Need expert advice - cleaning and prep of trunk and interior

[worzella]

Not a real glamorous topic, but I want to tackle a reasonable project and decided to:

o Clean my trunk bay

o Remove as much rust as possible

o POR-15 as needed and/or other sealant

o Paint it a nice "trunk" color

But I am stuck even on step one. It has surface rust, lots of greasy grime and just plain old dusty dirt and some gas leakage due to a bad sender seal.

Does anyone have simple advice on how to start? I am bright enough to know that using soap and water for the dust/dirt probably isn't even a good idea because that may lead to just more rust.... and water and petro chemicals don't mix anyway.

So I expect I'll vacuum the crap out of it and then????

Seems to me I want to scrub it down good before applying any POR-15 or other "sealants", but what should I scrub it with?

Sorry for the total newbie question.. but that is what I am at this point. If anybody has a good "procedure" to share about just general, initial cleanup of interior spaces, I'd appreciate it.

[esty]

remove everything...hose it with a good cleaner...pressure wash it

[danjrusdug]

remove everything...hose it with a good cleaner...pressure wash it

If I didn't know better, I would think that Esty writes those "... for Dummy" books. She is always straight to the point, very factual, and usually on target.

I concur with her. Clean it out. If it is unusually greasy, use some Simple Green sprayed on the grime, and then use some water pressure to get it off. If there is any surface rust, use a wire brush if needed to remove it, hose it off again, let it dry, and use POR 15 to seal it. Obviously if the rust is deeper, then you've got other issues to deal with.

After I cleaned my trunk and washed off the dirt & dust, I sprayed some of the rattle can sound deadener/sealant in my trunk and then used some rattle can spray of Atlantik blue from paintscratch.com to finish mine off. Looks good as new.

Hope that helps.

Doug

'73 tii Atlantik

[3elements]

Thanks for the paintscratch.com reference. I hadn't heard of them.

How many cans did you need? And was there any left over to tackle the engine compartment if you felt like it?

[danjrusdug]

Thanks for the paintscratch.com reference. I hadn't heard of them.

How many cans did you need? And was there any left over to tackle the engine compartment if you felt like it?

I actually bought it for the engine compartment. I bought one can. It not only covered that but did the majority of the trunk as well. You will need two cans to get complete coverage for both areas.

Doug

'73 tii Atlantik

[3elements]

Shiny, thanks!

[H_Krix]

Shiny, thanks!

Firefly?

I went the... more intense route:

I left mine black. Matched my black engine bay, and you have to scuff down POR15 to paint over it if you don't paint it while its still drying. I didn't really feel like doing that though, and this stuff isn't going anywhere.

I don't recommend doing this unless you're certifiably insane. However, it is an EXCELLENT way to find out if your trunk has any rust.