inner rust nightmare

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cheetoh

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Alright,the trunk lid has rust in between the skin and the frame.Is it more logical to toss it and pray to find another or cut the welds and peel it apart,it's all surface rust .Anyone ever tried this?If i do try the surgery what are the chances of the skin getting warped/deformed,also is it a bad thing to unfold the edge of the panel only to have to re-fold it again?
thanks
cheetoh
 
Depends on the work you want to do...remember body shops do skins all day long with minimum warpage (though not by unwrapping the old skin, those get cut off), it's a matter of patience and having the right hammer and dollies to do the work. Eastwood Company sells a tool to unskin panels without damaging the skin. Personally I haven't tried one, so I can't testify as to if it works as advertised.
Time=money. Is it that hard to find a good decklid? Is your time worth more to you than finding a good decklid? Have you checked the parts for sale forum and thrown up a parts wanted ad?
 
Tell us what vehicle the deck lid is from and post a picture or two - maybe we can come up with a bright idea, once we see how bad the problem is.
 
In my experience,once a seam starts to rust theres not much can be done.There are temporary solutions that last several years.The best thing always is to cut or grind the rust out.
 
deck lid is from a 65 dart .I cant get my camera working right now but surface rust is on the back side of the skin-as far as i can tell.I know it,ll prob be easier to just buy it,but its one of those things that keeps up at night,knowing its there:bootysha:
 
Have it dipped (chemical strip)......Once cleaned and rust free hold it "top down" pour a little epoxy primer in there and two guys tip it back and forth till it comes out all corners.

Or find a new one, but you cant see what's between the panels then either
 
I'm kinda with needsaresto and rjsjea on this. "Remove by any means possible or necessary" is the most effective in the long term. I would also wager that just about any used deck lid will have surface rust inside between the inner structure and skin. They just didn't go to great lengths to protect against corrosion there.

If a dip/strip isn't in the cards you could pour some phosphoric acid based rust converter (like Jasco that you can get at a hardware store) and swish that around. That will convert the rust to a black phosphate (primer). Once that's dried you can then pour in an encapsulator/converter to coat everything and seal it. There's Eastwood Rust Encapsulator, Zero Rust, Rust Bullet, etc.

Iron oxide (rust) basically needs oxygen and water to propagate. It's not always practical or possible to remove all rust. If you can starve existing rust by properly sealing it against air and moisture, you're well ahead of the game.
 
You guys are great,i freaked when i first saw the inside and then looked at what it would take to remove the skin from the frame.I'll definitely give it a shot now.........thanks
cheetoh
 
use that stuff you pour into the gas tank to coat, last i bought was in a chevelle auto parts book, cant remember which one. that should stop it. you can use the phos acid, at home depot, 14.00 a gal. and pour it in maybe too. good luck, (but i would never try to seperate the trunk lid)
 
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