Preserving My 26 Tremor

[Expensedition]

In the northeast the first thing necessary to preserve your new vehicle is to have the bottom undercoated. Ideally the undercarriage should be undercoated as it reaches the dealer and before it is driven at all on salted roads. Not having that option I used a pressure washer, salt removing solution and an undercarriage wheel mounted sprayer manifold to clean the undercarriage prior to to applying and undercoating film.

In the attached image you see the typical arrangement with the salt removing solution injector at the fresh water supply connection on the pressure washer. There are many undercarriage spray manifolds out there but I bought the Coyardor 16" wheeled sprayer head, because it looked well built, and it is. It si also pretty inexpensive and can be found on Amazon.

The salt removing solution can be whatever you find to have the best reviews but honestly it mostly soap. From day one the bottom of your vehicle is affected by electrolytes with varying levels of PH. The mere presence of the partial pressure of oxygen that we breathe along with rainwater is enough to start the process of galvanic corrosion. The odds are all unpainted surfaces are already actively oxidizing the day the vehicle leaves the plant and sometimes before that.

The New Ford vehicles present a whole new problem today where the body is almost entirely Aluminum. The frame is steel along with many other attached parts including all of the fasteners (rivets [SPR's] are made of Boron Steel). Aluminum is less noble than steel making it the anode in the galvanic circuit. The aluminum body and steel frame are connected by ground wires (which are necessary) along with other metal fasteners that may not be insulated.

What is most important is the coating, typically the paint, which is your first line of defense against corrosion. This will be the major focus of post in the days ahead.

V/r

SM

 

[Expensedition]

The truck was pressure washed outside (see previous post) and set on four new plastic ramps (RhinoRamps) to raise the truck another 7". I kept four steel jack stands under the truck and moved them around as I worked as a safety measure and I would suggest anyone else do the same with any ramp.

I used plastic masking to make a skirt around the open part beneath the truck as a barrier. The barrier would keep most of the spray contained and also direct dry air from a ducted industrial dehumidifier under the truck. I brought some clean rags, and a couple different brushed to make sure all of the undercarriage was clean and free of road salt. Any spots that looked like the factory coating was failing I touched up with black rustoleum.

Because the undercoating is black (FluidFilm Black™) I laid down some cardboard on the garage floor beneath the area I was working. I found that the FluidFilm did not make the mess that I expected so the cardboard is really optional.

More to come.

SM

 

[Expensedition]

Attached are some images of what I used to prep and undercoat my Expedition.

[Fig. 3] Shows the container of Ospho and everyday rustoleum. I used both of these to prep the underside before coating with FluidFilm. The first thing that you want to do is find any spot of rust no matter how small and then treat it with Ospho and seal it with a quality paint. Rustoleum is fine but pick your poison here, whatever works for you.

[Fig. 4] Is the 5 gallon bucket of Fluid Film that I went halves on with my bother to purchase, we found it for $180.00. Enough to coat your truck for life.

[Fig. 5] The sprayer that FluidFilm sells is worth the price even though it is a generic sprayer it comes with two wands that you can use to get inside the box tubes of the frame, a most important part to coat and the nozzles are sized just right. Cleaning the sprayer is easy, cleaning the bottle is not, but the stuff does not harden so just cap the bottle when your done.

[Fig. 6] Filling the spray bottle is a simple trick. Since the stuff is the consistency of chocolate pudding, it does not pour well. Use a plastic bag as a squeeze bag, similar to a piping bag used in cake decorating. The squeeze bag can be spoon/cup filled and then the FluidFilm can be squeezed into the small neck of the bottle. I put what was left in the bag into a small half gallon tub with a cover to save for the next job.

This stuff stays fluid for some time, eventually it will partially dry. The good thing about it is it fills every void, displacing moisture and creating a barrier from electrolytes. The stuff works... And is far less messy than I thought it would be.

More to come.

V/r

SM

 

[GlennSullivan]

This is great, can you post up some pictures of various surfaces after coating, I'd like to see the texture of the installed Fluid Film.

 

[Expensedition]

Good morning, Glen,

I didn't take too many photos since the whole event was more about getting the undercarriage coated before the City and State hosed the streets with salt prior to the big snow. I did take a couple photos (Thinking of you guys) midway through.

The attached photo (Fig.7) is of the area where the spare tire goes at an early stage of the process of undercoating. I should have grabbed a "before photo" but it is easy to see where the surfaces are coated with Black FluidFilm. The fasteners on the lower control arm are typically of silver color. The undercarriage fasteners are already coated with some sort of oxide, normally zinc (silver color) but could be cadmium (gold color) or similar, and so far no exotic corrosion resistant fasteners such monel or stainless steel have been found by my on the undercarriage. The fasteners are already rust resistant with the coating but an additional film on the surface and especially the crevices will help preserve them.

The FluidFilm goes on with ease and is very controllable with the sprayer that I used. The film went where I wanted it to go. I intentionally oversprayed on the aluminum underbody as you can see in the photo, with that, you can see it takes a few passes to make the surface appear black. Note that a thin coating is all that you really need. Most of the heavy coat will just wash off on the first car wash. NOTE FluidFilm is not a nightmare gooey coating that trashes everything (but don't get it on your good clothes). FluidFilm will wash off with soap and water, think of wool oil and petroleum jelly (Vaseline), you can almost eat this stuff, but don't. It is not and undercoating and a dessert topping : ). What ever you do wear a respirator since any oil mist is bad for your lungs, and this stuff goes aerosol easily, so don't breathe it.

I wore a tyvek suit and nitrile gloves just to keep my hands and clothes from getting coated. I was surprised how little ended up on the shop floor, almost nothing on the floor and it did not drip off.

The texture after application is wet and more close to actual Vaseline. It may dry a little over time but the idea is for it to creep into crevices and also repair itself. The paint is the hard coating, this is the soft, creeping coating that compliments the paint.

That is all I have time for today, I will post more as I go including how the Black FluidFilm is holding up.

V/r

SM

 

[GlennSullivan]

Looks good, I see that you did not need to mask anything off and able to control the spray pretty well, with little / no unwanted overspray. I assume that you are going to / did the inside of the frame rails. Will you / did you use the flex wand adapter to get up inside the rails? I I saw this when reading about the product and applications.

 

[Expensedition]

Glenn,

I went over everything steel twice to three times and I did use the longer wand with the multi port spray head inside every tube throughout. Anything that was made of steel is now wetted with FluidFilm.

My only concern is how well it will remain/adhere. Prior to using fluidFilm, before it was available, I would instead use Chesterton Rust Guard, which is like cosmoline, but this is a Polymer-modified wax I have no doubt that the Chesterton product is toxic because it is so good (see MSDS attached). And Prior to that I would go to a Ziebart center and have them coat the underside. There are no longer any Ziebart dealers anywhere near me.

FluidFilm is pretty safe, just don't breathe it.

I remember using the rubber undercoat in the early 70's.... I don't recommend that today.

V/r

SM

 

[GlennSullivan]

Glenn,

I went over everything steel twice to three times and I did use the longer wand with the multi port spray head inside every tube throughout. Anything that was made of steel is now wetted with FluidFilm.

My only concern is how well it will remain/adhere. Prior to using fluidFilm, before it was available, I would instead use Chesterton Rust Guard, which is like cosmoline, but this is a Polymer-modified wax I have no doubt that the Chesterton product is toxic because it is so good (see MSDS attached). And Prior to that I would go to a Ziebart center and have them coat the underside. There are no longer any Ziebart dealers anywhere near me.

FluidFilm is pretty safe, just don't breathe it.

I remember using the rubber undercoat in the early 70's.... I don't recommend that today.

V/r

SM

The company's recommendation is to apply FluidFilm on an annual basis in the fall. I don't know if this is necessary or the company's attempt to bolster annual sales. I would imagine since it is not a drying / permanently adhering barrier product, at some point reapplication would be necessary.

I remember Ziebart, for a time it was one of every dealership's favorite "add-ons" to new vehicle sales and not cheap.

 

[Expensedition]

Glenn,

The annual, or for me the "whenever I think I need it" application of Fluidfilm is necessary since it does wash off if hit with a heavy wash, especially a soapy wash.

Ziebart also had to be applied every year, more of a touch up in order to maintain the warranty.

The way I went about getting the 5 gallons of FluidFilm, it is actually pretty cheap. I am looking forward to a touch up this summer.

V/r

SM