patch panel prep.

[49studebaker]

This forum has anwsered lots of questions, but even after purchasing EBfabman's dvd's (very cool by the way), I still have questions. Must be beginer 101 I guess. Once a patch panel is welded in, and it is welded to a portion of floor that is in very good shape but has surface rust, do you por 15, rust encapsulate, or just primer the whole thing? Eastwood rust encapsulator leads you to believe it sticks to rust better than good metal. Of course your new patch panel is good metal but the adjoining floor isn't. Would one use weld-on primer for the rockers (front to back rockers) when welding in spot welds. It seems like a dumb question, but it would be a shame to completely rebuild a cab, only to have rust start where poor prep. work was done. I think I figured out on my own, as I replace the fender, you need to scuff them up and spray top coat on them. If anyone can help. talk slow, be patient, and realize I can't read between the lines as this in my first. I did put 80 hours of work into my sons 91 s-10, filled holes in the cab, sanded, primered and painted at a buddies house, but I'm not sure it was done right.
Just had a thought, should be another thread but go figure. My son wanted that exact S-10, it didn't actually exist. We built it out of three trucks. It now has a roll pan, cowl induction hood, all black, Z-28 16" wheels. By this summer, he will be a college graduate, Electrical Engineer. My point is.....Not older or just blue collar workers like me into this stuff.

[ebfabman]

Hey 49, thank you. Here's what I would do. Clean everything up with 50 grit on a wheel or even as fine as 80 grit on a DA, even can use a wire wheel. Just get it as clean as you can. Then epoxy prime. If you are not ready to topcoat, spray a sandable primer/surfacer over the epoxy primer. When you're ready to topcoat, lightly sand (320 grit) the primer/surfacer and topcoat.

[Sweet72]

I wouldn't paint over rust with anything. I believe the rust will come back sooner or later. 50 grit on a wheel? ebfabman, what type of wheel? Angle grinder with sanding disc? Flap wheel?

[ebfabman]

Either will work fine to remove surface oxidation. Its not important what you use just get to clean metal b/4 using any type of coating.

[4x4Poet]

After removing as much of the rust as possible, you could treat the remaining rust in the pits of the metal with zinc phosphate to convert the rust to zinc oxide. Then coat. That would prevent more creep back.

As for the metal that will be left inside after welding, you could paint it and just let whatever will burn off do so, but be sure no fuming is going on for fire safety. There are coatings in Eastwood's catalog that claim to be good for weld thru apps. Use a gas mask when welding with paint on the backside.

[rage'nrat638]

por-15 goes right ovre rust...works great too..
little hard to get off the human body