Body Repair Sequence of Operations

[Chilly]

Guys,

A few years ago I did a frame-off of my CJ5 , did everything except the bodywork. Now it's time to take it back off and make some repairs. The body needs some isolated patch work and shoring up of rotted mount points.

Seems like some people strip and prime it before doing any patch work. Then they do weld repairs and re-prime. Is that the generally accepted sequence of operations? The underside is heavily encrusted by decade-old undercoating, by the way.

Thanks,
Chilly

 

[0822]

I would strip all of the old paint and undercoating off first then prime everything. This way the tub won't start to rust before you have everything patched.

 

[Les]

Yes, get it all stripped and remove all the undercoating.....then, you can either prime it, or chemically treat the metal with something like Ospho, to inhibit the corrosion from forming . Once down to bare metal, and depending on the conditions in the area where you are working, rust can form very quickly, and then it just becomes even more work...good luck with the project.

 

[PaRenegade]

I'm currently doing the body part of my frame off and the first thing I did after removing the body was to cut out any obvious non repairable cancer. Just the jagged edged stuff. Then I sandblasted the whole bottom side. At that point it's clear what needs patched. I'm doing all my patching and welding now. Then I will sand or strip off any remaining paint, some of the interior will just get roughed up but all the floor will get taken to bare metal. Then I'll wash and etch the entire thing with Marine Clean and Metal Ready, followed by a few days to thoroughly dry. Then it will get a brushed coat of POR-15 at any and all seams and joints, nooks and crannies. Then seam sealer at those places, then the entire bottom and exterior will get sprayed with 2 coats of POR and a coat of TieCoat primer. Then I'll start my bodywork with filler and so on.

I'm not worried about flash rust as POR doesn't mind it, but I didn't want to wash and etch the body, then spend months working on repairing it only to have to wash and etch it again before any paint is sprayed.

The exception is that any repair that will close off space, such as like the B pillar's behind the doors, or the inside of the inboard and outboard floor supports is getting sprayed with Eastwood's Internal Frame paint and it's 18" flexible hose.

You can see my progress so far on the body:
30th Aniversary build- 82 CJ-7 Renegade frame off - Page 10 - JeepForum.com

 

[mtnwhlr]

When ever you strip anything down to the metal you should always use a metal etching primer. Not the cheap stuff.

 

[BajaEdition]

Strip it all the way down. That way you will see everytbing.
As stated a proper primer should then be used.