Back To Prepping

I got off work early, so I started prepping the Trans Am so it was ready for POR-15 this weekend. One of the areas that needed to be cleaned and prepped was the interior channel below the front t-top rail. I had spotted some mild rust in this area and want to POR-15 it to fix and prevent any future rust. I started by laying a tarp across the front of the car to catch the drips.

Here are the areas I am going to treat today:

I noticed I still had not removed the dome light wiring and t-top latching hooks as seen in the pictures above, so I removed them.

I used any opening I could find to spray the Marine Clean into the front channel. I noticed immediately rusty liquid was running out. Not a good sign. I let the Marine Clean sit for about ten minutes and then rinsed it out with water. The water was still coming out rusty. I continued with another application of Marine Clean and then rinsed with water until it came out clear. I then followed the same procedure with the Prep and Ready. I let the Prep and Ready sit for 30 minutes, misting as necessary to keep it wet. Then I rinsed the area with water.

The rear driver side fender guard molding was loose on one side, and I caught my pant leg on it and pulled it away further. Since this has to come off when the car is painted, I decided just to remove it today. You can see there is some mild surface rusting, and that these were not removed when the car was painted blue. The original black paint can be seen.

After Sara got off work and we ate dinner, we started back on the car. I decided it was not necessary to do the interior channels of the rest of the roof as I can find no rust. So instead I opted to just treat the visible metal on the interior roof of the car. I used rags and a bowl to apply the Marine Clean instead of spraying it on. 

Sara also used rags and a bowl of water to rinse the Marine Clean off. The roof was very clean when she finished.

Next Sara applied the Prep and Ready in the same manner using a bowl and rag. She kept the rag soaked in Prep and Ready and reapplied many times to make sure it stayed wet for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes were up, I finished by washing the Prep and Ready off with a rag soaked in water.

We removed the tarps and will start with POR-15 tomorrow morning. I worked for about 3 1/2 hours on the car today.