Captainkirk
Old School Mopar Warrior
Last night I was still coming down off the high of making the underside of The Duke all one color (besides rust-orange) and patting myself on the back. I peeled back the tarp and opened the trunk...my trunk full of junk. Now, when I say 'junk', I mean "stuff that I don't know where to put it." F'rinstance; shark-tooth grille, alternator, distributor and associated cap, wires, coil etc. wiper motor, exhaust bullet tips.....the list goes on. Let's just say there was a bunch of stuff in there, OK? But, I knew there was also some other Junk in the Trunk.....a bunch of surface rust that would need to be attended to. And since I was sort of waiting for the rust reformer to cure in The Land Down Under, well....why not, right?
I began bailing like a sailor on a sinking ship, and soon there was a Rather Large Pile on the floor where my Nighthawk usually sits.....
Oh....****. This rust is, well......not good. A quick hoovering with the Shop Vac shows more 'not good'. There is a LOT of rust here, and it's pretty severe. For a moment, I feel the wind go out of my sails and once again, the magnitude of what I've undertaken sort of overwhelms me. I stare at the scraper on the floor like it was a snake, unwilling to grab it and see what we have here.....
YOU Valance. YOU pick it up.
I pick it up and begin scraping.
The first thing I notice is that much of the color on the floor comes raining off in sheets, leaving me with a bed of flaky red rust:
The next thing I notice is that the rust appears to go under the wide, thick caulk lines sealing the panel seams:
Especially in the spare tire well, where they've laid a thick layer of seam sealer/caulk....:
.......and extending up into the hump area:
Well, at least the deck lid looks fairly nice.
My worst fears are realized, however, when I gingerly peel up some of the caulk. Yep, the rust has crept completely underneath and there is no point in denying it. I begin the arduous task of peeling it up. Stubborn stuff, despite the rust...it really would rather stay put, but I didn't come this far to be snubbed. Up Yours, Rust.
You can see even the nice caulk lines are hiding rust underneath:
(That last shot is not showing a rust hole, but rather an area where the seam caulk is completely peeled out.)
And so, the journey continues. I guess I'd better pack a lunch....(sigh):wack:
I began bailing like a sailor on a sinking ship, and soon there was a Rather Large Pile on the floor where my Nighthawk usually sits.....
Oh....****. This rust is, well......not good. A quick hoovering with the Shop Vac shows more 'not good'. There is a LOT of rust here, and it's pretty severe. For a moment, I feel the wind go out of my sails and once again, the magnitude of what I've undertaken sort of overwhelms me. I stare at the scraper on the floor like it was a snake, unwilling to grab it and see what we have here.....
YOU Valance. YOU pick it up.
I pick it up and begin scraping.
The first thing I notice is that much of the color on the floor comes raining off in sheets, leaving me with a bed of flaky red rust:
The next thing I notice is that the rust appears to go under the wide, thick caulk lines sealing the panel seams:
Especially in the spare tire well, where they've laid a thick layer of seam sealer/caulk....:
.......and extending up into the hump area:
Well, at least the deck lid looks fairly nice.
My worst fears are realized, however, when I gingerly peel up some of the caulk. Yep, the rust has crept completely underneath and there is no point in denying it. I begin the arduous task of peeling it up. Stubborn stuff, despite the rust...it really would rather stay put, but I didn't come this far to be snubbed. Up Yours, Rust.
You can see even the nice caulk lines are hiding rust underneath:
(That last shot is not showing a rust hole, but rather an area where the seam caulk is completely peeled out.)
And so, the journey continues. I guess I'd better pack a lunch....(sigh):wack:
