Mopar Muscle Association UK

Hi all, this is a general question about basic restoration techniques, could be applied to a mopar or to anything else (Victor in my case).

I would like to know the best way to tackle surface rust in hard to reach places.

I have sanded and wire brushed the main surface and got the the rust off there, but there is surface rust right into the corners and panels joins (around the sill edges and rear valence). I obviously can't get into this with a normal tool. What is the best thing to do?

Should I use a rust inhibitor to halt it, or is there a tool that will do that go round blind 180 deg corners and not completely destroy the panel?

I don't really want to chop out the panels and weld in new, I can't get new panels and I wouldn't know where to start making one.

After that what is the best way to go about painting and protecting the underside of a car?

Should I use Hammerite as a rust inhibitor and paint over that with paint? Someone has suggested a type of stone guard that can be used as an undercoat, is it any good?

Either way I don't really want to put tar back on it!

Any advice welcome.

Hammerite is to brittle to use as undercoating on a car, cracks when flexed and the water gets under..

your only bet is rust neutraliser in places where you can't get in

pay particular attention to seams remove all seam sealer first, treat the area rinse, heat gun or leave to dry then seam sealer it again


these guys can supply. almost anything

in large drums

http://www.buckhickman.co.uk/

and buy primer that will work with your desired top coat type of paint, and that is weldable, you don't want to have to do an extra sealing coat to stop chemical reactions between two incompatible types of paint

prime directly after rust removal and do ya panel bashing at your leisure


underside of car

hammerite doesn't neutralise the rust it just caps it in with no oxygen until it cracks or gets stone chipped.

if you use hammerite treat it like normal paint and use a decent primer don't belive what it says on the tin about 1 coat on over the rust, fine for iron gates and toilet foul pipes no good for a car.

there is also a product called stonechip. its like automotive artex. doesn't look pretty gives the painted panel a lumpy stove enammel coating harder than hammerite


both are only as good as the prep i.e leave a load of crap underneath and the panel will still rust just its behind the paint and ya can't see it.


I think it is prefreable to have the bottom of the car done in body colour paint or at least a colour that makes it easy to see damage or deteriation.

then use a spray gun and compressor to spray on waxoyle. the hand pump for ?15 from halfords is a waste of time and you have to thin the waxoyle down to use it (heat it or with real white spirit)

do inside as well

and up the rear roof pillars etc

the underside needs to be done once a year.

you can see deteriation easily its waxy coating is akin to the rust protection you get with a leaking gearbox. i.e it works well and doesn't crack and peel off.

the bloke who owned my VW van before me used to spray the bottom with old engine and gearbox oil, a truely filthy job but worked extremely well.


newspaper out the garage, get the car up on 4 ramps attach spray gun to broom handle

attach wing mirror to another broom handle

put on mask
put on goggles
place inspection lamps in appropriate places and

spray away

don't cost nuffink

Dave

POR-15 is supposed to be good. The best surface to paint it on to is a seasoned surface (surface rust in other words). It apparantly works opposite to paint as in it becomes harder in damp conditions rather than softer. I've used it on the inside of my charger, plastered it all over. I've done much of the underside but not finished yet. The car stayed out all winter and got wet inside every time it rained with no sign of rust creeping in.


I also used dinotrol rather than waxoyl as it sprays thin and bubbles up and coats everything really well before settling down to leave a nice waxy coating. Not saying these products are better than any others but it's worth looking in to.

I bought them from frost restoration. Hope this helps.

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8192

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8217

Found the POR 15 stuff. Now there are two types p235 and p230, which is best? There is ?10 difference in the price but the descriptions are exactly the same.

They are different codes as they are different quantities I think. I've only ever bought black which is UV sensitive and fades so requires a top coat if it will be exposed to sunlight. Don't know if this applys to other colours though.

Have you considered a small sandblaster for the hard to reach bits?

Anything that does not remove the rust can only hav limited long term sucess.

If you can get it back to bare metal than i would suggest, etch primer, then seal up the joins with 3M 2 pack seam sealer (brush applied) decent (3M?) stonechip compound and then a normal paint sytem. If your feeling really keen follow with a wax coating as well. This is what you will find under any good modern car.

I have also used a sandblaster attachment with my pressure washer. It was suprisingly effective, if somewhat messy!!!

For the really awkward places I've previously used kurust and then rust retarding primer, then a top coat of whatevers appropriate - in Cornwall my father still has the shell of my first road legal car, the areas we did this to in 1997 (shortly before I retired it) are still ok now, but it's rusted around the outside of the area suggesting the primer we used wasn't up to the job ...

I've never used hammerite as a top coat under a car, but havn't had any problems with their primer or using it topside.

When it's clean,painted rust free, welded or whatever don't cover it in USED engine oil. It's full of acids etc from the combustion process. I use 2/3 E.P 90 to 1/3 diesel or paraffin The fuel oil penetrates all the seams&box sections drawing diluted EP90 with it then the fuel oil evaporates leaving clean oil where even waxoyl can't reach. BUT do your welding& painting FIRST.

I could potentially use a small sand blaster on those parts but I was a little scared of not being able to clean it out properly (very hard to reach) and as a result the paint will silicon and not cover the area properly at all.

James- will a good blast with an airline not shift it?

No, tried that