Cabin floor pan. What do you recommend?

[DJ1]

I’m tinkering with my 1988 MJ Pioneer ( 4.0, I6, automatic, 4WD, long bed).  I’ve pulled some bucket seats out of a 1990 Cherokee and plan to replace the bench seat in my MJ.  While I’m doing that I may as well pull out the carpet.

 

What do you recommend for flooring?  Assuming the rust is just light surface rust, I’d wire brush it, sand it and treat it with Ospho (phosphoric acid).  Clean off extra and then spray paint with primer.

 

I’m thinking about living without a carpet.  Carpet does some sound deadening but the cost is it holds moisture against the floor.   But it does protect the floor from tools bouncing in the passenger footwell.

 

Do you prefer leaving the floor exposed metal?  Or spray the floor with undercoating?  Or spray on the same product used for bedliner?

 

Thanks for your time.

 

DJ1

[relyt120]

Don't be surprised if you find some holes in the floor pan.

Go in assuming its going to be rust city and if its not you will be pleasantly surprised. :D

 

Its all up to you what you do on the floor

 

A lot of guys use POR15 then either topcoat or used bed liner, which is better than nothing for sound reduction.

 

There was also a vinyl mat for the lower optioned trucks which has its own appeal but has the same juke backing, but won't allow anything to soak through from the top.

 

Many have also added sound deadening and/or insulating materials under the carpet to reduce road noise.

 

IMO if your carpet is in decent shape keep it.

If its trash then ditch it, repair and rust proof the floor then bed line it.

If you end up not liking the bed lining you can buy new carpet or a vinyl mat to put over it. 

 

Check out some of the build threads in the Projects section, everyone does it a little different.

 

Others will chime in.

 

GL  . :MJ 1: .

[Megadan]

As somebody running with no carpet and a set of rubber floor mats, I would highly recommend some sort of thermal and sound insulation if you plan to daily drive it.  My truck stays pretty warm thanks to the heat that comes through the transmission tunnel.

[Strokermjcomanche]

This is Lizard Skin sound deadener , I then put carpet over top of it with no jute padding "aka sponge" . Lizard skin also sells a ceramic coating for reducing cabin temps up to 30 degrees . I coated the bottom of the floor pans with Raptor bed liner .