ends of it.

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The outside tolerated the heat really well and I just kept laying bead into the gaps until they were plugged. I thought this was odd seeing how I didn't blow through or anything. I got it when welding from the inside too, but my path from out to in was plugged as I did it last.

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Had to remove the wheel and inner fender to gain access to both sides. Looks like that gets me good access to the inevitable broken exhaust manifold stud on the 454 as well. Too bad I'm not touching that this go around. I've opened Pandora's box wide enough as it is.
 
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