Rust repairs/gas tank under plate?

[1LE]

I'm working on repairing some rust on the underbody of my 2g. Mostly patchy here and there stuff, nothing too severe (most of the right side appears to either have lost the undercoating, or just never had it from the factory). The intersting thing thoug, is that I noticed that the entire gas tank under plate is covered in light surface rust. It doesn't look like it was ever painted, just looks like a cheap steel plate.

Wondering if anyone knows if it's supposed to be painted? If it's painted from the factory, they did a pretty poor job... The rest of the underbody just painted stuff is in reasonable shape, whereas this is completely covered in surface rust.

Anyways, if it's supposed to be painted, I figured I'd treat it and paint it. Otherwise I figure I'll let it go until it rusts through, then have an aluminum replacement fabbed up to fit there.

 

[thetalon92]

i dont know if it was supposed to be painted from factory. But the best & cheapest solution in my opinion, would to sand or scuff the surface rust off and go to a local automotive store and get some rubberized undercoating that should hold the rust off for awhile, and it is alot more durrable than painting

 

[tmaxx411]

If you want to make sure it doesnt come back, coat it with POR-15. They also make a primer that allows you to topcoat it with anything.

 

[Kyle_T]

Grind as much rust off as you can and then you can either spend the money on POR15, or if you cheap like me, rust converter and rustoleum paint.

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