Body work on my Duster

[cricket]

Hello, my dears...

The good news is that we finally found a fender for my duster, to replace the one that got squashed in September's accident. Whew! It was a slow, tedious search, and after being sent the wrong parts twice, we now have the right one.

While waiting for the fender, I've started sanding and painting the other parts of the car, one panel at a time. Once it's done it'll be a nice continental royal blue. With the Gold Duster emblems on the sides.

Some one has made a flame of sheet metal that was bolted to the car behind the gas cap. It's been cleaned and is now a wonderful, bright silver. I'm still debating whether to leave it alone or paint it red.

Once I get everything back together, and the whole car blue, I'll be doing some art work on the sides of our ocean critters. The otter's from my business logo will be on the doors, then I'll later add some kelp and some other fish and invertebrates to it as well. It'll be an on going project.

The main concern I have is that the car has some rust issues. Along the bottom of the doors and the remaining fender. And on the floor of the interior. Any suggestions as to how to either slow it down or repair it? Is there something I can spray on it to keep it from getting worse? I know living near the ocean doesn't help and I have a feeling it'll be something I'll have to do continuous repairs on. But any advice would be appreciated.

I'll try to get some photos posted soon.

Love to all,

Cricket

 

[71dustar]

how bad is the rust? post some pictures of it. i had some slight rust on my floor where water would sit but the rust wasn't all the way through my floors. i just took a wire wheel to clean most of the rust then sprayed down a product called rust bullet from summit racing. it only been a couple weeks but there are all kinds of articles on different products like eastwood's rust encapsulator to POR-15

 

[DusterDave]

Find some rust free doors in Arizona.

 

[cricket]

I'll take some photos this weekend. It's not toooo bad. I also have the same rust on the floors where water sits, but it doesn't go all the way through. The floor still seems to be sturdy.

Also, there's a little bit under the doors and sides where it "curls" under the car. Not really visible to someone not really looking for it, but I know it's there!!

The "new" fender looks like there's some rust on the surface, but I think with a little tlc, I can get rid of it before painting it. I haven't looked at it up close yet. It may even just be dirt from the yard it was sitting in.

Like I said, I'll get some photos together, and try to figure out how to post them this weekend.

 

[63dartman]

One thing you should do is pull the door panels off and clean and rust proof the insides. All those years have probably sealed the factory weep hole to drain the water out of the doors. Also there is probably 3 inches of grunge sitting in the bottom. I't's just added insurance that your car won't eat itself from the inside out. Good luck on the body work.