[1_Car_Guy]

Entry 26: 7/18/2025

I managed to carve out some time the past few weekends. Decided to paint the cage, floor pans, and trunk pans.

I didn't know what product to use so my local body supply shop recommended SEM corrosion control. I made it pretty clear that I wanted to use it on the cage and pans. I sanded the entire cage with 80 grit...by hand, masked everything up in the car and primed. What a pain. I then applied SEM corrosion control as directed (without the hardener or any) since the shop didn't suggest it. I opted to apply by brush; it was probably 80 degrees out and very humid.

Well, it went on like complete garbage. I have no idea why I did the whole cage KNOWING it was going on like crap. I think I was hoping it would smooth out overnight. After 5 solid days...it was still tacky, nowhere near smooth and I got worried. This is not a show car but it was god awful and there was no way my mind could deal with putting foam over the bard to hide just how absolutely horrible it was. So, I needed to strip it, again. I even called SEM and spoke to tech support to figure out set times and verify ratios etc..

I'm embarrassed to say I should have applied hardener and a reducer; what an idiot. SEM tech rep directed me to add hardener (8:1) and add in up to 20% reducer. I ended up having to sand the entire cage for the second by hand...again. Except this time was even worse than the first time because THIS TIME the SEM corrosion control was STILL tacky...even after letting it hang around for 11 days.

I finally got everything to bare metal and found that 8:1:4 was the magic ratio (8 parts SEM corrosion control, 1 part hardener and 4 parts urethane reducer). After the cage was where I wanted it to be I moved on to the interior pans. Some photos of that.

I then added FatMat to the interior pans and rattle canned Rest-oleum flat black and a satin clear coat over the wheel wells.

I still have to give the trunk the same treatment (paint, FatMat, etc.)

Turned out great in the long run; but boy o boy was this a much bigger project than I had intended.

Edit...I also finished the entire brake system a few weeks ago.