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Thread: NB/NB2 battery tray

  1. #1
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    NB/NB2 battery tray

    Long story short, a bottle of wine popped open in my trunk. Went on to clean the flood, only to find severe corrosion under the battery.



    Looks like water has been collecting in there for quite some time (besides being under a battery with all battery acid related issues). Plan is to wire-brush it as clean as possible, rust convert, etch primer and paint it. However, I would like to prevent this happening again. I have already ordered the removable tray (mine was missing), and I also came across this that supposedly helps with battery acid (although I am worried about trapping moisture)

    https://www.batterymart.com/p-battery-mat-black.html

    However, my question is, are there any factory water drains in there? Being behind the wheel well, I can see why possibly not; on the other hand, being a low point behind leaky tail lights, it should.

  2. #2
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Jarrett's Avatar
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    I am pretty sure the two rubber plugs there toward the back are drains you can remove. I had to on mine. I don't think you would want to leave them out, but it would help when cleaning the area out. I have them removed in mine.


    Hope this helps.
    Last edited by Jarrett; 08-01-2018 at 12:24 PM. Reason: typo

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  4. #3
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    Thanks! Removed all 3 of them, brushed as much of the rust out as it was humanly possible, followed by a few coats of rust converter. Actually rattle-can painting it at the moment. It's not pretty but should be solid; else it will be cut and replaced if/when I see any new signs of rust.

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    Jarrett (08-02-2018)

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    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Jarrett's Avatar
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    Excited to see the results. I do mine this weekend shipping permitting.

  7. #5
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    What did you buy/do to your NB? 2018 edition

    Started cleaning my trunk. Woof.



    ^ the top portion of that picture is untouched, the lower is the first pass.



    ^ making process



    ^ driver’s side. Going to have to get in there a little better.

    I am doing this because of all the recent rust issues members are finding. Time to tear off the band-aid. I removed the battery, applied some cleaner and dug in...





    HUGE relief!

    I’ll dig into it more tomorrow.

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  9. #6
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    What did you buy/do to your NB? 2018 edition

    This trunk cleaning job went next level.

    I removed the larger rubber plugs and found evidence 2 of the 3 were leaking. Looked up the part number but decided to just measure the ones I have. I found the floor plugs from a 98-06 Jeep Wrangler are a very close match and readily available. Amazon to the rescue!

    Upper Bound Set of 4 Rubber Body Floor Pan Drain Plugs for Jeep Wrangler TJ 1997 to 2006 Models https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RBS6SA0..._0HYzBb2B59D94

    I brushed off the minimal surface rust around the plugs:









    I treated the area and painted the trunk with some Rustoleum white paint I had laying around:






    I also cleaned and painted the battery cubby with some silver paint I also had laying around. It looks really close to the primer the factory used:





    I pulled the drain grommets for the fuel door and antenna and applied some exterior silicone, cleaned their locations and reinstalled:



    I also cleaned and the spare tire, painted it’s retainer and the battery tiedown:







    Finally, I washed and plastidipped the battery tray. It had been rubbing the paint off the cubby, so maybe the plastidip will offer a little protection:





    Now I just have to wait for the new plugs to arrive and clean the carpets. I may look into making a new cover to replace the OE fiberboard unit.

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  11. #7
    Super Moderator Bryan's Avatar
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  13. #8
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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  15. #9
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    Yeah, so cleaning the trunk was really *just* about two hours altogether.

    I basically used off the shelf all-purpose cleaner (generic Publix-branded "Scrubbing Bubbles"), a bout 5-6 microfiber towels (Costco sells them in packs pretty cheap), and a shop vac. Someone more ambitious than I could probably spend more time with little brushes to clean more, but I felt this was pretty good at the point I took it to. The paint was just remnants I had in the garage, the silicone was leftover from sealing some stuff outside the home, and the carpets I sprayed down with a hose after applying cleaner. I was a bit surprised how dirty those were. The drain plugs should be here tomorrow. When I popped them out, they were getting hard/cracked from age and when I pressed the center of one, I found it had split.

    I just used aluminum foil to quickly mask off the things I didn't want to get paint on them. Easily an afternoon job because of the dry/cure time of the paint. I used the plastidip to spot-spray the existing plugs I didn't remove (like the smaller, oval one in the battery cubby. I wasn't sure I could find replacements for those, so I used the plastidip as a light 'sealant'. I may do the same with the replacement plugs as well.

  16. #10
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Jarrett's Avatar
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    Well Hell! Now I have a full guide! Thanks man! Way to take inspiration from all of our neglect. haha

    Just ordered a plug set myself. Thanks!
    Last edited by Jarrett; 08-06-2018 at 09:26 AM.

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  18. #11
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    Thanks! I hope the plugs fit. I think they should, but I won't know until tomorrow. ;)

    I started putting together some of the carpet last night. I have a few extra fasteners I had from the carpet project I used. I used some that remove a little loose than OE so I can remove the forward fitted panels to access the shock adjusters and such. The paint on the seam sealer is slow to dry, so I have to be careful not to touch it. I also used some self-adhesive c-channel left over from the rollbar project and put it around the edge of the spare tire wheel so there wouldn't be any metal-to metal contact when I laid it on the trunk floor. I can easily remove it if I ever need to mount it to the car.

    38600294_2295072810720294_8999727686683197440_n.jpg

    38661894_213286532694461_588154054169853952_n.jpg

    38514425_212926859403562_647294267777089536_n.jpg

    38717411_684806771867813_2446901026683355136_n.jpg

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  20. #12
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    Nice! Wish mine had cleaned up so well. I also came along these

    https://www.batterymart.com/p-battery-mat-black.html

    They seem like a good idea, but I suspect that my battery tray issues although maybe initiated by a leaky battery, were actually amplified by water dripping through the tail light mounting point and accumulating in there. In that case, the battery mat may hurt, as it will retain humidity.

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  22. #13
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    So, timeline! As found:



    Rust removed with sandpaper, drill and rotary wire brush (the only thing that could fit in that very confined space). Took me the best part of 4 hours of sweating and cursing. Would love to get an angle grinder with a flapper disk on it, but it was impossible. Oh, well.



    Phosphate-based rust converter applied



    and painted (in the wrong colour code, will go over this again at some point)



    Granted, it is not pretty, but it is solid. Concluding, it seems that the whole thing had started from a leaky battery, before I even got the car (there was some surface rust I stupidly had not managed to find time knock off). A leaky tail light mount, meant water had accumulated down there, so it made all that mess. Thankfully, I managed to find it before the point of no return. Maybe I will replace the entire panel some day, but till then, I think it will be OK. I have also thought of a proper draining solution I wanna try, will update here as well when done and tested.

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  24. #14
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

    I admit I was pretty worried my battery cubby was going to be rusty. I think I found a few minor water leaks in time and restored/detailed the trunk.

    I merged some posts from another thread, I hope it didn't trainwreck this one. I can remove them if you like, let me know!

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  26. #15
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Jarrett's Avatar
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    I know I'm not the OP but looks good to me. I will post the update to mine when i start on it tonight. (mail delayed me over the weekend)

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