painting the trunk, any advice?

[moonrunner1972]

I am looking for some advice on repainting the trunk on my 1973 Dodge Polara. My plan thusfar is to strip off all of the old paint and surface rust, then prime, seal and paint it using whatever color I can to match the original gray color. The Eastwood Company sells a 'complete' kit that, according to their advertisment includes the following items:

Marine Clean Quart
Power Mesh Reinforcing Fabric
POR-15 Silver & Black Pints
POR-15 Solvent 8 ounces
Prep & Ready 8 Ounces
POR Epoxy Putty
Chassis Coat Black Pint
Brushes, latex gloves, safety mask, dispensing scoop and detailed instructions

Right away I can see that the color I want is not included in the kit however I recall someone out there sells the correct shade. Still, I have a few questions that I would like to put to the readers of this forum.

My questions are as follows:

Has anyone used this kit before?
If so, what were the results?
Would it be better to do it another way?
What are your thoughts of having the trunk rhino lined?
Would anyone have a lead on where to by new body plugs for the trunk?

As always, thanks for the advice.

:yourock:

 

[saylor]

POR15 is fun stuff. ive used it in a rusty gas tank, and with the fiberglass mesh to cover up a floorboard hole. and to paint a swaybar. spill it on your driveway and it will last for years!

 

[polara71]

This is what you are trying to achieve, isnt it................Minus the rubber mat peeling off.

 

[Big_John]

I've used POR15 quite a bit with good results. I've also used it with fibreglass cloth instead of resin. That worked well too. You do have to follow the directions to the letter and use thin coats. It works best over nasty rusty metal. Use gloves... that stuff does not come off your skin once it dries and put a piece of plastic wrap under the lid to seal the can. If you don't use the plastic... you'll never get the can open again.

How bad is your trunk? Does it have rust holes? If it it's not that rusty, I'd wire brush it, paint it with Rustoleam rust converter primer and coat it with trunk spatter paint or bed liner. Probably 1/3 the cost and good results.

 

[moonrunner1972]

Thanks for the quick feedback. I will post a picture tomorrow. For now, there is some rust on the passenger side where one of the body plugs became melted. The other side looks to be in pretty good shape. I plan on removing what's left of the old mat however I do not believe there are any spots that have rusted thru.

 

[Red63440]

This is what you are trying to achieve, isnt it................Minus the rubber mat peeling off.
View attachment 12826

Nah, maybe this..trunk mats are one of the biggest causes of rust forming on the trunk floor, they trap condensation

 

[polara71]

Well Red I showed a 73 Polara trunk which is what Jimmy was looking for but a clean convertible trunk pan will trump your awesome hardtop pan every time.

 

[Red63440]

Well Red I showed a 73 Polara trunk which is what Jimmy was looking for but a clean convertible trunk pan will trump your awesome hardtop pan every time.View attachment 12829View attachment 12830

Sorry, I only have one car...no verts here!

 

[polara71]

Dont be sorry, I worship your Monaco

 

[Red63440]

Dont be sorry, I worship your Monaco

I will have my collar on and a collection plate at Carlisle my son...

 

[polara71]

Thats good, Mopar is my religion and Carlisle is my place of worship ............

 

[Red63440]

Thats good, Mopar is my religion and Carlisle is my place of worship ............

Worship early, I need money for parts...

 

[tbm3fan]

Another 73 Polara trunk. I only had to touch up a few locations with some of my white paint and my grey splatter trunk paint. That paint is Duplicolor DM100 Gray & White speckled finish. Almost an exact match. Certainly the closest you are going to get. Afterwards I covered the splatter paint with Eastwood's satin clear.

 

[bluefury361]

Trunk refinish

I'm not that keen on por15.... Scrape...wire brush and remove any loose rust and treat it with a good rust converter, (google it).
Then primer and paint the desired color. Dupli color offers a good "spatter" trunk paint. You'll need about 6 cans to cover a C body trunk.

 

[moonrunner1972]

Gentlemen,

I am thankful for the amount of responses. At this point I am inclined to use the methods previously described. I figure it should take a few days to complete the project. Since the area is so large then I am planning on doing it in sections. I am worried about leaving the bare metal exposed over night. The humidity here in NWFL is insane.

 

[1970cat]

i didn't have good luck with the rustoleum rust converter. i picked up some used floor pans, wire wheeled the surface rust, and sprayed them with converter per the directions. i left them in my dry, low humidity basement over the winter and about 25% of the surface rust came back through.

 

[Big_John]

i didn't have good luck with the rustoleum rust converter. i picked up some used floor pans, wire wheeled the surface rust, and sprayed them with converter per the directions. i left them in my dry, low humidity basement over the winter and about 25% of the surface rust came back through.

I've had real good luck with it. I painted some stuff that sat out all winter with no problems. Real Syracuse winter!

 

[1970cat]

I've had real good luck with it. I painted some stuff that sat out all winter with no problems. Real Syracuse winter!

must be the climate, i'm about an hour east of you

 

[Big_John]

must be the climate, i'm about an hour east of you

Utica area?

 

[1970cat]

richfield springs. just nortrh of cooperstown