The rust killers

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:34 pm

Okay. I have some thoughts on rust prevention.
Remove the engine, tranny, axles, all connections, and the interior. This is a good point to replace any faulty wiring or to replace old rotting wires with new and reliable wires.

Get your car bead-blasted- this strips the paint and anything else off down to metal.
Get your car sand-blasted lightly, to kill the rust.
Replace any panels needed.
Get the entire car coated in a few layers of an anti-rust base paint, followed by whatever color you want.
Get the undercarriage and interior floor coated with Line-X to seal the metal up.

Replace Everything. This is a good point to replace engines, tranny's, driveshafts, axles, brake lines, tie-rpds, steering racks, etc.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 7:01 pm

That is what I'm planning to do except I want to start out with no rust. I won't sandblast the original paint off but I will take off any old dry undercoating and coat it with whatever the best thing is. What is this line-X stuff? I need to do some research.

Pegger · Post by **Pegger** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 9:00 pm

I know that aircraft corrosion inhibitors are called "dinitrol". It is available in a variety of thicknesses from very lite syrup to almost as thick as peanut butter. So you can spray it on, brush it on or spread it on...

Not sure you can buy it anywhere as a general consumer but it would be the ultimate. Some of my co-workers have "got some that feel off the truck" and it works very well for cars as well.

I'll search for suppliers, see what comes up...

Guy

Pegger · Post by **Pegger** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 9:15 pm

Got a number of hits real fast online.

Thaught I should also let you know that it is a bit of a nasty chemical. You gotta use skin and breathing protection (like most chemicals) when you use it. Once it's cured it's OK.

Guy

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:42 pm

Line-X is a very tough material often used as a truck bed lining. Available in anything from a smooth to 50-grit sandpaper consistancy. It is very hard to remove and is very durable.

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:16 pm

This sounds like a good thing to do for a 60s Jaguar or something...
but some people's jaguar is another person's 1984 Tercel.
Well about MY 84 Tercel, here in Minnesota, early in it's life, it received a "Ming" undercoating which is a commercial process where you bring it in and they do the stuff blah blah blah I don't know if they are still around but presumably most people have heard of it.
Well 20 years later, I buy the car for 500 bucks, and start crawling around under it...and notice that the undercoating has done a WONDERFUL job of keeping a nice coating of liquid road salt trapped between the coating and the sheetmetal under the car. Hm....start poking....undercoating crumbles away....paint crumbles away....rust crumbles away...nothing left. Oops! oh well the interiour carpet will hold it together I guess.
Except for the mounting points for the linkages that keep the rear axle located....those crumbled away too! I fabricated brackets and stuff for the bushings out of 3/16" steel and managed to find places to weld to, that WEREN'T completely gone.
Rocker panels are nothing but foam and bondo, same with the rear hatch, all four doors have a nice coating of bondo on them too from where the trim was and that all rusted out.
Oh and the rear bumper almost fell off one day when i was leaning on it.....
But at least the hood is rust free hee hee
Yay!
Someday, the car is going to be like that cop car in the final moments of "The Blues Brothers" when the finally get to the tax building in downtown Chicago and the car falls apart in a heap.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 9:20 am

Heh. If Line-X is applied properly, nothing will get between it and the metal. Nothing. Not even air. Next time you see a truck with a black coating in the bed that feels kind of rough and somewhere between rubber and plastic, it is probably Rhino-Lining or Line-X (Line-X is more durable, but both cost about the same)

takza · Post by **takza** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:01 am

What is working for me is to clean up ALL old and separated undercoating...chip the rust CLEAN...use a special paint to seal it...and then use roofing tar to seal that. Or use the material for roofs that has a combo rubber/asphalt adhesive under an alum/plastic membrane...very tough stuff...then the tar over this. Low cost and it lasts.

In areas that can't be treated this way...I use old ATF. Frame members and sills....bottom seams of doors and hatches.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 8:57 pm

Any thoughts on what to use to patch body holes that won't promote additional rust (like Bondo will)?

I've used POR-15 in the past on some stuff, and notice they have a "powermesh reinforcing fabric" that can be used to fill holes. My specific problem areas are rust areas where the roof rack used to mount, and along the windshield on the passenger side.

Thanks!

Jerry

Thereminator · Post by **Thereminator** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 12:28 am

What I did to treat rust behind the rubber side~window seal is: 1.Scrape lose whatever rust I could with a curved paint~scraper. 2.Put small cedar-shims behind the rubber to allow access and to aireate. 3.spray a chemical treatment that converts the rust composition...for two days(three~doses) 4.After drying,sealed the inside with 50yr outdoor latex(paintable) caulk-compound to keep air and water out.

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 12:20 pm

Bondo promotes rust cuz it is porous, soaks up water like a sponge and holds it next to the bare metal you applied it on.
But they (and other companies) also make waterproof bondo, if you want it, you find the kind that is "reinforced" or has strands of fiberglass in it, etc. The Bondo brand kind shows pictures of boats and stuff on the can, I even saw it at walmart once,....basically the quart can of normal stuff is like three bucks? This waterproof kind is like nine bucks
I have seen pro guys put down a layer of that stuff, then use normal bondo over that, or you could just use nothing but the waterproof kind.
Also, fiberglass is totally waterproof and won't promote rust, unless of course your metal isn't totally clean when you apply it, then rust will just multiply.
And of course, no matter what you do, usually the "backside" of the repair or whatever is just as messed up as the front, and the paint is cracked or missing or whatever, or rusted, blah blah blah, the back needs to be sealed up just as perfectly as the front...which can often be quite impossible heh

My new theory is to "let it be"

Oh and just if anyone cares, there are many types of "bondo" available, from all sorts of brands, some cost alot more than others are are naturally somewhat better. I prefer the kind from Napa just cuz it is blue, it seems to work nicely, but I think it is the same as Bondo-brand bondo. I've read this before, in more than one book:
There's nothing wrong with Bondo-brand bondo, it is a fine product, when used properly...it isn't Bondo's fault that "repairs" tend to rust out horribly a few months later....its just that bondo is available at every car-store and walmart and home depot everywhere, so any idiot can get his/her hands on it, and then people take a look at their rusted out fender on whatever car, and slather some of the bondo on there like cake frosting, without cleaning up the fender, and without smoothing the bondo, and then sometimes without spraying anything on it, and expect it to look great...
without knowing that as they drive, the bondo they left unsealed is soaking up water and putting it right in contact with their rusty fender.

Oh and I think most traditional primers are porous as well.

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 4:40 pm

The BONDO kind of filler is also sold as an all weather waterproof woodfiller.....what you'd buy for wood would be tan in color though. If you are going to paint it...doesn't matter.

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 7:52 pm

Turning this into our "body shop" thread...

if you are taking any bondo repair to a higher level, and you are using "glazing putty" to fill the pinholes you typically find in any bondo....I recommend not buying the Bondo brand glazing...comes in a tube, like toothpaste, its red....
that stuff sucks, it shrinks and cracks terribly
I go to Napa and get the grey stuff, comes in a tube also (a huge tube) and it is ten dollars! but it doesn't shrink! seriously

When I was paint-meister at the spiral staircase factory, we would have to putty stuff sometimes....they were using some crappy crap I don't remember what it was. I went to Napa next door and used their account and bought a tube of that grey glazing putty...we used that stuff for EVERYTHING like filling gaps in corners and holes in welds etc, cuz basically it spreads super easily, you can spread it over a chunky weld with your finger, it is super smooth, doesn't crack when it dries, and I found that we could paint it when it was still wet and it turned out fine.

takza · Post by **takza** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 4:06 am

Good to know...I use the red stuff.