Trunk Pan Advice (Pics)

[69fourspd]

I am hoping for some advice.  I am a novice working to get my 69 a nice driver.  The trunk pan has some deep scale and pinholes in the center of the pan.  See Pics.

My questions are:

1. Would you not remove the pan and coat with rust encapsulator, even if a new pan was available to you with out any cost?
2. Should I replace the whole thing, or just cut the center section.  This would leave all the spot welds in tact on the inner fenders, trunk extensions, real valence.... and like I said I am a novice and this is my first time.  69hemi did something similar to this on his site and looks great. 
3. If I cut out the pan, what would be a good weldable primer to lay down on the underside of the pan and the frame to prevent rust from growing?

I appreciate any help or tips you can give me. 

[8WHEELER]

I just went through the same situation a month ago on my wife's charger. Her trunk was in worse shape than
yours, and the body man did not want or think it needed to be replaced. But her car will only be going to car
shows so I talked him into putting in a hole new pan, I mean you could put your small finger through it in two spots.

But as a daily driver, I would tend to do a little scraping of the surface rust, seal it with a good primer and replace it
when you go through the hole car for show, it is a lot of work.

Dan

[69fourspd]

Thanks for the reply Dan.  I guess my problem with the pitting and rust is there is none on any other pan on the car. Seems like this would be a good time to replace instead of after I have an expensive paint job done. 

[The Ghoul]

Do you plan on having the trunk bare like that when the car is done?
If you do Id say you might think about it.. but if your a novice the end result might not be much better than what you have there, and lets face it body shops will bend you over on a job like this...
I say get your self some por-15 (I love that stuff) and have at it. It will be tough as nails and you will not see rust any more..... that and you dont have to spray it or any thing... just brush it on.
here is the cardomain page of when I did the under body of my car.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/665027/4
I documented things pritty well so its easy to see what youd be getting into.
so far its been a year and i havent noticed any lifting of the paint.

[69fourspd]

The trunk will not be bare.  I am painting the trunk the body color - Etch or encapsulater(depending on replaced or not), epoxy, high build primer, base/clear. Also, thanks for the link!

[The Ghoul]

The trunk will not be bare.  I am painting the trunk the body color - Etch or encapsulater(depending on replaced or not), epoxy, high build primer, base/clear. Also, thanks for the link!

no prob bob,
If you use the por-15 you have to spray a couple mist coats of primer on it as its driying if you want to paint it.
I was under the car today and it still looks like the day I did it 

[JimShine]

Por15 actually has a cool trunk pan reconditioning kit. I am going to try it on my Coronet.

[mopar_madman]

if there are no holes and the panel is sound, just pitted I would leave it in, My road runner is like that I'm going to just clean up the rust, use a metal prep to kill any existing rust then coat with epoxy and a high build primer to fill the pits, maybe some glaze in any bad areas. I hate to cut out sound original metal if not needed. Plus you said its just a driver as long a its structurally sound You should be good. Also check out the project Charger book where he sections a portion of his trunk rather then cut it all out.

[mopar_madman]

forgot to add, the underside I would use a por 15 type product for that, then paint or undercoat.

[bull]

Depends on what you want to do with the car. Show car or fancy driver? Mine looks similar but not as bad and I'm going to treat it as is. You might consider having it blasted just to see how weak it really is. I thought mine was completely solid, just pitted, but when they blasted it a few pinholes showed up.

[The Ghoul]

Por15 actually has a cool trunk pan reconditioning kit. I am going to try it on my Coronet.

thats slick.
if you notice on the pics I linked to I am wearing gloves and a resprator... I would hightly recomend at least that.. goggles are a must when its above your head..... I am an idiot for not wearing them... but oh well.
That stuff has some nasty fumes so you need good ventelation. and it willl stain your skin for about a month if you get it on you so laytex gloves are a big deal. ..
also you will prolly distroy the can getting it open so make sure to go down to the hardwear store and get your self some empty paint cans.
This stuff is so thick that it will fill in some of those pinsized holes by its self...
that trunk kit looks like the way to go if you decide not to replace it.
The metal replacement is fun to learn but a PITA where ever avoidable. I say if its rusty but still solid hit it up with that trunk kit and call it a day.

[bull]

My body guy told me that POR 15 is good stuff unless you want to paint over it.

[69fourspd]

Here are a few pics of the floor after I blasted it.  There are a few more holes than I originally saw.  Although, the rest of the trunk pan is almost mint! I will check into the POR 15 trunk kit. 

[B5 Charger]

I will be the minority here and say that replacing the trunk pan is possible for a novice.  I had never done sheet metal replacement before and never used a welder in my life and I pulled it off.  My trunk floor looked like yours when I started but my Charger is going to be a show and fair weather driver so I went full tilt at attacking the rust.  I will agree that just treating and leaving it would be much easier.  Replacing the sheet metal is expensive, time consuming and a general PITA.  Good luck!

[terrible one]

I think that if you didn't mind you could definitly get away with the POR15 kit.

[JimShine]

My body guy told me that POR 15 is good stuff unless you want to paint over it.

Yeah, you need to scuff it or use their "tie coat" product.

Get the Por15 catalog, they offer all kinds of stuff I never heard of. My favorite product of thiers is "Marine Clean" It seems like a regular Fantastic type cleaner, but works very well. No need to scrub parts, the dirt just falls off.

[4402tuff4u]

replace it....do it right the first time. Coating it is just a band-aid to the problem.

[dodge freak]

True replacing the floor is the best way and will last the longest 20-30 more years. But how much is the car worth and how long do you are you going to keep it, and how rich are you? Look how they make these new cars now, some cars like the corvette don't even have steel , expect the frame and a few more parts, might even be aluminum now I think. And people pay $40,000 for them  For myself I not sure if I would even want to drive that car, would would happen if it hit a SUV or even a old dodge ha ha. It comes down to what YOU think is best .  You can coat it or replace the metal either way it will be fine this year and next, but replacing it would make it worth more and last much much longer.

[69fourspd]

Well, after a lot of thought and consideration I have started cutting out the trunk floor.  It is a lot of work, but I would like to do the long term replacement since I do not see selling my car in the near future.  I will be posting pics of my progress.

[BigBlockSam]

if my trunk looked like yours , i would use the por 15 trunk kit. mine was alot worse. you say you want to do it correct. that means finding all the welds and drilling them out. then replacing panels. i just finished one. theres alot of welds and it's a bitch. then when you get that for in, why not replace all the parts that are only a little gone. i ended up replacing most of the back of the car. save your self the trouble . it'll look good. put a nice mat back there Rene