Floor restoration complete (truck bed coating)

[yieldsign2]

I have been on a year or two project of suspension, underbody, engine bay, etc restoration to make my truck rugged enough to a.) not rust away and b.) be able to take a beating / flooding off roading.

Interior was one of the small parts of the project. Originally when I received the truck, there were no floors to the point that the door pillars were not connected to anything at the bottom and could swing freely. Originally we patched the floor up with some steel and fiberglass, which worked fine for a couple years but was continuing to rust away since no good coating of it was done and it was a quick hack job.

I wanted to go all out on it and get it all done while the truck is off the road.

As you can see in pictures everything was rusty and the tire well had rusted through soyou could drop a softball out of it, and the rear seat belt mounts were pulling through the fender well.

Also a side part of the project is I wanted to be able to sink the vehicle at least several inches of water in the interior without any electrical issues. I have moved all wires and brackets from the driver floor board (all relays etc) into the dash and rewired the seat motor wires to be the only wires below the seats and all electrical taped to prevent moisture. On the other side , all relays willl be moved in the dash and the ECU up on the upper passenger side, side firewall just in front of the door pillar.

After repairing any rust, holes or otherwise with sheet steel and a topcoat of fiberglass to protect from moisture and to seal out water from below, 3-4 coats of Dupont truck bedlining was added to the entire floor, inside of the firewalls and up the inner fenders in the rear as you see.

Never thought I would see an interior of a rangie so perfect.

All interior will be going back in over this, but I should be good for a few years on the rust!

Before:

[yieldsign2]

After:

[Jupiter Rover]

Nicely done! Now you can just hose out all the dirt and muck!

[hermanpj]

Devon, it looks really good. Looks like you did well with the rust repairs as well! Did you weld in repairs? I pop-riveted mine.

Anyway... your before photos gave me flashbacks! I bet you are glad its over! Congrats - it looks great.

Pat

[yieldsign2]

Well what I did for the most part for the repairs was cut all rust away until I was back to sturdy metal, which in many cases was a good distance... then cut plates to cover a few inches around the hole at least, rust treated and used undercoating on all the areas and both sides of the steel plate, and then screwed the metal in with self tapping sheet screws, one screw every few inches around the borders and where possible in the middle. Then I usually fiberglassed over the entire area so that rust won't start and it adds rigidity and durability as well as seals out water.

The area for the rear seatbelt mounts I went even further. I did the same size plate underneath in the wheel well, so that my two plates sandwich the fender and the block that mounts the seatbelt nut is in between as well.. screwed and bolted with fender nuts through everythihng. I believe it is all stronger than the original now actually.

I've sunk the truck before and killed the ecu, had to be towed home and ended up with tons more rust eventually from wet carpets. Now it shouldn't die until you fill the cylinders with water, and I can get home and pull the carpets and hose the truck out. Also water shouldn't come in as fast so hopefully I'll get towed out before I get too m uch in!