Thread: 2000 GTP: Still Alive! New Trans?

Thanks man, I've got some rust on one of my strut towers, and both rockers. I don't think the rockers are THAT bad yet, I'm just starting to see it creep up above the side skirt. I did poke a hole in the driver side rear rocker, so now I'm committed. Sunday I hope to be pulling the side skirts off and getting a better idea of what's up. I plan on using POR 15 to rust "proof" it, what do you think?

I have no experience with POR15 and among the rodder crowd, reviews are mixed. I'm sure its a solid product used in it's proper context and by the book.

What I do know is Eastwood. Like POR15, not available everywhere but all day online.

The project I left off this week would be a good example of what to expect but I kinda quit taking pictures of stuff, as you know.

In a nutshell... if I were you, and ready to lay in products for the job...

Proper abrasives and tools to run them (ask), compressed air and or shop vac plus solvent for cleaning metal, quality one step rust converter and brush, rust encapsulator or POR15, quality glossy rattle can engine paint any color, internal panel coating, patch metal, and possibly panel bonding adhesive.

Those last two only if you're cutting some out. As with anything, cleanliness is key. When the rocker claddings are off and you have flushed ALL debris inside the rocker away, then you scrape away anything loose that you can reach by hook or crook and flush it all out again. Air, water, whatever then blow or vac. Then sand off all you can with stripping discs, etc. Clean again. Apply converter. Dry, sand again.

You ARE taking plenty of GPF pics as you do all this, of course. Treat again if still brown, per directions. Apply POR or encapsulator per directions. Dry, scuff-sand, and rattle can that. Thick, many wet coats all dried good. Let all that air out then hose liberally with internal panel coating. Thats what Eastwood calls it, 3M says Rust Fighter. Thats how you treat rust you can't cut away, with a chance of long life. A wise man might plan to have that strut off when doing the tower deed.

I can link you to old rust posts of mine that could familiarize you more with the process if you like, with plenty pics. Already went into a TMI response though, ha. I believe in thorough explanations, I guess its the Dr. Bellows in me.

Awesome, thanks for the info man, the links would be great. I plan on gutting the inside of the trunk and at LEAST the strut when I do the strut towers. I'm going to patch the driver side, but treat for rust on both sides. I have an engineer buddy at work (he is actually an engineer, not someone who calls them selves an engineer, lol) who has done some body work on his 73 Ford and he says he'll help me do it all. Problem I run into is a lot of people around here redneck or half ass things and call them good. I'm not like that, especially with this ****. I haven't seen this guys work yet, but he seems rather intelligent, so I hope his work is as good as he leads me to believe, lol. I've had 2 different people flake out on me when they said they'd help, so who knows.

My .02 on POR-15 is it works well to seal, but don't expect the glossy finish to last. It seems to work well for it's intended purpose, but it's not a do-all refinishing sealer. I continue to use it, but of course I don't have the weather conditions some of you have to really put it to task.

I don't really care about the finish since it'll all be hidden. It's more the rust prevention stuff I'm worried about. I'm over on FSB and for awhile POR 15 was all the awesomesauce, but it's been awhile since I was really that active over there.

The Eastwood encapsulator doesn't stay glossy either, and fades in sun. But a friend's truck has been wearing it on the hood and roof for several years now (paint peeled / surface rusted), and theres no rust showing through it still. The two products are probably comparable in quality. I'll round up some rust pern for ya a little later... gotta use whats left of the afternoon doin IDJ stuff.

Just got back from a Springfield trip. I took HWY 14 through Ozark on the way there to have some fun. Whew. I love this new suspension setup, it took everything I threw at it without hesitation. And get this, my wife never yelled at me. I did get some KR, max of 4.3*. I wanna tune this thing so bad, I know I could squeeze more power out of it. JY was somewhat of a bust, I'd be pissed if I made a special trip but the point of this trip was to return the rack and pinion core ($112). I picked up some center caps for the rims and a 2 piece cowl to make changing the cabin filter easier.

Oh and it does pull to the right and the steering wheel isn't straight, so I'm definitely getting realigned next week.

let me tell ya, the difference between having KR and no KR is silly. it feels like it has mods now.

that 4.3* is killing you.

It goes in spikes, it never holds a certain number. It's weird it only happens when I give it about 50-60% throttle to make it downshift. From a stop it's not as bad, under 2* max. On the HWY when I get stuck behind some idiot in an 1\2 ton truck trying to haul 16 round bails of hay on a goose neck, slow down to like 40MPH til I can pass, then get on it pretty good it'll spike to ~3* then spend the rest of the time anywhere from 0-2*. My wife is getting involved in it all and she watches the KR constantly when we get to a KR causing situation. I did get up 90 MPH pretty quick though.

Oh and my BRAND NEW front side marker on the driver side leaks. ****ing TYC.

Good ol Tong Yang lamps. Man all this KR talk always makes me think of Shelby Mustangs. Hey booba here's an ancient blog post showing rust converter being used, as promised but probably not much help. I'll be around when you get to the body stuff though, just wake me when you get a look at it if you'd like input.

http://idrivejunk.blogspot.com/2011/...ield-seal.html

I'll be taking side skirts off tomorrow if all goes well. I'll have embarrassing pics tomorrow, lol. I cleaned up the center caps and put about 6 coats of black on them, cleaned up and installed the new cowl, pulled the driver side headlight to find\fix leak, and installed the PCM tray. Tomorrow I want to explore the rust, swap out the other fog light, and put EFI clamps on my transmission cooler lines. Pics of all that tomorrow...

Thanks for the link IDJ! I'm a little intimidated by this rust project I hope to do it for somewhat cheap...but I want it to last, too.

I'm trying to avoid this....


IDJ if your hand were in better shape I'd see how much you'd charge me to do it, lol. You know your ****.

Originally Posted by Booba5185

I'm trying to avoid this....

I'm bodyman,lol. Used to do this vvvv but it takes both hands yep. Thow up some images, I'll keep an eye peeled. Start with the worst side, you may not want to pop the lid off that can o' worms on both sides yet.

Originally Posted by Booba5185

Oh and my BRAND NEW front side marker on the driver side leaks. ****ing TYC.

I ran a bead of black adhesive sealant (rtv?) around mine before i sold them because they would hold a bunch of water. I'm so OCD I had to make the bead perfect haha

IDJ, I wanna be like you when I grow up. I ran out and snapped a few pics, I'm scared.








Driver side rear looks the worst...

Doesn't look too good

Yea, I think I might just grind off the nasty stuff and get some slip on rocker panels, treating for rust along the way. Thankfully the side skirt cover up a lot of it, so I'm going to fix it but it doesn't have be all that pretty lol.

And here i am worrying about 2 quart sized holes in mine

It's still "Solid" everywhere except where I poked a hole, lol. I'm sure when I pull the side skirt off I'll start crying like a 3 year girl...

I'll have the tissues on standy, at least the rest of the car looks great tho. I really want me some stang wheels.